sick cockerel

Hello everyone,i am new to this site and am so impressed by everyone being so friendly and helpful,
i feel sure you can all offer me advise,my lovely blue silkie cockerel Charlie,6 months old, had become a pain by constantly crowing ALL day,after a few days he lost his crow! but then started to wheeze really loudly and gasping for breath,he continued to eat well and was still active (especially with the girls!) and no other symptoms, the vet diagnosed laryngitous and gave Baytril,is this a common illness? or is something brewing? the hens all seem ok

He may have strained himself. Do you have more than one cockerel? How long has he been on the antibiotics? After this he may settle down and crow less. Unfortunately some cockerels do crow all day whilst others just at morning and evening. 3 of mine crow all day (competing against each other ) but the other 2 very little.

keep him on the baytril for 7 days even if he seems better.

Laryngitis is just the name which describes the symptoms.  It basically means inflamation of the vocal cords which can be caused by several upper respiratory tract infections.   The breathing difficulty and wheezing is a common sign of chronic respiratory disease or CRD or mycoplasmosis or MG and this is the likely cause.  Infectious Bronchitis is another respiratory disease commonly found in chickens but which usually infect birds over 2 years old.  Baytril should be effective against CRD however as the description suggests it is a chronic disorder and your cockerel will be a carrier for life even without symptoms.  Recurrent outbreaks can be expected during periods of stress such as moult.  You shouldn't breed from this bird or put it with uninfected or birds which haven't been vaccinated for CRD.

Make sure you don't use powders and dusts in the house which will only cause further iritation of the respiratory tract.  Do some googling on CRD or Mycoplasma MG for further information on this condition.  See http://www.shagbarkbantams.com/contents.htm

Best of luck
HF