Stu France Posted August 4, 2021 Share Posted August 4, 2021 Hi All. I'm new to this forum and quite new to keeping chickens. I have three chickens and a cockerel. The girls (we bought at point of lay at the beginning of summer) are very healthy and are living a happy free-range life here on our converted French farm. I've built a completely new henhouse (and chicken run for when they need to be contained) I recently introduced a 20 week old cockerel. It took the girls a week to accept him but now he is following them round and has been climbing on their backs over the last couple of days without too much commotion. I'm a little worried he is not making any noise. He stands with his mouth open and no noise coming out. He occasionally make the odd cackle. He eats once the girls have had theirs and drinks plenty of water. Should he be crowing by now (approx 24weeks old), or is he ill? I've read a bit about sour crop and I'm wondering whether he needs some antibiotics... Thanks in advance. 🐓 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beantree Posted August 4, 2021 Share Posted August 4, 2021 I don't connect sour crop to not crowing @Stu France. Perhaps you have a quiet one at the moment? We've had a few that couldn't crow and they were perfectly healthy. First thing to do is listen to his breathing; there shouldn't be any wheezing or gurgling. Then check his poo. To do that you need to know where on the perch(es) in the coop he is at night. It helps a lot if you have paper on the floor, not wood shavings and certainly not straw. Then post a photo. We poo check every day to spot any potential problems well in advance and so cover the floors in the coops with feed bags. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu France Posted August 4, 2021 Author Share Posted August 4, 2021 On 8/4/2021 at 2:15 PM, Beantree said: I don't connect sour crop to not crowing @Stu France. Perhaps you have a quiet one at the moment? We've had a few that couldn't crow and they were perfectly healthy. First thing to do is listen to his breathing; there shouldn't be any wheezing or gurgling. Then check his poo. To do that you need to know where on the perch(es) in the coop he is at night. It helps a lot if you have paper on the floor, not wood shavings and certainly not straw. Then post a photo. We poo check every day to spot any potential problems well in advance and so cover the floors in the coops with feed bags. Thanks Beantree. He isn't wheezing and the noise he does make is more of a quiet clucking. I'll try and get some poo samples tonight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soapdragon Posted August 4, 2021 Share Posted August 4, 2021 Quite frankly I'd just be thankful!!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
