Sick rooster or just cold?

[TinyRaptorDodos]

Kia seems fine when I bring him inside and clean him up, but when he’s outside his beak gets gunked up and his feathers get all wet and he acts quite depressed. Could it be he’s just cold? From what I can tell I’m still consistently getting fertile eggs, he is a silkie and around 10 months old. The lowest it’s been is -13f but I keep at least half the coop at a good 35-45f, he does seem to be under the light a lot. Is he just cold or should I look more into this? He seemed completely fine once I dried him off inside, he was crowing and running around the house. Also if I was to put a fabric or something on the walls of the coop would that help keep it from icing over the doors and give them a way to wipe their beaks? I did notice that he was having trouble breathing through his nose and his beak was almost foaming, more like a white saliva. But it stopped once I was done drying him and got him water so I figured it must be stress. I’m just being cautious seeing as three of my hens have died in the last two months

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Is his crop emptying overnight?

Do they have access to fresh unfrozen water during waking hours?

 

[TinyRaptorDodos]

Is his crop emptying overnight?

Do they have access to fresh unfrozen water during waking hours?

Yes it is, I had to clean up after him when he was inside.

I moved their water under the heat lamp but before that not very. I had an open feeder which was disgusting so I took it out and I think his gunked up beak started when I took it out due to not being able to wash it off, due to him being a silkie I’m guessing it’s most likely cold but also they recently recovered from lice and during the lice one of the silkie hens I got him with died. Could he be genuinely depressed? I’ve seen it with my hens but never with a rooster

 

[Wyorp Rock]

He could be depressed.

Are all the lice gone? I'd re-check all the birds to make sure.

I'm sure it must be a challenge to ensure they have unfrozen water where you live, but the foaming of the beak may be due to dehydration, so do your best to keep the water unfrozen.
If the feed was all a mess, then this could be a contributor too. Do you use a feeder or ?
Bowls of feed can get soiled, and feed can go bad, so this can also cause some digestive problems.
Having a gravity feeder may help. Feed cups that hang on a wall and off the floor where they don't get soiled can also be helpful.

 

[TinyRaptorDodos]

He could be depressed.

Are all the lice gone? I'd re-check all the birds to make sure.

I'm sure it must be a challenge to ensure they have unfrozen water where you live, but the foaming of the beak may be due to dehydration, so do your best to keep the water unfrozen.
If the feed was all a mess, then this could be a contributor too. Do you use a feeder or ?
Bowls of feed can get soiled, and feed can go bad, so this can also cause some digestive problems.
Having a gravity feeder may help. Feed cups that hang on a wall and off the floor where they don't get soiled can also be helpful.

It definitely is, I get 5-7 eggs a day now and I have checked a few of them and Kia when I bathed him. They have a large feeder, the type you can hang from the ceiling if needed but most of the gunk is from the sand flooring which I think got wet when it frosted on the inside and then thawed. I’ve never heard of feed cups but I think I have the basic idea of it, I can probably make a few and put them on the walls

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Do you have a cinder block?
Place the feeder off the floor so it doesn't get sand or bedding kicked in it, this will help a lot.
Lawnmower tire laying around? Sounds weird, but I have my water bowls sitting on those small tires, they fit well and raise the bowls up out of the bedding.

Think out of the box, see what you can find to raise the feeder up.

 

[TinyRaptorDodos]

Do you have a cinder block?
Place the feeder off the floor so it doesn't get sand or bedding kicked in it, this will help a lot.
Lawnmower tire laying around? Sounds weird, but I have my water bowls sitting on those small tires, they fit well and raise the bowls up out of the bedding.

Think out of the box, see what you can find to raise the feeder up.

Oh I actually have one of those for a heated roost. We have lots of those around the coop but they’re under around 2 feet of snow… we have normal tires, I might be able to find a smaller one from an old tricycle.

I might be able to just hang it from the roost since it has the hang hoop

 

[Wyorp Rock]

There you go, if you can hang it that may help.