Rooster randomly on his back and can't flip over

gavada

Chirping
11 Years
May 13, 2011
40
5
92
Gainesville, Virginia
We had a fox issue a few weeks back. One evening when we went to lock everyone up we found our americauna rooster laying in front of the coop with his feet in the air missing feathers and generally not looking good. There were no obvious wounds so my husband put him in the coop. He spent the next week with a limp wing and not walking on one leg and generally looking unwell. Then he suddenly seemed like himself. Would fly up to the upper roosts, started crowing and mating again and looks and acts healthy. But then every once in awhile we will find him on his back with his feet up in the air and he can't turn over and get up. He'll flap about but can't right himself. He looks dead. But if we turn him over he gets up and runs away. Any ideas?
 
I had this issue with a drake wigeon duck once. Discovered he ate some wild mushrooms in the aviary that caused him to do this! It took a week of isolation in a small space so he couldnt fall over, with plenty of fresh water and greens to flush it out of his system! He was fine after that!
 
He could have suffered some neurological damage in the attack. I would make sure that he is getting enough water, and you might try putting some poultry vitamins in his water or feed in case of a vitamin deficiency.
 
We are having this exact problem with a rooster. It is a 1.5 year old 'Rainbow' . We had bought him from Hoover Hatchery as a laying strain of chickens. I think the Rainbow is some kind of hybrid. He seems to be declining. First he couldn't move one of his wings and it just hung down. I thought it had been injured. Recently I noticed the other wing is hanging down as well. We are often coming out in the morning and he is upside down and cannot right himself. I simply roll him over and he recovers. This morning when he got on his feet, he almost couldn't walk. I started to think about some kind of poisoning or nutritional deficiency. I decided to put some grower ration in the pen. It had only been layer ration because he is in with hens. Then I just looked on this site and saw someone had a similar experience with their rooster being found upside down and not being able to turn over.
 
Welcome to BYC. Have you added any new birds in the last couple of months? Was he vaccinated for mareks disease? I would start using poultry vitamins in his water daily just in case of a deficiency. Make sure that he is getting enough water and food, in case he could be kept from it, or can't get to it. Read the article "The Great Big Giant Mareks Faq" by searching at the top of this page or Googling it. There is a part that discusses things other than Mareks that can cause similar symptoms. Eating mold, lead exposure, and other things can be possible. I can't stress enough how dehydration can look like neurological symptoms. Let us know what happens, and I hope he recovers.
 

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