Please Help! My Little Jerry is VERY Sick!!

[FlockofFun]

Hello Everyone! I am new to this board and while I am very excited to join I need help with my favorite rooster, a Dutch Bantam named Little Jerry.

I do not know how old LJ is, I purchased him as an adult from the feed store. He is quite a character and has a terrible crow, but that's what makes him so special.

For the last few weeks, he has not been acting like himself. He is not interested in the ladies like he usually is. He still eats and drinks. His eyes are still bright and clear. However, he has lost almost all the color from his comb and he just acts very, very depressed.

I have put him in a cage with one other very nice hen. I had to separate him because the other roosters were being VERY mean to him. At first, I was treating him with antibiotics, but I quickly stopped when I thought that maybe he was cropbound- realizing that antibiotics would only make the situation much worse.

For the past few days, I have been making him a mash of soaked Layena, some cracked corn, baby bird food, and mixed in some prebiotic/probiotic supplement that I give my horse. He also got some bread soaked in olive oil.

I am not sure what else to do with him, there are no vets in the area that treat poultry. Should I try some electrolytes, it is very hot and I was wondering if that is what is bothering him.

One last thing, he used to be one of three roosters, now I have introduced two new, younger roosters into the flock from the chicks I ordered in February. Could he be depressed because he has been replaced? Just a thought.

Any input would be greatly appreciated. Little Jerry is my absolute favorite and I would be very upset if I lost him. Thank you for your help!

 

[LynneP]

I hope others will respond, but I was wondering why you're giving him layena- might there be anything harmful to a rooster? I'm very sorry he is ill, and I have no experience in this so I hope our experts will jump in as I bump this back to the top...

 

[SpottedCrow]

have you checked his wing pits or vent for buggies?
has he been wormed?

I had a Jerry too.

 

[keljonma]

First let me say, Welcome To BYC. I'm sorry to hear your bird isn't behaving normally. Many of us live in areas without avian or poultry vets. Where I live (rural farm area), a vet won't see you unless you have over 1000 birds. So I know how frustrating it is when they are sick and you're not sure what to do. I would try only one thing at a time, so you can determine if a course of action is working.

If you think your roo is sick, he should be ISOLATED, or you may find that you have infected other birds in your flock.

Loss of color in his comb could be a number of things. He could be stressed by the changes in the flock pecking order. He could be suffering heat stress and be dehydrated. If you worm your flock, has he been wormed?

If he is seems like he is not interested in the ladies, it could be because he is not the Alpha roo, and the Alpha kicks his butt when he goes near the ladies. How many roos do you have? 5 total? And how many hens? You only need one roo for 15 hens unless you have them separated for breeding purposes.

What symptoms did he present that made you think he was crop bound? And have you seen an improvement? My opinion is that you would be better off not giving him the cracked corn if you really think he is crop bound. What are his droppings like - normal?, watery?, what color?

I personally don't use antibiotics, but I would say this about using them: Antibiotics are serious medicine. Does the doctor give you antibiotics every time you are sick? Probably not; so you shouldn't use them everytime a chicken shows abnormal behavior either.

Electrolytes with vitamins are a good place to start when you have a bird that seems to be under the weather or suffering heat stress. Poly vi sol children's vitamins without iron are good if you can't get the electrolytes with vitamins. Plain yogurt w/active cultures mixed with garlic and/or feed is also helpful for getting some nutrients into the bird who is not eating normally.

Try observing him for an extended period of time. Keep a journal of his eating, drinking, elimination, sleeping behaviors. Keep us posted.

Good luck!

 

[FlockofFun]

Thank you for all of the replies. I do need to worm him, I have a dewormer, but did not use it on the entire flock because it said not to use for egg-producing birds, but now that he is isolated, I will go ahead and do it. Is there any wormer that you all reccomend? I have the blue and white bottle of wormer, I forget the name if it.

I definitely have too many roos. I have 4 roos and 16 hens. They are free range most of the time and then during the spring we separate to breed. The reason for have more than one is because they are all different breeds. It is not a large scale breeding operation, but all of the birds that I breed sell well at the local feed store. It is just a fun backyard hobby. There have never been any other altercations between the other roos.

I feed the Layena as a mash to all of the chickens, I didn't know that it was a problem to feed to roos. Like I said they are free range so it is not usually their primary food source.

I suspected he may be crop bound b/c his crop was pretty smushy, and I could not find anything else that fit his symptoms.

What do you reccomend that he eat in the meantime, just yogurt? He usually eats the mashes that I make him.

Thank you again for your help, I really appreciate it. I will let you know how he does.

 

[Jenski]

My two cents would be to make careful observations and be reasonably sure of a diagnosis before treating for anything. Switching foods and medications without knowing just what's up with him may only muddle his symptoms.

What is your weather like? How hot? If you do keep him isolated for awhile (recommended), make sure he stays nice and cool.

Please keep us posted on how this develops! And welcome!

 

[FlockofFun]

It has been very hot and very humid as well. It is atleast 90 everyday. I thought that the weather could be bothering him as well. He has been staying in a shaded coop, that is very well ventilated.

 

[Jenski]

FlockofFun, is he panting? If you are home during the day, you could give him a non-tippable pan of ice/icewater, some nice cool non-citrus fruit like melon, or even a gentle fan stationed out of his reach. Some of my breeds "feel the heat" more than others. Just one possibility.

 

[dlhunicorn]

You need to cut out scratch when it is hot and certainly if crop problems are suspected.
No, roos should not have layer...just put out a grower or finisher type of feed or even a non-medicated starter (you can mix them) in a separate bowl and you will see that they will leave the calcium rich layer alone and eat from that feeder.
The type of wormer is very important (and I do suspect that is the primary problem here) as not every wormer will get all worms (for that you need a broad spectrum wormer like ivomec Eprinex (which is not "approved" for chickens but this has nothing to do with the birds health) ...this wormer will get most nearly every time of worm and in addition will help with parasites. Here is an article on it and dosage (use the spot-on method is my advice instead of putting it in the waterer)... in this case repeat after ten days.
http://shilala.homestead.com/ivomec.html

 

[FlockofFun]

Thank you for the info. He is much worse. He cannot stand and will no longer eat or drink. When he was still barely walking over the weekend, he was very wobbly. I will try the wormer, but I am not sure if anything will help him at this point.