Rooster is foaming at the mouth

[ackie]

Holy comb and wattles! I'm not surprised you're battling frostbite. Good luck! I'm glad he seems better today, even if it is magical.

 

[GoodGuinea]

It's happening again, over a week later. This morning he was standing all funny and unmoving in the middle of the coop with the hens walking around him. When he hadn't moved in about a half hour, I put him back in the crate in the basement. He had water available, but no food.

My daughter sat with him, and reported that he didn't move or poop for almost two hours. But then he seemed to slowly get back to normal and started drinking the water. Soon he was clucking and walking around again. After another couple hours, she put him back out in the run. Five minutes later, he was back in statue-mode. This time he was right beside the passageway between the main run and the extension we put on, and the other chickens had to brush by him to get through. He never moved, or even seemed to notice. After about 20 minutes, he was moving around again as usual.

I felt his crop (just now - after he was back outside and had another episode), but I think I must be doing it wrong. At least, I also felt one of the hens' crops, and they felt exactly the same. Both felt firm and large, but she seems normal and he doesn't. Maybe I'm feeling the wrong area? The only good thing is that he didn't have any foaming or drooling going on this time.

He's back in the basement for the night, with only water because I'm worried about adding more food if there's a crop issue. I can remove the water too, if that's best.

I must be missing something obvious here. Should I treat for an impacted crop, even if I'm not 100% certain that's what it is?

 

[Yardmom]

I don't know, but maybe someone else does. Is it possible for chickens to have seizures? With other animals they become unresponsive then after a bit back to normal. Then it starts all over. Mammals drool with seizures but I don't know if birds would be the same.

 

[Aapomp831]

The crop is a small storage area for food right next to the breastbone. It should be mostly full during the day, stuffed full at night and empty by the morning. To know for sure if there is a crop issue, withhold food and water overnight and check the crop in the morning before offering any food or water. If the crop is still full and bulgy, then the crop is more than likely impacted. In that case, no more food. Once a crop is impacted, the food piles up and ferments into sour crop. If you’re pushing on the crop and liquid is coming out, I would highly suspect an impacted crop. Please be aware - you will read about vomiting your chicken and that is a BAD idea. It’s too easy for the fluid to seep into the lungs and for the bird to aspirate. You want to replenish the good bacteria and eliminate the bad. Garlic water and only garlic water for the first 24 hours seems to help; then after that small amounts of scrambled eggs and plain, Greek yogurt. No carbs under any circumstances; carbohydrates feed fermentation (aka sour crop).