Roo with Diahhrea - help?

[sarahs31]

Well, I wanted to start out with 3 hens and no roosters! Yeah, right. I found a friend of a friend that's moving and needed to get rid of all their hens and roosters. Well, I was convinced I needed all 13-15 hens (long story, can't get close to check and not really sure what I'm looking for either!

) and one rooster.

Picked them up last night and got them settled in my brand spanking new coop. I noticed tonite when I tucked them into bed that the roo has considerable diahhrea and pretty smelly too. Is this something I should be worried about or chalk it up to relocation stress. I've continued giving them the same feed as the previous owner. I think layer crumbles were all they were getting. I did give them stale cereal and a couple of pieces of bread this am.

I have no idea of the age, breed or previous care of these birds. Also, should I do some kind of preventative maintainence on them? On the upside, two of the hens laid eggs this afternoon. Women usually handle stress better, right?

 

[dlhunicorn]

simple stress from the move will affect them however...you need to get that roo OFF the layer ration (too much calcium whch will ultimately lead to kidney damage and/or gout)
Offer a separate feeder with grower ration (or if you cant get that unmed chickstarter with 1/5 added scratch) ... it does not have the high calcium % a layer ration has.
Be sure to offer oystershell (free choice) for the hens as they too will eat the grower .
Offering a live culture yogurt free choice would be advisable at this time.

 

[sarahs31]

ok, I'm really really new at this. ok, dumb question. Logistically, how does this work? I've put out oyster shells for the hens and I think the layer crumbles said 15% protein on the bag. What the best method to get him to eat what he's supposed to.

 

[dlhunicorn]

it might take a while at first to get him to prefer the grower over the layer ration but normally roos and non laying age birds will automatically avoid the higher laden calcium layer ration.
Just offer the grower in a separate feeder
The yogurt (with live bifidus cultures) should be offered free choice daily...this will help their digestion

 

[sarahs31]

Well, that's easy. Back to the feed store tomorrow then.

My FIL has been harrassing me about the cost of the two eggs we've gotten. Telling me that they are "golden eggs" I've been telling him that the 6 Walleyes they bring back from Canada each year cost about the same...