Rooster sneezing

[MarlaMac]

Good Morning.

My rooster, Cogburn, has been sneezing as of late. He is also having a bit of trouble crowing, as if his throat might be sore. He will start to crow and the noise will be a little raspy and then he stops.

I clean the poop from coop every day and I clean the water dispensers daily too to make sure no mold is in them. I have to admit that I do this more regularly now than a week ago, but the water bowls were never caked with mold, just an occasional notice of a dark residue on the bowl area where the water flows to (this might simply be dust settling to the bottom as we have really sandy soil). I use RO water for them. I do keep a fan in the coop during the night b/c it has been hot here. I noticed he roosts directly in front of it.

I haven't noticed any other signs in him. He is active, mates regularly. He just sneezes and has issues crowing.

Cogburn is a Black Australorp and is 7 months old. Any advise would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

 

[MarlaMac]

I will look inside the beak tomorrow morning and will check to see what his crop is like in the morning too. Never felt a bird's crop, but surely I would know by touch if it is impacted. Will also get new, closer photos tomorrow.

No new birds, only two little girls that were hatched by broody momma and are now 8 weeks old.

Thank you.

Good morning. Here are pictures taken this morning. His crop felt empty - literally all I felt was his chest bone. I haven't examined his poop yet, but will when I clean the coop this morning. I clean poop every morning and haven't noticed anything, I will look extra hard today when I scoop it out. Thank you again for your time and advise. Let me know if you need any more specific pictures.

Edit: Got lucky and actually saw him poop this morning - right on a lawn chair. Examined it and it looks completely normal. No blood, no worms.

 

[MarlaMac]

You can use either.
Me, I would prefer the injectable since you can give it direct oral dose and treat the individual bird while leaving them with the flock. The powder goes in the drinking water, so unless you separated him out, you'd end up treating your whole flock.

Injectable Tylan50 can usually be found in stores like TSC. Get a couple of syringes and a pack of needles too. You need the needle to draw the medication into the syringe, then take off the needle and direct dose him.

For symptoms of respiratory illness, the dose for Tylan50 is 0.25ml per pound of weight given orally 3 times a day for 5 days.

Here's how to give oral meds https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...dications-to-all-poultry-and-waterfowl.73335/

Tylosin (Tylan soluble) can be used though if that's all you can find. Dosing is on the package.
You can order it online, here's one place that use to order meds https://allbirdproducts.com/products/tylosin-powder-generic

If your TSC or feed store doesn't have Tylan50 but they do have Tylan200, you can use that too. The 200 is just 4X the "strength" of Tylan 50 but I can help you calculate dosing for 200 if needed.

Keep me posted on how he's doing.
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Thank you for being so thorough! Yes, I saw Tylan 50 at TSC. I was worried I would have to do an injection with it. I don't have an issue giving orally though. I will start this on Sat if I do not see an improvement and treat as indicated. Now to figure out how much he weighs.

Thank you again and I will definitely let you know how things turn out. Appreciate your time.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Adding more like you did may help.

Since you are TX and have such hot weather, having it more open is a good idea.

@3KillerBs is very good with ventilation and coop questions. I'd see if adding what you did makes any difference.
Ventilation may not be his issue and you are dealing with respiratory illness, but having plenty of air flow is essential for their health.

 

[3KillerBs]

Adding more like you did may help.

Since you are TX and have such hot weather, having it more open is a good idea.

@3KillerBs is very good with ventilation and coop questions. I'd see if adding what you did makes any difference.
Ventilation may not be his issue and you are dealing with respiratory illness, but having plenty of air flow is essential for their health.

Thanks for the mention.

This is my article on coop ventilation: https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/repecka-illustrates-coop-ventilation.77659/

I don't know much about chicken illnesses, but I am soundly convinced that plenty of fresh air is key to good health for both humans and animals.

 

[MarlaMac]

Adding more like you did may help.

Since you are TX and have such hot weather, having it more open is a good idea.

@3KillerBs is very good with ventilation and coop questions. I'd see if adding what you did makes any difference.
Ventilation may not be his issue and you are dealing with respiratory illness, but having plenty of air flow is essential for their health.

Thank you for all your help. Cogburn is getting back to his normal self. He is crowing, still not perfectly, but a lot better, has started escorting his girls to and from the coop to lay eggs again and is staying up later to make sure his girls are in the run at sun down. The sores on his crown are gone. He still has a slight wheeze, but even that is getting better. He is more "on guard" than I have seen him in a week when his ladies are foraging.

BTW...I had some silicone line that I use for my fish tank air line that I put on the end of the syringe (fit perfectly). It makes the whole process of inserting the meds very easy as it is soft and flexible.

Thanks again, your input was invaluable.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Thank you for all your help. Cogburn is getting back to his normal self. He is crowing, still not perfectly, but a lot better, has started escorting his girls to and from the coop to lay eggs again and is staying up later to make sure his girls are in the run at sun down. The sores on his crown are gone. He still has a slight wheeze, but even that is getting better. He is more "on guard" than I have seen him in a week when his ladies are foraging.

BTW...I had some silicone line that I use for my fish tank air line that I put on the end of the syringe (fit perfectly). It makes the whole process of inserting the meds very easy as it is soft and flexible.

Thanks again, your input was invaluable.

I'm glad to hear that Cogburn is getting better, that's wonderful news!

Great idea about using the air line to give them meds.

Thank you for the update, I do hope he makes a full recovery, keep me posted.
And you are welcome.

 

[3KillerBs]

I'm sorry that your allergies are on roll, I think mine might be starting up (Uggh!). It's been really windy here with that hurricane pushing in from FL, so it seems that has stirred everything up.

My head always runs before a hurricane. I think it's from the pressure changes as well as the dust the wind kicks up.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

My head always runs before a hurricane. I think it's from the pressure changes as well as the dust the wind kicks up.

Oh, there's been a big change the last couple of days. I feel a headache coming on
This too will pass.

 

[MarlaMac]

I'm glad to hear he's doing a little better!

Possible, it could be something environmental like allergies.
If that's the case, then it should clear up once ragweed season is over. Not sure if an antibiotic may help with that and I don't know of anything long term like an allergy med that can be given. Benadryl could be given to see if it makes any difference, but usually it's only given once or twice to help relieve swelling due to bee stings, etc. I've never seen anyone use it for longer than 2 days in chickens.

I'm sorry that your allergies are on roll, I think mine might be starting up (Uggh!). It's been really windy here with that hurricane pushing in from FL, so it seems that has stirred everything up. Rain is coming, so it should settle that hopefully.

Hope you get some relief. We desperately need rain here in central texas! We have 4 stock ponds on our property, 3 ran dry this summer. Only our spring fed one stayed partially full. Lots of dead fish. Stay safe!