New rooster panting, losing weight

[FrostHollow]

I brought home 4 Silkies last Friday. 3 chicks and a 5 month old rooster. All the birds on the property looked extremely healthy and the babies were hatched in an incubator and brooded in the main house. My flock at home is a closed flock currently living the life of Riley in my 3 season room and are extremely robust and healthy.

1 of the Silkie chicks has perished. She went from fine to laying flat but eating and drinking when I got her up to dead in under 24 hours.

A second Silkie chick has me concerned because it seems a little unsteady on its feet, but is eating and drinking appropriately.

The 3rd chick is by far the most robust and doing perfectly fine.

The rooster, however, has lost weight and condition. Any time we pick him up he immediately begins panting even if he tucks in for snuggles (he likes to sleep on us while we watch TV). No weird sounds, and he's active, but what on earth with the sudden weightloss?

I've put the entire flock on Corid just in case we brought Cocci in since that is the only thing I can think of that would cause this drama in such a quick span of time.

Help?

 

[Tonyroo]

Describe your setup, brooder used for the chicks and what your feeding them, any heat source? Do they get fresh air? Have you checked for lice and mites?

Same with your cockerel.

 

[FrostHollow]

Describe your setup, brooder used for the chicks and what your feeding them, any heat source? Do they get fresh air? Have you checked for lice and mites?

Same with your cockerel.

No lice or mites, I've checked over them thoroughly.

Brooder has access to fresh air and is a bin with window mesh over the top with a heat lamp on one side and ample access for them to escape to the opposite end away from the heat source. No panting no huddling. Everyone in the brooder, aside from those two chicks, have been stellar. There are two water sources and they are both away from the heat source. Feed is in a strip feeder in the middle of the bin (bin is a 50gal). They will move at 4 weeks to my brooder pool for more room.

The roo is free to roam and separated from the flock by a sliding partition. He has a 10x10 area to himself.

The Lanai is a constant 76 degrees and the brooder is, of course, warmer with the light. Last check it was 95 degrees in warmest part and 80 in the coolest.

This whole season I've only lost 4 chicks out of 88.

 

[Tonyroo]

Well it sounds like a good setup. Maybe someone can chime in and figure out what's going on with the cockerel.

 

[FrostHollow]

Well it sounds like a good setup. Maybe someone can chime in and figure out what's going on with the cockerel.

It's been a few years of trial and error for sure lol. I'm going to treat for mites anyway just in case. I know I'm not seeing evidence, but the roo was housed outside and a warm bath with some neem oil and salt isn't going to hurt anyone.

He's crowing his fool head off several times a day, but his crop isn't full and he's definitely losing weight. I wonder if it's because of a transition from his former home to this one? Maybe he's not a fan of all flock? I offered him some of my horse's cracked corn and my pigeon's seed mix. We'll see what he does with it.