Help Again! falling chicken

[scooby]

I have a rooster about 4 yrs old, the other day i noticed he was walking "like a drunk" i checked on him later he seemed like he has doing better so i left him, later that night i checked the coop and he wasn't on the perch he was laying on the ground. my son was sick yesterday and i forgot to check him. today my daughter came in and said he would not get up when he did it would be like 2 steps then he would fall over his mouth is also open and she says he feels hot. we set him up in a portable cage in the living room and he did like a somersault in the cage and couldn't get back up. I think he did this once before a few yrs back also and i posted that time to and got no responses. and after about a week he was fine but i can not remember what i did last time for him either.does anyone have any advice , know what this is or what i should do?

 

[cluckey]

I'd start by separating him from the flock and try to get him to drink water. Maybe put some electrolytes in his water. Hopefully someone else knows better what to do.

 

[scooby]

he is separated in a rabbit cage in the house, he ate very little yogurt last night but he downed a piece of bread, this morning he has eaten a egg, all i had was strawberry pedialyte he would not drink but i put regular water in and he drank that. so he has eaten and drinkin this morning, but still falling over, he is like falling forward on his face and then keeps trying to walk, really weird! maybe i can take a video. any more advice, i would really like to know why this happens to him....... and he is molting maybe that has something to do with it, last time it happened it was the same time of yr !

 

[mirandaleecon]

he is separated in a rabbit cage in the house, he ate very little yogurt last night but he downed a piece of bread, this morning he has eaten a egg, all i had was strawberry pedialyte he would not drink but i put regular water in and he drank that. so he has eaten and drinkin this morning, but still falling over, he is like falling forward on his face and then keeps trying to walk, really weird! maybe i can take a video. any more advice, i would really like to know why this happens to him....... and he is molting maybe that has something to do with it, last time it happened it was the same time of yr !

Just a shot in the dark, but have you checked his ears? Sounds like his equilibrium is off which is often due to ear problems. Not sure about with chickens, but it's fairly common in dogs with ear infections to have trouble walking. I think I've seen on here that it could be due to mites getting in the ears.

Other than that, my next thought would be some kind of vitamin deficiency. I would try to get him to drink some of that pedialyte, maybe drop some in his beak or put a couple of pieces of his favorite food in the bowl so he pecks at the food. I would also try to get him some vitamin E and some B complex vitamins, you can get them at any pharmacy if you don't already have them...

Hope this helps...

 

[cluckey]

Someone had a similar post on here and it turned out to be lice...Maybe check for that. Some people suggested Wry neck or Mareks. Keep an eye on your other chickens and see if any of them start showing the same symptoms. This is my first year for my hens to be molting so I'm not an expert, but I dont think what your's is going through is related to molting. Some people suggested giving extra vitamin B and E. Sometimes a deficiency can cause similar symptoms. I dont know where you are located. We are lucky enough up here in WI to be close to a University Vet school and have some good chicken vets around to call. Maybe try calling a local Vet school and see if they have any suggestions?

 

[scooby]

ok so i went to the local ifa and got some manna pro life lytes, and also some E vitamin oil, and i have B complex, but now i can't get him to drink it, i put some E oil on some wet cat food and he ate it, So if it is ear Mites what do i do about that? or a ear infection? to me it does seem like his equilibrium is off. cause he is holding his head up just fine he just falls over on his face when he moves. and he is using the corner of the cage to help him to stand up, he also has no sneezing coughing runny eyes, his eyes are alert, he is alert and crowing to his girls from the living room started crowing at 6:30 this morning. So any more suggestions......... and thanks for all the ones so far

 

[mirandaleecon]

ok so i went to the local ifa and got some manna pro life lytes, and also some E vitamin oil, and i have B complex, but now i can't get him to drink it, i put some E oil on some wet cat food and he ate it, So if it is ear Mites what do i do about that? or a ear infection? to me it does seem like his equilibrium is off. cause he is holding his head up just fine he just falls over on his face when he moves. and he is using the corner of the cage to help him to stand up, he also has no sneezing coughing runny eyes, his eyes are alert, he is alert and crowing to his girls from the living room started crowing at 6:30 this morning. So any more suggestions......... and thanks for all the ones so far

Were you able to actually look in his ears? Not sure what it would look like exactly but I imagine if there were mites or an infection it would be red/swollen, dry/cracked, possibly oozy or something. I haven't had this in my flock so I wouldn't know how to treat it but I'm sure a search on here would help you find a treatment. If you have some Nustock on hand, I've hear that will deter mites. I just don't know if it would be alright if you get it in his ear.
As far as trying to get him to take the vitamins, if you mix them in a little bit of water and then mix that in with some of his regular food to make a mash, he should eat that. Might take him a minute if he's never had wet food before, if he is really stubborn you could mix something dark like sunflower seeds in that he can peck at and eventually he will realize the wet food tastes fine. Just make sure he is drinking plenty of plain water, if that's all he will drink.

 

[scooby]

I have not looked in his ears but i see no outside swelling or oozing, ext. the life lytes is a mix you put in water which he is drinking , but not as much as i like him to so i have taken to soaking a pieces of bread in the vitamin/e oil/ probiotic mix i made and giving him that which he is gobbling down, he isn't really wanting his regular food/the yogurt or even the wet cat food i am trying to give him which is weird since he is a 20 lb rooster thats eat anything, but bread is his favorite can you tell! I can't leave the food and water in the pen cause when he falls and struggles he keeps nocking it down and making a huge mess. No change as of yet with the falling, except that he is trying to keep his head up now but it is making him fall backwards this morning.

 

[mirandaleecon]

Well it sounds like you are doing a good job of giving him supportive care. The only other treatment I might consider is something like baytril, although I don't like to use antibiotics unless I have a really good idea of what is going on, I'll let you make that call.

Oh yea, and have you been checking his crop to make sure it's emptying in the morning? I did a quick search for his symptoms and one of the things I saw was that it could be caused by a sour crop...

 

[scooby]

how do i check his crop?