Need help to treat our sick roo: bubbles in eyes, CRD?

[chickpants]

Our 7 month old rooster has had bubbles coming out of one of his eyes for the last 6 weeks or so. His comb is also very dry looking. We started treating him, and the rest of the flock, two weeks ago with a water soluble tetracycline. We followed the package instructions for a 400mg dose, 2 Tablespoons per gallon of water, and administered for 9 days with no noticeable change in his condition; not better, not worse. We contacted the hatchery where we got him and they recommended sulmet as he might have a strain that is resistant to the tetracycline. We started the flock on the sulmet yesterday & this morning he seems a bit worse. I did some online searching and sulmet isn't listed for CRD treatment.
What should we do? How can we save our rooster?

 

[Lulululu]

Seeing as you have been getting advice from experts and are not seeing results, you may want to take your roo to a vet that specializes in birds. I hope you have luck with this forum, it is overflowing with helpful, well informed people who can give as good advice as the experts. But since you have an animal with a difficult to diagnose illness, a visit to the vet may be the fastest way to see results.
Hope he gets better.

 

[chickpants]

I agree that a veterinary diagnosis would be the best thing but the only avian vet in our area is very expensive and we can't afford it. I'm hoping someone on this forum might have some experience that would help us do the right thing for our roo. The hatchery we got our flock from is a backyard operation and while they seem very knowledgeable, I'm not sure they are experts in treatment of diseases. While I agree that the bacteria might be resistant to the tetracycline, I'm not sure the sulmet is a better alternative. When we purchased the sulmet from the hatchery, I noticed it was the only medication they had. Maybe that's why they recommended it? Our local feed stores are not well supplied with medications so we'll likely need to purchase online and therefore need to know what to look for.

Has anyone had any experience with injectables? Maybe Tylan 50?
Also, while some of the online postings talk about treatments for a bacterial infection, a few say CRD is viral and all you can do is wait it out. Any thoughts?

Oh and he now has bubbles in both eyes. He also seems a bit small but is eating and drinking normally as far as I can tell.

 

[outdoorlvr35]

It sounds like your roo has the same thing as these 5 new hens my husband had someone else buy for him. I figured crd or sinusitis. Along with the bubbles they may try to dry and glue shut. Also mine has sinus drainage. Of coarse I think the previous owners had an over crowded flock. A couple of mine also show bad signs of picking. Just a heads up. Good Luck.

 

[Melissa07]

We had an extreme case last week in both eyes. Our guys eyes where swollen shut. His comb and color was a little off but he acted completely normal. We had to hand feed him and give him water 3 times a day (he was unable to see his food). We quarantined and we tried tetracycline for 4 days with no improvement. He got some draining around the 2nd or 3rd day. On day 5 we was getting very concerned and got electorlytes and Tylan 50 and injected 1 cc (we have an adult rooster) under the skin 2x a day. He did great with the shot. After his second dose he looked much much better. Today is his third day with the injection and is almost 100%. On the first day of Tylan I put a drop or two in each eye and have used neosporin on his lids after that.
Hope this helps with the Tylan injection question.

Any suggestions on introducing my guy back to his flock after he's better? The flock has not showed any signs of this, watching them closely.

 

[chickpants]

Thanks for the post Melissa! I think we'll go ahead and order some Tylan 50. A few more questions if you don't mind. What kind of needle did you use for the injection? Where do you inject? Do you mean you put a drop of the Tylan, full strength into each eye? Did you use regular human neosporin?

We got our flock all together so we assume they've already been exposed equally. We haven't quarantined and we've been treating them all with the medicated water. When we first got this flock, they contracted coccidiosis and the rooster, even though he was a couple of months older, had the worse case. We think he is just more susceptible to disease than the others.

I've read that you need to wait five days after full treatment to eat or hatch eggs so maybe that would be the same as reintroduction to the flock but I don't know. Hopefully someone else on this thread will know when to reintroduce.

Thanks again!

 

[Missa Chickabee]

When all the dust settles out for you in this situation, this is a great link for maintaining bird health in general. It has been a great help to me.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...-horrors-anyone-want-to-follow-their-progress

 

[Melissa07]

We got the Tylan 50 from Tractor Supply and used a 22 guage I believe. Your local feed store or whoever you buy from should be able to help. It is a thick medicine. We used a spot under his wing. We pinched a little piece of the skin and just when under the skin. Give it to him real slow since it is thick. It may leave a little lump but going slow should prevent that. If you are uncomftorable with holding him down, put a towel over his head and he will calm a bit. May want someone to help you hold him the first time.

You have to draw the medicine with a needle so to put in the eye we drew a bit and removed the needle. It will shoot out real fast from the syringe so be careful or you'll have Tylan everywhere...lol. Can transfer to another dropper if you have one. We only did that once. And we use human neosporin.

We received most of ours together and was hoping to add on from the same farm but we are unsure now

Hope this helps

 

[Missa Chickabee]

We got the Tylan 50 from Tractor Supply and used a 22 guage I believe. Your local feed store or whoever you buy from should be able to help. It is a thick medicine. We used a spot under his wing. We pinched a little piece of the skin and just when under the skin. Give it to him real slow since it is thick. It may leave a little lump but going slow should prevent that. If you are uncomftorable with holding him down, put a towel over his head and he will calm a bit. May want someone to help you hold him the first time.

You have to draw the medicine with a needle so to put in the eye we drew a bit and removed the needle. It will shoot out real fast from the syringe so be careful or you'll have Tylan everywhere...lol. Can transfer to another dropper if you have one. We only did that once. And we use human neosporin.

We received most of ours together and was hoping to add on from the same farm but we are unsure now

Hope this helps

Human Neosporin ointment would be ok as long as it does NOT contain pain reliever.