Roosters crow not so good

[Bonji]

Hi. My 1 year old Rhode Island Red (Rocky) started crowing poorly a month ago. I increased the amount of apple cider vinegar and garlic i put in the water and after a week or so it got better. Not sure if this actually did the trick or not? Anyway his crow has returned to not so good again. He is in a large run around 120m2 (1300foot2) with 8 hens and 1 other rooster. He has no visible signs of off poop, wheeping nose, off eyes or lack of energy. The only other thing is he is allowing Pero - the silkie rooster to mount HIS hens, and believe me he would get in trouble for this before. So I've increased the apple cider / garlic mix and wonder what else I should do? Many thanks, coz he had such a bold crow for a bold boy, but now he makes me worry.

 

[justplainbatty]

Hi. My 1 year old Rhode Island Red (Rocky) started crowing poorly a month ago. I increased the amount of apple cider vinegar and garlic i put in the water and after a week or so it got better. Not sure if this actually did the trick or not? Anyway his crow has returned to not so good again. He is in a large run around 120m2 (1300foot2) with 8 hens and 1 other rooster. He has no visible signs of off poop, wheeping nose, off eyes or lack of energy. The only other thing is he is allowing Pero - the silkie rooster to mount HIS hens, and believe me he would get in trouble for this before. So I've increased the apple cider / garlic mix and wonder what else I should do? Many thanks, coz he had such a bold crow for a bold boy, but now he makes me worry.

Ok, there are many things it could be. Too much acv can be a bad thing. Try stopping that or limit it to two times per week. The problem could be as simple as too much dust in his environment. That can be caused by bedding, use of DE, dry ground/windy ect. Chickens have a complicated breathing system, lungs and air sacks. They take what I'm gonna call a double breath to fill everything. Roosters force out a lot of air to crow. Other things can restrict this also, like fluid, mucous, lesions or tumors in the mouth , throat, trachea or elsewhere. It could be something as complicated as what is in this link http://www.merckmanuals.com/vet/pou..._infectious_laryngotracheitis_in_poultry.html or other" laryo" types of illness. I'll tell you, @Eggcessive is a very good resource person for things like this. Maybe she will see the thread or you could PM her. I hope I have been of some help. Welcome to our flock!

 

[Bonji]

Thanks for the info. I have cut back on the acv some, but really was only adding a few drops to an 8 galon waterer 4 or 5 days a week. So dust hey well, I'll put some more bedding down for him in his corner and see how that goes. Has been wet the last couple of days and his crow has improved somewhat. Thanks for the info, will move onto your other thoughts if things don't keep on the up. I hope it's not laryngotracheitis, indeed that sounds horrible.

 

[justplainbatty]

Thanks for the info. I have cut back on the acv some, but really was only adding a few drops to an 8 galon waterer 4 or 5 days a week. So dust hey well, I'll put some more bedding down for him in his corner and see how that goes. Has been wet the last couple of days and his crow has improved somewhat. Thanks for the info, will move onto your other thoughts if things don't keep on the up. I hope it's not laryngotracheitis, indeed that sounds horrible.

Ok, I hope it's not that either. He may just have dry throat but it doesn't hurt to know about other possibilities. One time, one of my hens was scratching around in the 50# bag of oyster shell and someone laid an egg. She started to sing along but lost her voice! There is of course, a lot of dust in the bag, I saw it puffing around while she was scratching. Several hours and drinks of water later, she was fine.