Sick Rooster

[Lutrelle]

I have a rooster that I've had for about two weeks. He was fine when I first got him but into the second week, I saw that he wasn't opening his eyes and he was opening his beak when trying to breath. I assumed that he had a Respiratory problem and began giving him 125 mg of amoxicillin twice a day. He has not gotten better so I think he may have gape worm. I purchased Safe-Guard for goats to treat him. I was told to give him .23 ml per pound, but I am confused by the formula. How many ml would I give a four-pound chicken? I appreciate any help I can get on this.

 

[coach723]

4 pounds would get 4 x .23ml, or .92ml. I would just round to 1ml, and give it 5 days in a row. If it's respiratory then amoxicillin is probably not the best med, usually for respiratory infections it's Tylan or Tylosin. Some respiratory virus's are chronic, the symptoms can be treated, but the bird will be a carrier and symptoms will return periodically, especially during times of stress. Dosing for Tylosin is in this thread, also most packages will have dosing on them:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/doxycycline-and-tylosin-tylan-doses.1489737/#post-24840084
You can get Tylosin here:
https://jedds.com/products/tylosin-powder

 

[Lutrelle]

Thank you so much for your reply. This is very helpful!

4 pounds would get 4 x .23ml, or .92ml. I would just round to 1ml, and give it 5 days in a row. If it's respiratory then amoxicillin is probably not the best med, usually for respiratory infections it's Tylan or Tylosin. Some respiratory virus's are chronic, the symptoms can be treated, but the bird will be a carrier and symptoms will return periodically, especially during times of stress. Dosing for Tylosin is in this thread, also most packages will have dosing on them:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/doxycycline-and-tylosin-tylan-doses.1489737/#post-24840084
You can get Tylosin here:
https://jedds.com/products/tylosin-powder

 

[Lutrelle]

Thank you so much for your reply. This is very helpful!

Hi Coach,
I really appreciate you reply from yesterday and have started treating my rooster for gape worm. I'm afraid that there may be more going on than I first anticipated. I noticed last evening that he is not opening his eyes. Any advice on this would be very welcomed.

Lutrelle

 

[coach723]

Does he have any discharge from the eyes, any bubbles? If his eyes are closed with gunk then warm, wet compresses can help loosen it up, then flush the eyes with eye wash or sterile saline. If needed you can use terramycin eye ointment (most tractor supply stores and some feed stores carry it) or plain neosporin in the eyes a couple of times a day. Or is he just keeping his eyes closed because he's sick? Check inside his beak and throat for any plaques or lesions. Is he eating and drinking? What do droppings look like?

 

[Lutrelle]

Does he have any discharge from the eyes, any bubbles? If his eyes are closed with gunk then warm, wet compresses can help loosen it up, then flush the eyes with eye wash or sterile saline. If needed you can use terramycin eye ointment (most tractor supply stores and some feed stores carry it) or plain neosporin in the eyes a couple of times a day. Or is he just keeping his eyes closed because he's sick? Check inside his beak and throat for any plaques or lesions. Is he eating and drinking? What do droppings look like?

His eyes appear to be okay I can open them and he sometimes opens one eye just a little. He is still opeing his beak to breath. I have been giving him pedialite with a syringe and yogurt also with a syringe. He can't see how to get to the water or food because he doesn't open his eyes so I have been making him drink. I'm thinking about giving him some baby food through the syringe also. He's fairly strong and it's hard to hold his head long enought to look down his throat. I don't want to hurt him so I just do what I can. The droppings looked like light yellow mucus that's why I started giving him yogurt. I'm wondering if I should start him on antibiotics? I used the water hose to add a puddle of water close to him so he could hear it running and he did drink quite a bit on his own. I'm wondering if I'm giving him enough of the safe gaurd to kill gape worm if that's what he has. I've been giving him 9ml. I had chickens before and treated them for gape worm and they were better the next day. Thank you for taking time out of your day to read and respond to this. Do you have any suggestions on a book that I might order that deals with the health of chickens?

 

[coach723]

9 ml or .9 ml?? 9 ml is way too much, so hope it's just a typo.
9 ml would be enough for almost a 40 lb bird.
.23 ml per pound for 5 days will treat gapeworm, if that's what it is.
If you suspect respiratory I would get the tylosin and start him on that.
Yellow, mucousy droppings could be infection, or possibly coccidiosis. Do you know how old he is?
There are many books on chickens and their health, I've learned more by reading articles and studies on line, and by reading posts on this forum. There are some really experienced people here that give very good advice. It's very helpful to learn from others experiences.
When it's something you are just learning about (whatever it may be) it's good to find more than one source to confirm that you are getting the correct information, there are inaccurate things in posts sometimes.