Sick New Rooster - Advice would be appreciated.

[DogwoodValley]

Hi everyone. I am new here and found this forum while looking for help for my new rooster. I run a horse and donkey rescue in north Georgia and that also means that people tend to dump any kind of animal on me (usually cats). I have one friendly rooster here now.

Anyway, this new guy appeared in my donkey pasture last week. I was unable to get close enough to him to catch him and bring him to the barn. He eventually got outside the fence and was hanging out near the road. Some construction guys working out there helped me finally catch him yesterday and I brought him to the barn.

His wing is "off." By that I mean he often lets it hang down dragging the ground. But then again, he sometimes holds it normally. He also has sores on his face and his eyes have injuries and pus in them. I am assuming he was used for fighting as he is also missing his comb.

Bear with me because although I adore chickens I sadly lack very much knowledge about them.

Currently, I have him in a large cage because he seems so weak that I don't want to turn him loose in the barnyard. He drank tons and tons of water and wants to eat but seems to have trouble finding his food.

So that all brings me to my question - can I treat his eye infection with triple antibiotic ointment? I have perscription ointment from the vet since I often get rescue horses with eye infections. He is friendly enough and I think I could get a gob of it on the eye. Is there anything I can do for his general yucky health and help him feel better? Can you give a chicken any kind of antibiotics?

Any help would be great - I'd love to help the little guy pull through.

Thanks in advance! I'm going to try and include photos of him. Trust me, this cage is huge, it's just not very tall. I don't plan to leave him there long but I didn't plan on his arrival and have to figure out more permanent housing for him!

 

[chickbea]

Oh, dear. I'm so glad this poor guy found his way to you, but sorry for you that you have to deal with someone else's irresponsibility.

You are probably right about him being used as a fighting bird. However, the symptoms could also be indicative of an illness, many of which are characterized by swollen, discharging eyes and/or scabby combs and wattles. If it is an illness, it won't be easy to pull him through. If he is just very beat up, however, some TLC should do it. Can you call your vet and get some advice about which it may be?
Don't give antibiotics that aren't specifically cleared for poultry. Many folks give Poly-vi-sol vitamins to their birds when they are under stress - you may want to try that.
Not to worry - the cage he's in is perfect for now. He should be in a confined and quiet place with little disturbance.
There's other members on here with lots more knowledge than me; I'm sure they'll be along soon to help. I hope he makes it - his feathering is gorgeous!
When things calm down for you, check out the section called "Other Pets and Livestock". We'd love to see some pics of your rescue horses and donkeys!

 

[bayouchica]

Hi, poor roo, it's wonderful you are taking him in, looks like he's in good hands.
Ill try to give a little advice to ya, I'm no expert. Maybe you can call the vet that gave you the horse eye antibotics & see if they can tell you if you can use it on the roo. For sure try to clean his wounds & use the triple antibotic on him.
He's more than likely weak that's why his wings are droppy.Maybe you have some infant vitamin drops? That may help him out.
Do his eyes seem clear? You said he had trouble finding food.. hopefully the poor roo isn't blind.
Maybe someone else can offer some more advice... please let us know how he's doing,okay.
Thanks so much for caring about that roo.

Miriam

 

[DogwoodValley]

Thanks a lot for your help. I've moved him to a quiet area of the barn and don't think he's going to make it. The sores on his face and three times worse than how they appear in those photos. It's progressed so quickly. His eyes are now completely scabbed over and his face is just lesions and sores.

The vet said he can't do anything and he very much doubts he'll live. I feel so bad for him! And I wish I knew what this could be.

What kind of ailment could cause these sores? I'm guessing me must've been dumped here because he had some kind of contagious disease. I'd like to at least know what caused all of this. It's very sad.

 

[chickbea]

Oh, I was hoping your vet might have some guess what this might be.
If I had a gun to my head and was forced to make a guess, I'd say infectious coryza, but I don't know.
Maybe the poor guy needs a little help moving on. I'm so sorry you have had to go through this.

 

[fowlweatherfriends]

Hi, I too am very sorry about this poor baby

!

Please keep us updated as to what happens. A little TLC and teramycin, polyvisol, organic apple cider vinegar, a bit of sugar water, may actually help this poor thing-but it may take a lot of work to help him bounce back and recover.

It appears as if you have a gamebird that has possibly been in a scuffle recently-hence the facial wounds. The comb can also be removed just for breed "appearance"-some breeders think the bird looks better with the comb off. Those lesions -to my novice eye-appear to be more scuffle or stray related than disease related.

The breed is definitely gamebird-either American or Old English. He is a beautiful bird. Have you or the vet checked his entire body for other wounds? You may find an underlying injury that may be casuing him distress.

I guess if it were me, I'd give him a chance until I thought he was just in too much pain or suffering to make it. Gamebirds are usually pretty resiliant and hardy-so he might have a chance?

Best wishes

 

[hencackle]

Fowlpox can cause facial lesions. It could be that this is a combination of injuries and illness but I've posted this link because it shows some lesions that resemble your bird's.
http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/index.jsp?cfile=htm/bc/204801.htm
I'm very sorry that this fella is having such a hard time and he's lucky to have someone like you to care for him.
Stephanie

 

[DogwoodValley]

Thanks again for all the information. If you can give me more information on the terramycin, vinegar, etc. I'm more than happy to give it a shot. I hate to think that the only reason I found him was so he could have a quiet place to die.

Even if it were just injuries on his face - would they have worsened so much over the past two days? I'm including a picture from yesterday and one from today.

Yesterday:

Today - you can see his eye is completely covered now:

 

[dlhunicorn]

WES is very experienced with this and you can find his recommendations here in the link below (which is also concurrent with the literatures recommendations) however as this bird came from another farm you should not put it in with any other birds..keep him separated ... if he starts showing signs of respiratory distress (wet pox) then post that...
http://p072.ezboard.com/fbackyardchickensfrm4.showMessage?topicID=4316.topic
(there are several threads in this forum and also the Disease and Cures forum on FOWL POX which is what your bird has)
A poultry vitamin supplement or POLYVISOL (liquid childrens vitamins) and yogurt (to help balance the effects of the antibiotic on his intestinal flora) will also help. (((hugs ))) for taking the time and trouble to help this poor fella...(and yes they often do recover)

 

[AccidentalFarm]

Dogwood Valley- I'm so sorry you are having to deal with this. I'm sure that poor roo is grateful for your help, though. Please keep us posted on the treatment and progress. I hate to see this, but I will follow this thread to educate myself for if/when this ever happens to my flock. Hugs to you and your boy.