Sick rooster

[lastcopy]

I am new to raising chickens and backyard chickens. I am in central MA, ya know where it has been raining for 40 weeks!! Just discovered my golden cuckoo marans rooster is sick. VERY gurgly breathing. No discharge of any kind from mouth, eyes or nostrils. He does sneeze every once in awhile. Separated him from my 12 pullets, no one else is sick, and brought him inside. Cleaned all the shavings and DE out of the coop, didn't have anything to disinfect with. Have an open 10x20 fenced chicken yard with some cover over two sections. 7/29 started Duramycin (not much else in the way of antiobiotics in my area!) and he seemed to do better overnight. He was eating and drinking well during the AM and then he started getting really gurgly again by afternoon, stopped eating, etc. Still very perky tho. He is still alive this AM and crowed. Every day is a blessed day that he is alive! I have been trying to read as much as possible re these symptoms. I am retired and on a fixed income (aren't we all) and cannot afford a vet, never mind finding a vet in this area that treats chickens! Would like to try and get some probiotics into him and/or vinegar as suggested in some reading? ANY suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[robin416]

How wet and damp are things? Have you cleaned the coop since all that mess started up there? He could be reacting to all the moisture in things.

 

[jjthink]

What is his diet?
If he hasn't had vitamins lately, you can get Avia Charge 2000 for his water (all of their water) - you would likely need to order on line. One container lasts forever - I use at no more than half strength to make water more palatable for the birds. In the meantime, a locally purchased poultry supplement like Durvet V&E could be given for a day or two. On a different day you could give ACV (look for Bragg's ACV "with the mother"). Dosage recs vary - a teaspoon for a gallon is fine or if you are making him up a bowl of water in the house, a little spritz in that should be okay. Do not put in metal container. Use ceramic or other on ACV day.
Following up on what Robin asked, dry dry dry conditions important.
JJ

 

[lastcopy]

Roostie and pullets were on Poulin grower/layer pellets, which they ATE. Switched to Nutrena gl crumbles, which he and they devoured!!! Have some of the Poulin and Nutrena in the yard right now and have 12 pullets fighting over the Nutrena!!
Have not given them any vitamins. They get fresh foods i.e. lettuce, corn on the cob, berries, clover. Just got some Nutri-Drench vitamins and will put that in water separate from antibiotic water, heard one of the barred rocks "coughing"(more than once, tried to ignore at first) and decided to give everyone the antiobiotics to be on the safe side. Man down the street with chickens, hope I didnt bring anything home from there, says he has gone out and just found dead chickens. They free range. No sign of predators.
Will also look on line for the items listed by jjthink, thank you very much!
Back to the coop. When I cleaned it out i found one corner had been leaking. I used the deep litter method, so did not notice it. It is a trctor coop and not easy to get under with the hardware cloth in the way. It looks like either the water is dripping down and migrating. Only that one corner was wet. I aired out the coop and let it dry as much as possible, but could not leave the kids out in the elements overnite. It has just rained unmercifully here, with very little let up. I do not leave food or water in the yard overnight either because it gets nasty with the rain and I don't know if that would hurt them.
Anyway, Roostie is crowing this morning and I am always happy to hear that sound. Thank you for all the info!

 

[bishopschickens]

Be aware as I am sure someone will tell you you have an incurable disease, but like you we are in a very wet climate as well and Upper Respiratory is very common due to all the mold and wetness. Myself personally suffer from brochial problems after moving here. I use Tylan 50 injectable for the birds. I use 1 cc/ml in a full grown bird. You just give them a shot in the brest and it usually clears in three or four days. Everything else seems to take weeks.