Roo has no appetite. No clue what could be wrong.

[azygous]

My two-year old Buff Brahma roo Penrod has had no appetite for almost a week. His poop is showing green bile, so he's not getting enough to eat. He turns up his beak at all his favorites - BOSS, cooked rice, tuna, cat food, and carrots. He won't touch his flock grower crumbles.

He doesn't behave as if he's sick. He has no respiratory discharge. He has no infected sores or apparent swelling anywhere.

I'm at a loss. I don't want to start stuffing antibiotics down him until I find an infection.

I love this big guy. I don't want to lose him. Can anyone give me a clue here?

 

[Areeba]

Hope he will be fine soon.... try to give him some peeled sunflower seeds,boiled eggs and grains with fresh yoghurt. If still he is not eating then try to give him some mash food with a help of a syring or table spoon.....Hope it will work.....Good Luck...

 

[azygous]

Thanks for the encouragement and ideas. I offered him boiled rice with some mashed pumpkin this morning. He ate the pumpkin and a little of the rice. Then I tried chunky chicken soup. He ate one bite of meat.

I'll boil an egg and cereal and see what happens. I'm running out of ideas.

I know enough to try to get him to eat before he runs out of energy to eat. If he passes that point, he's a goner.

 

[azygous]

I decided to treat for impacted crop. Heck. May as well pick something to target, huh?

I made Penrod a pancake with yogurt and pumpkin. He seemed to enjoy that, but wouldn't eat more than three bites before he lost interest.

That's when I suspected maybe it's his crop. Maybe that's why he doesn't want to eat very much at a time. So I found a syringe and squirted a little olive oil along with some vitamin E into his mouth.

Later, I saw he'd eaten the rest of his pancake. Maybe things will turn around now.

On a side note, I also suspected he was not eating because he is experiencing a surge of spring hormones, and he's been especially combative with Darrel, my Cochin roo. Yesterday, some dogs who were allowed to run about while their owner came in to speak with me killed Darrel.

So now Penrod is the one and only. That may have an effect on him, too.

And that irresponsible dog owner will never be setting foot on my property again.

 

[azygous]

I wish to conclude this thread in case anyone is looking for what to do for a rooster who, for no apparent reason, won't eat and is suffering from malnutrition. This is what Penrod's poop looked like around four days after I discovered he wasn't eating.It was, as you can see, green bile and nitrates, a clear sign he wasn't getting enough nourishment.

I'd feed him and he would take a few bites and lose interest, like he felt he was full. I took a stab at a diagnosis, and decided to treat for impacted crop. Mind you, there was no bad odor lingering around his head as there would be with sour crop. His crop was the size of a walnut and hard.

So I put a couple cc's of olive oil in a syringe along with a broken open capsule of vitamin E and squirted it down his gullet twice a day for two days. Today, he appeared to be eating normally again, as well as pooping regularly. All traces of green bile have disappeared.

I'm pleased to report the patient has been cured.