need advice...sick little rooster

[marehaven]

1st off I am fairly new to caring for chickens. 2nd there are no chicken vets in the area. Believe me when I say I would much rather let a vet figure this out. He hatched here and is probly 8-10 months old. He started acted droopy a couple months or maybe longer ago. He showed signs of respiratory illness. I isolated him and antibiotic'd him. He would seem a little better but as time passed he really didn't seem to be recovering. I wormed him. I tried different antibiotics. I tried DE (seemed a waste of time). He still kept slowly getting worse although he still ate and drank. He looked droopy and barely stood up. His comb was withering and he was very weak ...I finally gave up and thought I would let nature take it's course since nothing I did made any improvement anyway. I put him back in with the flock and tried not to think about him. I couldn't find him one day and finally located him in a nest with a hen that was setting. My heart broke again for him and I took him in the house where I force fed and watered him with a syringe. The food and water helped. He was starving. He seems to have problems swallowing. I also dug a huge plug out of his ear. Every time I think he is done for he rallys a bit but he still isn't getting well. Every time I think he might be better he relapses and barely eats or drinks. When he eats he gapes a lot. When he drinks he drools. I have changed his feed and and massaged his crop thinking that he had an impacted crop. No improvement. His crop fills up when he eats and seems to be empty when he doesn't eat. His head and neck looks crooked. He still cant walk. Now I am wondering if he has something stuck in his throat but cannot see anything unusual when I look. Sometimes I wish I could put him out of his misery. I have told him that if he stops eating and drinking that i will not force feed him again. I just thought I would put this out there and see if anyone has any suggestions. For the head choppers out there, spare me. This isn't about what he is worth. He is still trying to be alive and I am just trying to help.

 

[Chukarbuds]

I sure hope some one reads your troubles with your little rooster. Please try posting this in the emergency and sickness posts. You are putting your all into your little one and you're trying everything you can think of. All from your heart and the love of chickens. i hope some one can help you soon.

 

[marehaven]

Thanks Chukabuds. me too.

 

[davi]

I don't know much about chicken either or thier health cuase I started about half an year ago. If he doesn't walk AT ALL, then mabye you should seperate him from the flock becuase he will get stepped, tripped, and stomped on. Then mabye do some sucnifficent reasearch?

 

[marehaven]

He has been in the house with me for about 2 weeks. He sleeps a lot and when I disturb him he eats and drinks but if I didn't stimulate him I think he would slowly starve. When he walks he wobbles. I thought I had found the problem when I unplugged his ear thinking he was dizzy from an ear problem. Sometimes I think I am killing him with kindness....