The rooster I had a few weeks ago who wouldn't crow or do any business with the hens ended up in the pot.

Last Sunday we bought a beautiful rooster and on Monday morning he was in heaven with his new harem.


Thursday morning I woke up to find a rooster not crowing who had gurgling breath. I thought we had a chicken curse at our place.

After a few phone calls I bought an antibiotic product at our local vet to mix with the water. He wasn't drinking so I brought him back to town and gave it to him with a syringe. This morning he crowed but wasn't 100%, but after we got back from salmon fishing he seems totally normal. He doesn't enjoy living ion the garage but there are worse things. There are lots of respiratory diseases in chickens, but my guess is that the worst are spread amongst stressed chickens in commercial operations.... hence the antibiotics in most commercial chickens and eggs.
He'll be back at the farm soon with his hens and happy.


Just to let folks know if you have a hen or a rooster who looks sick and has a gurgling when they breathe.. there is something you can do about it.


Pete

Thank you, Pete. He is lovely.

All my boys have been wonderful and I could never imagine not doing all I can for them. For me, they are not just faceless livestock.

It has become easier and better to find good ways of treating ailments in chickens over the past years on the net.

May they have long healthy lives in happiness and protection.

It's always best to quarantine all new birds for a minimum of 60 days before mixing them with your other birds. I have 1 barn, I call the quarantine barn, just for that purpose. People very frequently offer me free poultry or pigeons and I turn them down. It's not worth the small profit of selling a free bird, to risk exposing thousands of birds I rely on for a living, to potential disease. The last time I ignored my own quarantine rules, it cost me $9000.00, plus years of work selective breeding.

I believe it is best to cull all sick birds. You don't want the weak genes or the risk of the illness spreading.

If the sick rooster has a virus, or even types of bacteria that encysted, it could potentially excrete that pathogen for the rest of it's life.



Keith

Thanks Sharon and Keith. I am not a big production outfit, but I understand the problems of bringing in a new hen or rooster. I have a small henhouse with between 6 and 10 hens and one rooster. For 9 years I had no disease problems, except for one hen who had what my rooster had and I didn't know enough to take action, but I learned a lot in this episode. A chicken's life can be saved with drugs. Around me, folks let them die or put them into the soup.


Anyhoo I thought I'd pass it along to others with chickens that if you have to spend $20 to save a chicken, you might learn something and your other chickens will appreciate the expense.


Pete

Last roosters I sent to auction averaged ~$1 after commission, so, I probably won't spend 20 on meds. Thanks for posting it though, because all knowledge is good.
Keith, what are you breeding for?

tjm…

I agree on a commercial basis, (having never sent a chicken to auction), and I'm not some Backyard Chicken weirdo, but he was a pure race rooster and I felt bad for him. A lot of guys on here spend $20 on beer for the weekend, so what is a good rooster's life worth?

For $20 I learned something that could save 30 or 200 chickens for somebody else.

Just wanted to pass it along.

Pete

Yeah, Pete, I get that and I do appreciate the knowledge even if I never use it.

My birds have always been barnyard stock and they have always tried to get killed in one way another, or so it seems. I've lost so many to owls, possums, fox, eagles, centipedes and the stew pot that I'm not very sentimental about them, and their dollar value isn't very high either.

Tjm, I raise rare colors of pigeons, which is what I had the issue with. I raise quail, pheasants, guineas and chickens too.

Keith

tjm… I guess we're on the same page, as I lose about 20% every year to the hawks and foxes because I let them free range. I don't understand raising meat birds inside with commercial feed because you are raising the same chickens you can buy at the grocery store for less.


But at some point you have to take care of an animal when you think you can make a difference.

Thanks,

Pete

I dont think I'd be putting a sick chicken dying from some unknown ailment in the pot.maybe in the bait bucket.

Boco

The one who ended up in the pot, (I gave him to a neighbor who loves to make soup), wasn't sick. He just wouldn't crow or breed the hens.

The one who was sick is back to 100% this morning.

Pete

Hey Pete - I hope your new guy is back on his feet!

PM sent!
Patrice