Salmon Faverolle Cockerel - Late Bloomer or is Something Wrong?

[UneggspectedChickenLady]

Our few Salmon Favorelles were happy and healthy, and grew at a 'normal' rate with everyone else. Wonderful birds! We don't have any now, but will again sometime. They were easily bullied buy the sex-links we had at the same time, so I think do best with other mild mannered breed types.
Mary

Totally understand - we have one older Faverolle and a half Faverolle. They’re both so sweet and mild and kind of do their own thing. Hence why we are adding two more to our total of 12 flock - give them more likeminded friends. The whole flock is pretty chill, thankfully.

 

[UneggspectedChickenLady]

I don't think this is a good story, and also wonder about genetic issues here. Agree about possible heart issues.
About diet: do you check the mill date on each bag of food before buying it? It should be fed within two or at most three months of milling, as some vitamins deteriorate over time. Also, is it a crumble or whole grain feed? Birds will select the good stuff out of a whole grain feed and unbalance their diet.
Breeding stock should be healthy in every way, and not need special care to survive and thrive. If you want to keep him going as a pet, fine, but not as a breeder.
Mary

I’ll def keep a close eye on their feed. And I promise - never intended to breed him but def won’t let any accidents happen now. He’ll just be loved and cared for and will hopefully perk up enough to be a good leader of his ladies.

 

[UneggspectedChickenLady]

Update - we took Henry to the vet and he was prescribed antibiotics for his comb and we also were told to deworm him. Prior to that I started upping his nutrition with Nutridrench and fermented food. Once I started that he started putting on weight and growing more feathers, and really seemed to perk up during the antibiotic + deworming treatment. After finishing the dewormer he seemed lethargic again. We wrapped up antibiotics yesterday. They have helped his comb to shed the necrotic skin that started to form. I’m now noticing his skin on his neck, which has always seemed to be dry and bother him, had a giant scab on it. I’ve treated him with Silver Honey. Is there anything else to do? I have no idea if this is him healing or if it’s the root problem…

 

[LaFleche]

Is there anything else to do?

I am very sorry your Henry is declining again.

Despite all the medication and good care including vet you provided, to me he is looking even worse.
What do his droppings look like now? Did you weight him every other day to monitor possible weight gain/loss?

The big scab situated right where you will also find the crop might very well be a squamous tumor ( cancer).

If it were my bird I would put him down after giving him another week to see if there will be any improvement at all.

 

[LaFleche]

Any update on Henry?

 

[UneggspectedChickenLady]

Any update on Henry?

He's wrapping up another round of antibiotics after the vet determined the skin lesions were necrotic dermatitis. He said it's from him being immuno compromised, but by what no one has any clue. So we're doing the best we can for him while he's still happy, eating, and drinking. But of course, ready to do what's best for him if he doesn't get better. I don't want him to suffer but also want to honor how much he's already fought to be here and still fights every day.

 

[LaFleche]

He's wrapping up another round of antibiotics after the vet determined the skin lesions were necrotic dermatitis. He said it's from him being immuno compromised, but by what no one has any clue. So we're doing the best we can for him while he's still happy, eating, and drinking. But of course, ready to do what's best for him if he doesn't get better. I don't want him to suffer but also want to honor how much he's already fought to be here and still fights every day.

Thank you for the update.

Hopefully he will get a bit better this time around and be able to enjoy normal chicken life.