Rooster is very ill, worms?

peeboo

Crowing
15 Years
Apr 9, 2008
298
3
256
fort bragg nc
I have a buff brahma rooster about 14 months old. about 4 weeks ago he has stopped crowing and loving on the ladies. I noticed his waddles have become very pale, leading me to believe he is anemic. he had a very healthy appetite though. i thought maybe due to molting since he is in a molt, not a very heavy one though. this week he is listless, finding a spot in the yard to hide and he'll stay there all day. last night was the first time he didn't make i t back to the coop. he was just laying in my yard in the dark, i thought he was dead. i put him back in the coop and this morning i found he did not leave the coop at all. he was just where i left him the night before. i tried coaxing him out with my hand but he just fell over like he has no balance. i put food in his face and he out right rejected it. i checked him for mites but have yet to find ANY signs of them. his poo has been off, wattery but no blood and i have yet to find a worm. any ideas on what it might be? he is getting progressively worse. he used to not let us pick him up. now he puts up no fight at all and sometimes he holds his wings down like he's too tired to keep them up. i also noticed he has lost a lot of weight. he's all feathers. he used to be very large and heavy. he looks the same size but i can now pick him up with ease with one hand.

background info...
i have 8 hens also, none showing signs of illness. they free range all day. my brahma hen is also molting but she is not showing these same symptoms. she seems healthy. i feed them a mixture of layer pellets and starter due to having chicks with the flock. i give them treats on occasion, nothing fancy. grapes, raisins, and oatmeal. none of my flock have ever been wormed but have yet to have a problem. taking roo to vet after work today, want to get a poop test done.
 
I am sorry he is sick. It kinda sounds like a worm problem. I hope he makes it to see the vet. Iam sorry I don't know what to do for him, because I am new to these problems too. I heard you could force some surgar water with electrolights and see if that helps? Then you would need to treat for the worms when he is healthyer and be strong enough to fight it. Good luck, I hope someone else helps too~ Tacey
 
Having a fecal egg count done is a good idea. They'll also be able to thoroughly check him out for mites, etc, as they're hard to spot.

In the mean time, when you get him home, I'd recommend giving him some probiotics and vitamins to boost him from his anemia. If the vet recommends vitamins, use those recommended by the clinic. I'd definitely get probiotics in him if his droppings are runny however. You can use a small amount of plain yogurt, acidophilus capsules from the store, or a livestock probiotic from the feedstore.

Also make sure he's hydrated. If you read this before going to the vet, have the vet show you how to test at home. Also talk to them about their own probiotics if they have some at the clinic. They might be able to provide you a small supply for the mean time.

I'd keep him up - like you have - to make sure he has easy access to food and water without having to move. Literally I'd put them right there with him.

When this happened to me with an elderly rooster, I caged him with food and water so that I knew he could just reach over and get what he wanted.

let us know what the vet says and we'll go from there. I hope it's something minor.
 
Your statement that he has "no balance" and that he's not eating led me to believe that maybe he has Marek's Disease.

This is one of the leading causes of death in chickens, and Gail Demerow in her books (one of the "bibles" of chicken raising) basically states that you should just assume that ALL your chickens have it, and it is just lying dormant.

As he's a rooster, you can rule out any similar conditions of partial paralysis, such as being egg-bound/hypocalcemic, etc.

If your bird continues to not be able to move, and refuses to eat, I would just have him euthanized.

As for worms.....

Although it's certainly possible - you'd see signs in your whole flock - not just one birds.

Please research Marek's Diease. I believe I've had a few cases on my farm, but as my birds are well fed, and basically healthy - it's not been as devastating as you'd think.

Good luck,

Rachel
Bellecreek Farm
 
I have to respectfully disagree. I've seen so many cases of heat, anemia for different reasons, etc that pull through with just a little care. It's that time of year.

It's not that mareks doesn't exist - obviously it's prevalent in many flocks. But had I used that same advice, I'd have put down a few good birds that had other issues going on.

Again, I don't mean to take away from ewe's post. I am just adding my own years of experience to the mix.
 
sorry for the late update. they checked his stool. there are no vets around here that deal with chickens at all so i got lucky and had one who was a poultry enthusiast at one time and would at least do what she could. the fecal sample came out positive for (mystery critters). she stated she was not sure exactly what it was but he did have internal parasites. sadly, he died the next day despite our best efforts. all other chickens seemed very healthy but yesterday i noticed a fresh dropping. ( i check all i can find) and there was an orange puddle in that dropping. i looked closer and there were little orange creepy crawlies moving around! the orange puddle was made up of a bundle of these orange colored squiggly things. they were very small. they looked like you took a period (punctuation mark) and elongated it a bit. anyone have any idea what it could be??
 
The best course of action is to just treat for everything with an emphasis on roundworms.

Because he's very very infested (you rarely see worms in droppings unless a bird has a terrible case of worms) I'd start with a gentle wormer so that you don't send him into shock or kill him. Using a strong broad spectrum wormer first can cause heavily infested birds to go into anaphylactic shock or even be clogged (to death) with the passage of dying worms.

Use Wazine 17% first (piperazine 17%). It'll kill a great deal of the roundworms without killing them all. It's meant to be mild, kill only roundworms, and be followed up with another treatment. You only treat for one day. Then withdraw all meat/eggs for 14 days.

Then after the 2 weeks, treat with ivermectin. I prefer drop-on because then I know each bird got the right dose. Others use ivermectin in the water. It's a strong broad spectrum wormer and will kill nearly everything else (excluding tapes). It'll also kill mites/lice.

Thereafter worm twice yearly with ivermectin. New birds get the wazine/ivermectin protocol during quaratine.

I'd go out and get the wazine immediately. While you're there, check out the Probios probiotics and see if they'r ein your budget. That's a good way of providing the probiotics you're going to need to provide after each worming. (Birds should always get probiotics when stressed, ill, wormed, or medicated.) It's mostly non-dairy so you can use it with any medication. The paste is easy to give to a bird. The powder is easier.

If you can't budget that, then plain yogurt will work fine (as long as you're not using -mycin or -cycline antibiotics). And it's cheaper.

The day of and for one week after worming,, use probiotics daily.

Time is of the essence. I'm glad at least you have some answers!
 

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