Rooster suddenly very ill!

[N F C]

I had to get Ocho the rooster from the vets today. They were doing very little to help him, did a fecal float and found na parasites. When we got him at the end of February the owners had wormed him the previous week. He has no external parasites.
The vet had not fed him anything but lettuce and an electrolyte vitamin solution and giving subcutaneous cefazolin injections. I can do that here. They had also not cleaned his carrier and that's where he stayed since yesterday morning. When I got him home I let him stay in our backyard for about 15 minutes so I could clean the carrier. I fed him some crumbles and scratch while he was out he ate the whole time! Brought him in and made a scrambled egg that he put a good dent in too.

He is very weak still, and now very thin. I'm wondering if I should consider re-worming him even though he was supposed to have been wormed about 2 months ago. Hoping @Eggcessive @ChickenCanoe @Wyorp Rock or @casportpony might weigh in on this.

I'm glad you picked Ocho up Becca...that vet doesn't sound worth a darn!

 

[Eggcessive]

Hopefully, they gave him a lot of fluids. Sometimes they give them under the skin—subcutaneous or sub-Q fluids, or they may have tubed him fluids, but I am so glad that he made it home. The antibiotc may help if he has some sort of infection. Glad he is eating some. Try foods with added water, just a little over chopped egg, tuna, meat, and very watery chicken feed. That gets more fluids into him. I would also feed him some vitamins—either chicken or human vitamin B complex 1/4 tablet daily crushed onto food. That may help his appetite.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I had to get Ocho the rooster from the vets today. They were doing very little to help him, did a fecal float and found na parasites. When we got him at the end of February the owners had wormed him the previous week. He has no external parasites.
The vet had not fed him anything but lettuce and an electrolyte vitamin solution and giving subcutaneous cefazolin injections. I can do that here. They had also not cleaned his carrier and that's where he stayed since yesterday morning. When I got him home I let him stay in our backyard for about 15 minutes so I could clean the carrier. I fed him some crumbles and scratch while he was out he ate the whole time! Brought him in and made a scrambled egg that he put a good dent in too.

He is very weak still, and now very thin. I'm wondering if I should consider re-worming him even though he was supposed to have been wormed about 2 months ago. Hoping @Eggcessive @ChickenCanoe @Wyorp Rock or @casportpony might weigh in on this.

Is he more alert and moving around?
Is he pooping, what's that like?

I hope the antibiotics do help. It's good that he was able to eat. What do you normally feed (layer/all flock)? I would get some extra protein into him (egg, fish meat) or use chick starter/all flock. With mine I like to give a direct dose of poultry vitamins - I would do that for 3-5 days as well. I think we all probably have a "favorite" mine is Rooster Booster Poultry Cell it has a good selection along with Bvitamins.

I'm sorry the vet visit was a bit disappointing.

 

[Bamabexchicks]

Hopefully, they gave him a lot of fluids. Sometimes they give them under the skin—subcutaneous or sub-Q fluids, or they may have tubed him fluids, but I am so glad that he made it home. The antibiotc may help if he has some sort of infection. Glad he is eating some. Try foods with added water, just a little over chopped egg, tuna, meat, and very watery chicken feed. That gets more fluids into him. I would also feed him some vitamins—either chicken or human vitamin B complex 1/4 tablet daily crushed onto food. That may help his appetite.

Is he more alert and moving around?
Is he pooping, what's that like?

I hope the antibiotics do help. It's good that he was able to eat. What do you normally feed (layer/all flock)? I would get some extra protein into him (egg, fish meat) or use chick starter/all flock. With mine I like to give a direct dose of poultry vitamins - I would do that for 3-5 days as well. I think we all probably have a "favorite" mine is Rooster Booster Poultry Cell it has a good selection along with Bvitamins.

I'm sorry the vet visit was a bit disappointing.

I didn't get that they gave him fluids...just the oral electrolytes/vitamins. I asked for a rubber catheter to tube him but the vet kept saying he didn't need to be tubed cause he was eating...? I persisted and came home with one anyway. I have Rooster booster, poultry nutri drench and the stuff he sent me home with. I will alternate them. He's eating scrambled eggs like they're going out of style, and eats his crumbled flock raiser really well. I will try to offer it moistened. He likes wet layer pellets so we will offer that also. He likes to be outside so I was thinking of bringing his favorite hen up to the backyard to hang out with him for 1/2 hour or so and see if it helps him eat more.

The disappointing vet experiance just made me determined to help him every way I can. He's a very nice bird and I'm very fond of him.

I appreciate you getting back to me so quickly, but I'm guessing neither of you feels that another dose of wormer would be a good thing right now?

 

[Bamabexchicks]

Poop picture from this morning. Kinda mucus-y and lime green

 

[ChickenCanoe]

That could be from the vet's lettuce diet.
Vet visits are often disappointing with chickens. We have hundreds of vets in our area and there are only 3 or 4 good avian vets with poultry experience. That ratio is not uncommon around the world. Most of the vets who train intensively with poultry go into the commercial industry. Add to that, the number of vet schools that have a poultry program has gone from nearly 20, thirty years ago to about 4 or 5 today.
Dog and cat vets are mostly worthless for poultry in this area.
Sounds like he is trying to recover on his own.
Giving him a friend will boost his spirits.
Alabama is warmer than here and possibly wetter so worms can be more problematic there. If he isn't real weak, it may not hurt to worm again. What were you planning on using to worm him? Another option is an herbal wormer that you can use regardless of his physical condition. This 2 formula product gets good results.
http://www.fiascofarm.com/herbs/mollysherbals.php/categories/herbal-wormer
If you moisten the feed, stick with the flock raiser. The scrambled eggs are great.
Make sure he's getting access to adult size grit.
Many will disagree with the following advice but since you don't really know what is wrong with him, it warrants being careful with feeding. And you may not know how he was fed in his previous life.
If he continues to improve over the next couple days, I'd cut back on the protein. You can do that by giving him some scratch, oats, wheat, barley or corn. Oats in warm weather is my preference. If your AF feed is 18% protein, a ratio of 6 parts feed to 4 parts grain will yield about 15% protein. If it is 20% protein, a ratio of 7 parts feed to 5 parts grain gets about 15% crude protein.
The reason for this is that a healthy rooster does just fine on about 13% protein. Excess protein is hard on the liver.
The problem with the grain/all flock mix is that some of the essential amino acids will be low. So if you continue this route, continue to offer some animal protein a couple times a week: eggs, meat, fish, etc..
I would continue to add Nutri-Drench to his water at the dosage on the bottle.
Lay off the layer feed, excess calcium is hard on the kidneys.
So to summarize, worm if you choose.
Lower calcium and crude protein while still providing animal protein and nutri-drench.

 

[Bamabexchicks]

That could be from the vet's lettuce diet.
Vet visits are often disappointing with chickens. We have hundreds of vets in our area and there are only 3 or 4 good avian vets with poultry experience. That ratio is not uncommon around the world. Most of the vets who train intensively with poultry go into the commercial industry. Dog and cat vets are mostly worthless in this area.
Sounds like he is trying to recover on his own.
Giving him a friend will boost his spirits.
Alabama is warmer than here and possibly wetter so worms can be more problematic there. If he isn't real weak, it may not hurt to worm again. What were you planning on using to worm him? Another option is an herbal wormer that you can use regardless of his physical condition. This 2 formula product gets good results.
http://www.fiascofarm.com/herbs/mollysherbals.php/categories/herbal-wormer
If you moisten the feed, stick with the flock raiser. The scrambled eggs are great.
Make sure he's getting access to adult size grit.
Many will disagree with the following advice but since you don't really know what is wrong with him it warrants being careful with feeding. And you may not know how he was fed in his previous life.
If he continues to improve over the next couple days, I'd cut back on the protein. You can do that by giving him some scratch, oats, wheat, barley or corn. Oats in warm weather is my preference. If your AF feed is 18% protein, a ratio of 6 parts feed to 4 parts grain will yield about 15% protein. If it is 20% protein, a ratio of 7 parts feed to 5 parts grain gets about 15% crude protein.
The reason for this is that a healthy rooster does just fine on about 13% protein. Excess protein is hard on the liver.
The problem with the grain/all flock mix is that some of the essential amino acids will be low. So if you continue this route, continue to offer some animal protein a couple times a week: eggs, meat, fish, etc..
I would continue to add Nutri-Drench to his water at the dosage on the bottle.
Lay off the layer feed, excess calcium is hard on the kidneys.
So to summarize, worm if you choose.
Lower calcium and crude protein while still providing animal protein and nutri-drench.

Thank you, great information! I don't know what kind of wormer to use, and will most likely order the herbal product. I am guessing I can use it on my whole flock and not have to deal with any egg withdrawal. I have been giving straight nutri drench drop by drop in his beak. Only give a few drops a couple times a day cause he won't drink his water with anything in it. We will alter the ratio of grain to crumble and stop layer feed altogether. He may have been getting too much protein/calcium as it is hard to know if he eats more flock feeder or layer since he has been housed with 7 hens since the second week of March. I dont think he got to eat alot at the previous owners: he was low in the order and afraid of the lead roo. They were mostly free ranged with not enough feeders.

 

[ChickNanny13]

From past reading, unsure if it's wise to worm when a chicken isn't up to par .... @casportpony @Eggcessive @dawg53

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Thank you, great information! I don't know what kind of wormer to use, and will most likely order the herbal product. I am guessing I can use it on my whole flock and not have to deal with any egg withdrawal. I have been giving straight nutri drench drop by drop in his beak. Only give a few drops a couple times a day cause he won't drink his water with anything in it. We will alter the ratio of grain to crumble and stop layer feed altogether. He may have been getting too much protein/calcium as it is hard to know if he eats more flock feeder or layer since he has been housed with 7 hens since the second week of March. I dont think he got to eat alot at the previous owners: he was low in the order and afraid of the lead roo. They were mostly free ranged with not enough feeders.

Those people tagged by @Chicknanny know more about wormers than I do because they do it more often. I've used ivermectin, safeguard and most recently valbazen. It is a bit more dangerous but it kills more types of worms than most..
But for the most part, I use the herbal wormer.
A rooster can die from being kept from feed and water by more dominant roosters.
Hopefully this was his problem and he'll fully recover with supportive care.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I have been giving straight nutri drench drop by drop in his beak. Only give a few drops a couple times a day cause he won't drink his water with anything in it.

If you are using Poultry Nutri-Drench, direct dose is 1cc per 3 pounds of weight daily. Of course you can split that dose up into morning/evening if you wish, depends on how agreeable he is.

As far as worming, try and see if it helps. I don't know anything about the herbal wormer recommended so won't comment on that. I know ChickenCanoe is not going to recommend something he thinks will do any harm.
Your "traditional" wormers would be Fenbendazole and Valbazen.

For some reason Enteritis keeps coming to mind, did the Vet do any type of testing at all?