Ru is a 15 month old Golden Campine that has been acting progressively strange since mid-April. We had a small flock of 5 and added to it by hatching 10 of his off-spring in April and 3 more (unplanned) with a broody in May. Now none of the eggs are fertile. In May he started dancing and tidbitting for me and would nip if I put my hand near... NOT normal behavior. His favorite girl was the broody, so I thought he was just upset. But I also noticed he was not mounting the other girls... at least not that I saw, which wasn't normal.
Now this is the strange part. Sometime in May it looked like he was straining to poop, yet nothing would happen and he'd walk away. He was pooping okay but did have some poop stuck near his vent, so he got his bum cleaned. He kept up with the occasional straining, sometimes trembling a little, then nothing, and he'd walk away. Over the past week or so, I noticed he did this action daily. Now it's more than once a day. And now his routine is more involved... I now see him dance for his girls, then drop to the straining poop position, tremble, spin/pirouette slowly 2-3 times, strain, then straighten up and shake it off, and walk away.
He acts fine 99% of the time. He's also back to interacting correctly with me. He treats his girls great, except for not mating. He's a super papa Ru to the broody's 3 babies. He's not fighting with the 10 juveniles. They all free-range on several acres daily. He held a coyote at bay for the first time earlier this week until help arrived. Everyone else seems healthy, they eat Scratch and Peck, get treats of rice, veggies, eggs, yogurt, fruit, and bread.
I've watched him carefully, searched about seizures and mating problems, but am at a loss. I'm worried that this is not getting better and I can't seem to find anything online that matches his symptoms. Any advice, ideas, suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
Now this is the strange part. Sometime in May it looked like he was straining to poop, yet nothing would happen and he'd walk away. He was pooping okay but did have some poop stuck near his vent, so he got his bum cleaned. He kept up with the occasional straining, sometimes trembling a little, then nothing, and he'd walk away. Over the past week or so, I noticed he did this action daily. Now it's more than once a day. And now his routine is more involved... I now see him dance for his girls, then drop to the straining poop position, tremble, spin/pirouette slowly 2-3 times, strain, then straighten up and shake it off, and walk away.
He acts fine 99% of the time. He's also back to interacting correctly with me. He treats his girls great, except for not mating. He's a super papa Ru to the broody's 3 babies. He's not fighting with the 10 juveniles. They all free-range on several acres daily. He held a coyote at bay for the first time earlier this week until help arrived. Everyone else seems healthy, they eat Scratch and Peck, get treats of rice, veggies, eggs, yogurt, fruit, and bread.
I've watched him carefully, searched about seizures and mating problems, but am at a loss. I'm worried that this is not getting better and I can't seem to find anything online that matches his symptoms. Any advice, ideas, suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
