crookneck in sparrow?

[crazy hen quartet]

Hi All-

Rescued a fledgling sparrow from the chicken coop yesterday. It was just sitting quietly and when I went to pick it up it fluttered around and landed on it's left side. I put it in a plant pot on my porch thinking maybe it was just stunned from an injury (this sometimes happens when birds get in our coop and frantically try to get out) and that it would recover overnight and fly off.

Well this morning it was still in the pot, and so I took it out and dropper fed it some moist starter/grower feed. This has been going on all day. It eats a bit, flaps around, falls over on one side and sometimes spins in circles. When it is upright it tends to droop its head over to one side. If I pester it and it becomes alert it will straighten up and hop around for a bit, even balancing on the side of the shoebox it is in, but then calms back down and over the the side goes its head.

Reminds me of what I have heard about crookneck in a chick. anything I can do for this? Isn't crookneck a vitamin thing? It does not appear to have any injuries and can fly a couple of feet but then one side seems to give out and it begins to list.

Ideas?

 

[dlhunicorn]

It is probably dehydrated/in shock... (symptom shows with this)
put electrolytes in water (lukewarm not cold) and place the bird in a box with lots of straw in a dark place outside (so no human or strange smells > I know this may seem impossible to find a safe place (thinking of cats and other predators) but wild birds can get so easily stressed and being in a strange human environment is enough to stress them to the point of no return (I have a special "coop" I use for wildlife which is outside)
The golden rule for birds (rehabbers) is
Never feed or give water to a hypothermic bird
Never feed a dehydrated bird
REHYDRATE FIRST
every half hour or so dribble a bit of the electrolyte water along the beak

 

[crazy hen quartet]

thank you. I only get cats in my yard at night, so it should be fine. I have electrolytes left over from when one of my girls got stung by a scorpion a couple of weeks ago, I will work on rehydrating. no more food for now.

Thanks!

 

[redtailross]

hello,
I have had some experience in working and releasing wild birds in England with the RSPCA.

It sounds like to me that the bird may have
a. Salmonella, which makes birds act a little strange.
They get it from dirty birdfeeders, so I would wash your hands and give your chicken feeders etc a good scrub incase it got into their feed.
We are seeing that more in AK this year with Red Polls. Which is affecting the Boreal Owl population.

Or b. it sould have a neurological problem which makes many animals spin in circles, and droop the head to one side.

Call a vet or Wildlife division for a rehabilitator that can help.

in the mean time, do as dlunicorn says until you get advice, dark cool box with some water.

Good Luck.