Rooster w EXTREME lethargy/isolating

[JuanitaWilson]

Hi! I'm new here, but I am desperate for some advice with my rooster.
He is a 1-1.5 year old Ermine Americauna of average build

Main symptom - extreme lethargy. Can hardly hold his eyes open for more than 30 seconds. Seems to just be going in and out of sleep. He seems like he's doing a "swallowing" thing often but it's not gaping. He just seems to be swallowing and almost smacking his mouth or lips, so to speak. He began to isolate and doesn't always care if he is with our flock. We have 6 hens, they are acting and laying normally. He stands in the same place for a long time, often falling asleep standing up. Or he will completely lay down for a half hour or more.

We have seen a few of the hens do the silent squawk, which is why I'm working under the assumption that we have a gape worm problem here. And for some reason he is the most affected. Though he is not doing the gaping or silent squawk.

This has been happening for about 3 weeks - not this bad the whole time, but it's been progressively getting worse. He had a mild case of lice, which we treated and he is cured of that, so he's not itchy, but his lethargy never went away and has just gotten worse with time. So now we are treating the whole flock for worms. I'm using Safeguard Aqua Sol. Day 2 completed for the hens. He's completed day 1 because he wouldn't drink on the original day I tried to give him medicated water, so I had to get an appropriate syringe.

So we have him isolated in his own pin. He has eaten a scrambled egg, a little yogurt, and some of his regular chicken feed today. But he won't drink. He is just so lethargic. He can barely hold his eyes open. We used a syringe to get his dewormer water down him over a period of 3 hours. I did not see any red worms in his throat though I wasn't using a flash light. I will do that next time I administer treatment. I did look into a couple of the girls throats with a flashlight and saw no red worms.

Please help! Any advice would be an amazing. Any tips on getting antibiotics in the Nashville area would be great! Do we think this is worms??

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Can hardly hold his eyes open for more than 30 seconds. Seems to just be going in and out of sleep. He seems like he's doing a "swallowing" thing often but it's not gaping. He just seems to be swallowing and almost smacking his mouth or lips

This has been happening for about 3 weeks - not this bad the whole time, but it's been progressively getting worse. He had a mild case of lice, which we treated and he is cured of that, so he's not itchy, but his lethargy never went away and has just gotten worse with time.

o now we are treating the whole flock for worms. I'm using Safeguard Aqua Sol. Day 2 completed for the hens. He's completed day 1 because he wouldn't drink on the original day I tried to give him medicated water, so I had to get an appropriate syringe.

Welcome To BYC

Do you have photos of him and his poop?
Any photos of the inside of his beak?

What's his crop like, is it emptying overnight?

Safeguard Aquasol© if given by the directions will treat Roundworms Only.

If you wish to treat Gapeworms, get Safeguard Liquid Goat Dewormer 10% and dose him orally at a rate of 0.23ml per pound of weight once daily for 5days in a row.

Any chance he ate something moldy, rotten or toxic (compost, weed killer, exposed to oil spill, a dead animal, etc. )?

I'd recheck inside the beak for any lesions or canker, for any obstruction, a hair or string around the tongue, etc.

Any feeling of air captured under the skin along the neck or body.

Are all lice gone? What did you treat him with?
What do you feed, including treats?

Hi! I'm new here, but I am desperate for some advice with my rooster.
He is a 1-1.5 year old Ermine Americauna of average build

Main symptom - extreme lethargy. Can hardly hold his eyes open for more than 30 seconds. Seems to just be going in and out of sleep. He seems like he's doing a "swallowing" thing often but it's not gaping. He just seems to be swallowing and almost smacking his mouth or lips, so to speak. He began to isolate and doesn't always care if he is with our flock. We have 6 hens, they are acting and laying normally. He stands in the same place for a long time, often falling asleep standing up. Or he will completely lay down for a half hour or more.

We have seen a few of the hens do the silent squawk, which is why I'm working under the assumption that we have a gape worm problem here. And for some reason he is the most affected. Though he is not doing the gaping or silent squawk.

This has been happening for about 3 weeks - not this bad the whole time, but it's been progressively getting worse. He had a mild case of lice, which we treated and he is cured of that, so he's not itchy, but his lethargy never went away and has just gotten worse with time. So now we are treating the whole flock for worms. I'm using Safeguard Aqua Sol. Day 2 completed for the hens. He's completed day 1 because he wouldn't drink on the original day I tried to give him medicated water, so I had to get an appropriate syringe.

So we have him isolated in his own pin. He has eaten a scrambled egg, a little yogurt, and some of his regular chicken feed today. But he won't drink. He is just so lethargic. He can barely hold his eyes open. We used a syringe to get his dewormer water down him over a period of 3 hours. I did not see any red worms in his throat though I wasn't using a flash light. I will do that next time I administer treatment. I did look into a couple of the girls throats with a flashlight and saw no red worms.

Please help! Any advice would be an amazing. Any tips on getting antibiotics in the Nashville area would be great! Do we think this is worms??

 

[JuanitaWilson]

Thanks for your response! Here is a link to a youtube video of Roy, our rooster . Pictures below. I added 2 videos of our special girl, Crooky, as well. Here and here. I couldn't tell if she was panting from heat or open mouth breathing from struggling to breathe. I'm in TN, its 83-85 degrees out and sunny, and we had just heated up the charcoal grill on the patio to cook lunch so it could have been a little warm on the patio at the time. Since then I have noticed a couple of the other hens walking around panting and holding their wings out a little so they could just be hot.

I uploaded a picture of his poop from last Thursday evening - liquidy, white an green. The poop in the baggie is from this morning after feeding him a scrambled egg, a little yogurt, and his regular chicken feed. As well as administering a cup of water medicated with safeguard aqua sol, but that is all he drank yesterday.

I can't get a good picture of the inside of his beak but from what I can tell, it looks healthy. Color looks right, I don't see any abrasions or sores or red worms. Nothing around his tongue.

We don't use any chemicals around the property, so I don't suspect he has gotten into anything toxic. I haven't fed him anything moldy. I give them fruit sometimes but not if it has gone bad. No oil spills. He could have eaten some of a dead animal. We live on 5 acres surrounded by horse pasture, so we have critters around for sure.

So on the label for Safeguard Aquasol, it says its treats roundworms and cecal worms, but from reading online, people say they have had success with gapeworms as well, it being Fenbendazole. What are your thoughts on this?

His crop feels empty, he's lost weight, almost feels bony. I don't think there is air trapped.

Can't find any lice on anyone. We used Elector PSP, administering it with a spray bottle. We've check regularly since then and can't find any lice, and no one is itchy or excessively grooming.

We feed Naturewise feather protecter, which I think is 20% protein and Naturewise hearty hen 18% protein. They get a little bit of Cluck and Co Organic chicken scratch every morning. We feed fruit like berries, apple, peach, sometimes a little zucchini. Not a ton of scraps but some fruit here and there.

The first picture seems to be a little bit of improvement from yesterday, when he would stand but his face and beak would go all the way to the ground while he slept. He stood and slept and laid down and slept by my car for at least an hour. We let him out of his pin some today to walk around but he doesn't move much. And he's easy to sneak up on while he's sleeping so we'll catch him again this evening, give him a little more fluids with 911 rescue supplement in it and put him to bed in the garage with a blanket covering his pin to help keep him warm.

Overall, he might be the slightest bit better today, maybe a little more alert, but not by much. I finally found a vet in my area but couldn't get in until Friday.

Thanks for your response and any advice you might have! Really appreciate it!

 

[JuanitaWilson]

I feel like I should also say that the hen in the video sitting puffed up for a moment and open mouth breathing was also acting totally normally before and after this. Jumping up on high chairs to get at food. She's our most curious girl and seems fairly energetic outside of this moment where she puffed up and was shaking her head.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

So on the label for Safeguard Aquasol, it says its treats roundworms and cecal worms, but from reading online, people say they have had success with gapeworms as well, it being Fenbendazole. What are your thoughts on this?

If you wish to treat Gapeworms, get Safeguard Liquid Goat Dewormer 10% and dose him orally at a rate of 0.23ml per pound of weight once daily for 5days in a row.

Safeguard Aquasol© is a low dose formula approved by the FDA to treat Roundworms and Cecal worms only. The dosing for Aquasol© is 1mg/kg. I can't say whether or not it will treat Gapeworms or not, all I can go by their published literature and what they claim the product will treat according to their dosing guidelines.


To treat Gapeworms, you need a dosing of at least 30mg/kg Fenbendazole. If you wish to use the Aquasol you have on hand, you can see the math below. If not and you want to use the Liquid Goat Dewormer, then I can help you with that.

Do you have any antibiotics on hand? If you do, then I'd treat Roy with antibiotics along with deworming. Amoxicillin would be a good choice. His stance shows he's in a bad way.

Post in thread 'Safe Guard Aquasol dose for BANTAMS'

May 31, 2025

Anyone have any experience with dosing bantam chickens with Safe Guard Aquasol? I am interpreting the instructions as saying a flock size of less than 22 pounds, do not treat. I think I'm seeing signs of gape worm. Unless someone can recommend another de-wormer and the dose for bantams, that would be a huge help.

According to the book shown below, the fenbendazole dose to treat gapes is 30 mg/kg for five consecutive days.

...

• casportpony

• 
• 

 

[JuanitaWilson]

Hi, thanks! I do not have antibiotics on hand. I have a vet appt Friday, and I hope to get some then. Roy seems the smallest bit better today. He was alert and kind of standing when I went to get him from the garage this morning. (the two mornings before, he was laying down and seemed hardly aware that I was there. He barely responded to me touching him.) And now that he's outside in his pin, he has been standing more and seems a little more alert. Still laying down some. He is definitely fighting the syringe more and has given some strong kicks, so his energy seems to be up a little. He has eaten an entire scrambled egg with yogurt and garlic. And has eaten quite a bit of his chicken feed. So that is definitely hopeful! Gave him 911 rescue water via syringe before bed last night. He had a pretty normal looking poop over night and has had a couple completely liquid poops today. Hopefully that's not the medicine running straight through him.

Picking up some Nutridrench today - do you have insight on whether Nutridrench or Poultry cell would be better in this situation? From what I read, I was thinking Nutridrench seemed best for an emergency boost.

I'm going to keep going with the AquaSol for now. And see if I can get some antibiotics Friday. I will assess from there and treat him with the Safeguard goat dewormer if need be. Do you think it's problematic to give him a 5 day treatment of Aqual Sol and then a few days later start the safeguard for goats? I will definitely ask the vet this question on Friday as well.

Appreciate your input!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Hi, thanks! I do not have antibiotics on hand. I have a vet appt Friday, and I hope to get some then. Roy seems the smallest bit better today. He was alert and kind of standing when I went to get him from the garage this morning. (the two mornings before, he was laying down and seemed hardly aware that I was there. He barely responded to me touching him.) And now that he's outside in his pin, he has been standing more and seems a little more alert. Still laying down some. He is definitely fighting the syringe more and has given some strong kicks, so his energy seems to be up a little. He has eaten an entire scrambled egg with yogurt and garlic. And has eaten quite a bit of his chicken feed. So that is definitely hopeful! Gave him 911 rescue water via syringe before bed last night. He had a pretty normal looking poop over night and has had a couple completely liquid poops today. Hopefully that's not the medicine running straight through him.

Picking up some Nutridrench today - do you have insight on whether Nutridrench or Poultry cell would be better in this situation? From what I read, I was thinking Nutridrench seemed best for an emergency boost.

I'm going to keep going with the AquaSol for now. And see if I can get some antibiotics Friday. I will assess from there and treat him with the Safeguard goat dewormer if need be. Do you think it's problematic to give him a 5 day treatment of Aqual Sol and then a few days later start the safeguard for goats? I will definitely ask the vet this question on Friday as well.

Appreciate your input!

Either of those vitamins will can be helpful.
I generally prefer Poultry Cell over Poultry Nutri-Drench since PND does not contain B2 (Riboflavin), but for a boost, both can be good.

I'd ask the Vet about the dewormer and see what they suggest.

I'm glad he's improving, keep me posted on what the vet says.

 

[JuanitaWilson]

Hi, just wanted to let you know I took Roy to the closest vet I could find, and she said he wasn't really showing the symptoms for which she would usually prescribe antibiotics. He was quiet as a mouse at the vet, and just stood there eyes closed uncaged I didn't want to drag out his suffering, so I got him euthanized that day. He had a peaceful passing, poor guy. Thanks for your responses and advice.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Hi, just wanted to let you know I took Roy to the closest vet I could find, and she said he wasn't really showing the symptoms for which she would usually prescribe antibiotics. He was quiet as a mouse at the vet, and just stood there eyes closed uncaged I didn't want to drag out his suffering, so I got him euthanized that day. He had a peaceful passing, poor guy. Thanks for your responses and advice.

I'm sorry to hear about Roy

I appreciate the updating the thread.