Rehabilitating a Rooster

[Eggcessive]

MG (mycoplasma gallisepticum) usually doesn’t affect the ability to stand and walk, although it may make him sleepy. MS (mycoplasma synovitis) is a bacterial arthritis that may affect walking because of swollen ankles and hock joints. But he may he just been in too bad of shpe from his injuries, and hopefully he will recover.

 

[ColtHandorf]

Well he is still crowing absurdly early throughout the morning... and he also has a good appetite. Poop seems to go back and forth between being fairly normal and overly soft/wet in my opinion, but I'm not a chicken poop connoisseur. I'm still alternating vitamin water and regular water every other day as he seems to prefer just water.

I still feel like Steve Irwin when I have to give him his medicine. He hates it. I usually end up toweling him and prying his mouth open while he growls and throws himself around. But he's taken it three nights in a row. How long should I keep him on the antibiotics?

And he's still not walking around. He'll stand occasionally and he stands great when he's in the bath and the water is supporting him. But he seems perfectly content to just lay there while I slave over him. lol Any ideas for anything I should be doing for him to help him out? Or things I should be looking for for why he's not walking? Until the day I brought him inside, he'd been walking just fine.

 

[Eggcessive]

What antibiotic are you using—LA200,Tylsoin, or doxycycline. Sorry, but I can’t rememeber. LA 200 can be used 7 days, tylosin for 5 days, and doxy is probably in that ballpark. It is hard enough to find dosage for chickens, and few give times.

Can you try bringing in a meek hen or place some food a few feet awy from him where he woulld have to get up and walk to it?

 

[ColtHandorf]

I'm using the LA200 (oxytetracycline), so seven days. I've moved the food and water and don't feel like he eats or drinks nearly as much throughout the day. The water level doesn't drop as quickly and he doesn't make a mess eating. I hear him flapping to exercise his wings when I'm in bed at night. I can try bringing a hen into the bathroom for a bit. I wish I had something smaller and less flighty. it's been cold and wet so I haven't taken him out for a field trip, I didn't want to compound the URI. We aren't supposed to get any rain until next week so I might be able to take him out for a few minutes in the afternoons.