Rooster is Choking on new feed!?

[FarmGirl21]

I recently bought a bag of calf mana to help the chickens that were sick gain weight back. I had to leave for 4 days to house/pet sit for someone & when i got home I found that they had started feeding everyone the calf mana mixed in with pellet. I went around checked on everyone & they all seemed fine last night. When i went out today to chekc on everyone i noticed my New blue Japanese rooster was acting really funny...kind of lethargic & his beak was hanging open quite a bit. i had someone hold him while i checked out his mouth/throat...I almost died...i looked in & saw a BIG, nasty looking clumpy/lumpy thing in his throat!! it was all redish & fleshy colored so i immediately got all worried. He put up absolutely No fight when i used a piece of straw to move it out of his throat...after a few seconds i remembered the calf mana being red and was a little relieved but immediately brought him inside to get everything out. it took about 15 minutes, a wet Q-tip & lots of water in a little syringe to get everything out...when it was finally all done he had almost 1/2 a dixie cup of clumped up food stuffed down his throat overflowing into his mouth!!!!!

After all was done, I held him & let him rest for a while wrapped in a towel & gave him a little water at a time. He seems alright now, much more active & making some noise (yay). He went back out with his girls along with some chick starter since i didnt have any layer crumble on hand.

Has anyone ever had this happen before??? He hasnt had a problem with food at all up until the calf mana, i don't know if it was just too much for him or what.


This guy just got a royal butt-whooping before i left so i was already worried about him. I hate leaving for more than a day, i always feel like something's going to go wrong or someone will forget to feed something

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[AngelzFyre]

I've only ever fed Calf Manna to horses and bottle calves once they were weaned onto feed, and know that they have to totally chew the pellets to not choke on them as well. The only pellets I feed my horses anymore are Purina Equine Senior. They easily dissolve and aren't as prone to create "choke" in horses like alfalfa and some other pelleted feeds.
I would think that maybe you could feed just small amounts to the rooster if you are going to continue feeding and I'd wet the pellets with warm water into a mash so they are easier to consume, but don't leave them in uneaten for too long because they'll mold and make them sick.
Since he is the only one that was ill from them, maybe he just got carried away and tried to cram too many in at a time and didn't drink any water so they just stuck?

 

[FarmGirl21]

That's kind of what we thought might have caused it, just overeating & not enough water. Someone on here actually recommended the calf mana to help with the weight because it's been so cold down here recently & theyre pretty skinny. This guy is the only one this happened to, the other ones ate it up just fine & look HUGE now. they only got it twice.

 

[AngelzFyre]

I just now looked it up on Valley Vet Supply website and it's recommended for everything EXCEPT sheep and it says fowl so it's probably great for chickens too.
I loved how it worked with the horses, just was very expensive.
I'd keep an eye on the roo and see how he does and try again with smaller amount, or wet a bit and see how that goes.
I give my chickens warm oatmeal with flax seed and you could try oatmeal with the calf manna and hopefully he'll eat slower.

In the winter here I feed my chickens extra scratch when it's really cold and also alfalfa hay. They hold their weight well.
Take care and hope he does well with everything!
Randi Lynn

 

[cjeanean]

I had one of mine do the same thing. I think she wolfed the food down too fast and it didn't get a chance to move from her throat to her crop. I had to gently press on the bulge under her beak and remove the chunks of food with a pair of tweezers. I moistened some of the food after that and made sure they had plenty of water, and they were fine. Maybe they hadn't gotten enough water during the day and their saliva was too sticky? That's all I could think of! BTW, mine were just eating regular feed store brand feed.