overnight roo very sick looking

[indianporfavor]

yesterday my big roo (chucky) looked perfectly fine, as mean as ever. Today when i went out to feed them, he is moping around, not crowing, eyes almost totally closed. When he jumped out of the coop into the new run, only about 6 inches, he fell like his legs couldnt hold him. Any idea what could have caused this?

 

[Ms. Vicky]

My female favorite Buff Orphington, Marmalade, got sick this winter just before Christmas.
She got sick suddenly. Had a bit of diarrhea and then crashed.
Marmalade could barely hold her head up. It was really sad to see her.
She had yellow diarrhea; no blood in the diarrhea. Was exhausted.
Weather had been cold and wet.

I am a human doctor and have no knowledge of chicken medicine.
So I searched the web. She did not seem to have an egg stuck. She was tired but not in pain. Best I could figure was that she either had coccidiomycosis or a bacterial infection or something viral that I could not fix.

The two antibiotics I found on the web that seemed to be ok for chickens were Corid (what everyone recommended) and Bactrim DS (not first choice). So I ordered the Corid from Arcata Pet (they had it in stock).
It was right before Christmas and I was worried that Marmalade would be dead before I got the Corid so I figured I would try the Bactrim DS while I waited for the Corid to come in.
Bactrim DS is a really common human antibiotic and I had some at home.
Ground the bactrim up to a powder, and added about 1/10th the ground up tablet to about 1 tablespoon of coool water water (it did not disolve very well).

Brought Marmalde inside in front of the stove and put her in a bin with lots of clean bedding. My husband held her in a towel and I gave her the antibiotics by dribbling the mixture of water and antibotic powder on the side of her beak. I caught the residue in a cup under her beak. She was so weak that she did not fight me and took the antibiotics.

The next morning she looked a little better. Offered her treats. For what ever reason she wanted grapefruit.
Gave her more antibiotics. She started rejecting the antibiotics by flinging the drops off her beak but I was persistent.
By the third day she was roosting on the side of the bin and wanting to go explore the house.
Let her go out slowly. Did not encourage house exploration

Marmalade is now fully recovered. Laying eggs even though it is winter. Running around trying to find worms when it warms up and having fun.

I don't know whether this will help with your rooster. The antibiotics and heat seemed to help the most.
Let me know how it goes with your Dude. I have a fondness for mean Roosters.
Vicky