Rooster a bit "off"--wondering what could be ailing him

[countrygoddess]

I have two year-old Silver Grey Dorking cocks who are kept separate. For a few weeks I let one guy out with the hens to forage while the other stays in a pen, then I switch them so the penned up one can roam for a while. It's not ideal, but it's the only thing I can do until I can make separate yards for them.

The cock who is in the pen now has been "off" for several months now. Here's what I've noticed:

When he was in with his two breeding hens in late April:
I noticed that sometimes the back of his comb appeared dark blue. I also noticed that sometimes he appeared to be drinking loads of water--to the point that he would gurgle and cough. Once cleared, though, the gurgling and coughing would completely disappear for weeks. He was definitely eating because I watched him. His poops were fine. His fertility was good. His eyes and nostrils were clear. Once out of the breeding pens and back with his male cohorts (with whom he spent the winter), he fought with one of them and killed him, so clearly he was strong and full of energy at that time.

Last week or so:
His eyes and nostrils are clear. He is drinking loads to the point of gurgling. His crop doesn't feel impacted, just full of water. He is picking at his food, but doesn't seem to actually be eating it. His poops are semi-solid and emerald green. He sometimes stands and moans, and other times he seems more active and crows back and forth with my other rooster. His head is not droopy. I'm not sure if he has lost weight. I picked him up yesterday but didn't notice anything significant. If he's not eating, he must be losing weight, though. I'll check again tomorrow (I'm at work doing the evening shift right now). His comb is almost always dark blue at the back. Today, however, I noticed it was back to fully red, for the time being.

What could be going on?? Oh, by the way, I wormed my entire flock at the end of March with Flubenvet. All my other chickens seem just fine.

 

[Judy]

Green poops can be from not eating much. Dark combs are due to poor circulation. Lots of times this is related to a heart problem. I don't know what to make of the excessive thirst, unless it is heat related. Any chance there is a high amount of sodium in their water?

Not much help, I know. I hope you get it sorted out.

 

[countrygoddess]

No, you were definitely helpful! =) Any little bit, you know?

Not sure about the sodium in the water. It's well water. It hasn't been overly hot here, but maybe on the warmer days he's drinking more...

 

[seminolewind]

Sometimes roos get a blue tip or two because they're happy doing their roo thing. When it's warm out, all my chickens guzzle water, and some gack it out. Gross.

I would check and see if he's thin, and eating enough.

The emerald green poop, like Flockwatcher said, can be no more nutrients available to the chicken either by eating or living on their fat stores.

 

[countrygoddess]

No, he's definitely not feeling well. But it's intermittent. He'll sometimes just stand and moan, moan, moan, moan.... But then sometimes he'll stand proud and tall on his roost and crow, crow, crow! And it's not just a blue tip or two. It's the whole back of his comb (he's got a split comb, and the back half is just a big rectangle--I'm breeding Dorkings to improve them ;-) ) and when it's dark blue/grey it also tends to look a little shriveled. And it's cold when it's like that. Even on warm days when he can sit in the sun. Poor guy. I'm thinking of culling him if he's going to continue to be sickly. He's got 3 offspring now and hopefully they're heartier than he is...

 

[countrygoddess]

Today's update:

We let him out of his pen today and brought him to free-range in our yard. His crop was empty and he might have been a bit lighter in weight, but not significantly. I thought about getting out my hanging scale and weighing him to see how different his weight is from his pre-breeding weight, but I just never got the chance before I had to leave for work. He still was pooping that bizarre fluorescent green poop--I saw fresh evidence under his roost.

I did notice that a chip in his beak that has been there for a while had cracked across, like to fall off. It was really very small, so no big deal, except that it was attached a tiny bit to the quick. I'm wondering if, like a hangnail, it bothered him when that loose chip of beak wiggled the quick. I cut the loose bit off and it didn't even bleed (the exposed quick had sort of calloused over already). He also had the beginnings of two spots of bumblefoot on the 5th toe of one of his feet. I'll keep an eye on those and take action if necessary. He wasn't limping because of that--that toe doesn't even touch the ground.

I put a waterer out for him and little heap of food (I make my own). A little later, I checked on him and he was pacing back and forth outside the electric fence of the chicken yard (****** if you do, ****** if you don't! LOL), but the heap of food was gone and crop had water in it. His comb has been fine all day--nice and red. I noticed that he was limping a bit, but that might have been from when I told the kids to get him from his pen and bring him to the yard, but they misunderstood and got him from his pen and let him go in the chicken yard. He, of course, began fighting with the other rooster.

Because he seemed so concerned about going home, my kids and I moved his pen to a new location to orient it a little differently for more hours of sun (he does still have shade in it at all times), spread a thick layer of straw over the bottom, and I gave him a different kind of feeder which is more open. He settled in and did eat a bit. So I don't know. Maybe this whole thing was a result of that beak hangnail, maybe he's got a heart problem. Who knows? I'll keep an eye on him...