Rooster slowly losing voice

[Gingera]

Hello all! Hope you are well. I have an orpington rooster who started loosing his voice two weeks ago. The first sign was strained crowing. Today I noticed he’s unable to talk at all. He’s eating, drinking, running, and wide eyed. He has normal and runny droppings. No breathing issues. No sneezing or coughing. Just voice issues and some watery droppings. Thoughts????

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Not sure what's going on with him.

How old is he?
Anything inside his beak?
Is his crop emptying overnight?

Photos of him and his poop may help. Do you have video of him? For video, upload to youtube and provide a link.

 

[Gingera]

Not sure what's going on with him.

How old is he?
Anything inside his beak?
Is his crop emptying overnight?

Photos of him and his poop may help. Do you have video of him? For video, upload to youtube and provide a link.

Thank you for replying. Oswald is 10 months old. We looked down his throat previously and didn’t see anything. But I’ll specifically check his beak.

I’ll video him. Posting a few photos from this past week. I’m gone all day today so I can take new photos tomorrow and a video.

 

[Gingera]

 

[Gingera]

Not sure what's going on with him.

How old is he?
Anything inside his beak?
Is his crop emptying overnight?

Photos of him and his poop may help. Do you have video of him? For video, upload to youtube and provide a link.

 

[Gingera]

In addition, yesterday he started staggering like a drunk. Not all the time. I noticed he’s flapping his wings more when he walks fast. I think to keep balance. He’s always done this when he runs as he is a big boy. And now my two girls have diarrhea. We do not have a good chicken vet. They don’t do testing of any kind. I purchased antibiotics some time back. Should I just inject them?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

What do you feed including treats?
I would check to make sure his crop is emptying overnight. Make sure he's eating his normal feed and limit treats for a while.

Staggering can be from a number of things from nutritional deficiency to disease like Marek's. You can try offering vitamins to see if they help. 400IU Vitamin E and 1/2 tablet B-Complex daily. Give him a bit of egg daily as well.

To me, I don't see anything concerning over the poop. It's a fairly wide range. One is a "normal poop" the dark one is "cecal poop". Stool can be soft and watery depending on consumption of water.

A fecal float will tell you if worms are part of the problem.

 

[Gingera]

What do you feed including treats?
I would check to make sure his crop is emptying overnight. Make sure he's eating his normal feed and limit treats for a while.

Staggering can be from a number of things from nutritional deficiency to disease like Marek's. You can try offering vitamins to see if they help. 400IU Vitamin E and 1/2 tablet B-Complex daily. Give him a bit of egg daily as well.

To me, I don't see anything concerning over the poop. It's a fairly wide range. One is a "normal poop" the dark one is "cecal poop". Stool can be soft and watery depending on consumption of water.

A fecal float will tell you if worms are part of the problem.

Thank you for the reply!!
I’ve been feeding them layer feed from tractor supply. However, I just ordered some organic feed with probiotics. I purchased starter feed for my new girls at a family owned feed store several hours away when I purchased my young’ins. I can tell a big difference in the smell of poop with this feed. So I decided to get layer feed for my adults.

I also feed clover and meal worms daily. They love eating out of my hand.

Ugh. It could be Mareks or avian virus. I had a rooster who became paralyzed at Christmas. He was my favorite bird. We removed him and kept him inside for weeks until the paralysis spread. So sad.
The others seemed fine. No symptoms until now.

If it is a disease like this, then I’m sure the girls have it. As they are together all the time. And although my new girls are in a different run, the silkie found a way into the newbie run a few times until I discovered where and blocked it. So they could be contaminated as well. Good grief.

 

[jBabychickn]

Hello all! Hope you are well. I have an orpington rooster who started loosing his voice two weeks ago. The first sign was strained crowing. Today I noticed he’s unable to talk at all. He’s eating, drinking, running, and wide eyed. He has normal and runny droppings. No breathing issues. No sneezing or coughing. Just voice issues and some watery droppings. Thoughts????

Where do you live? I’d be very concerned about Avian Flu with these symptoms.

Visit the APHIS USDA website for more information about your State Vet and to see if AI is confirmed in your area

 

[jBabychickn]

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I also see that you have Bird feeders. Get rid of those today!! And purchase some little shiny windmills to stick in your yard. Keep wild birds out of yard by all means right now with this AI outbreak.

It’s truly frightening. More and more states are implementing complete lockdowns for all flocks, including backyard flocks. And, If you end up in a cull zone, they will come in and depopulate your birds and there’s nothing you can do about it. I’ve been keeping up to date on this since the first outbreak in North Carolina.