3 or 4 year old rooster is it wry neck?

[karenerwin]

It can be dangerous and stressful to bathe a sick chicken, so I would not. You may want to consider getting a necropsy on him by the state vet if you cull him or he dies, since wry neck can be a symptom of Mareks disease and some other conditions. Sorry that he is not doing better. Here is a link for the state vets: http://www.usaha.org/Portals/6/StateAnimalHealthOfficials.pdf

Thank you for the information! I just sent an email to my state veterinarian asking her to let me know what the process is to get a necropsy performed & what it will cost.

I'm sorry the news is so bleak. You are doing all you can!

Thanks Blooie. Unfortunately, he looks & sounds worse today. His breathing is labored and he is laying on his side again. The last couple of days he was in a position that was more on his feet but with his neck all twisted around and low to the ground.
I am wondering if in trying to give him the vitamins/feed him with the eye dropper if he didn't end up with some of it going into his lungs & that is what is causing the breathing problems. Poor guy, I feel so sorry for him. He is the last of our original chickens. My daughters dad bought her 4 chicks at Easter 4 years ago ( they were dyed Easter colors). This one was all green and was the biggest of them all, which is why she named him Texas! Out of the 4 original chicks, 3 of them turned out to be roosters!! 1 was so mean to people that we had to get rid of him. I tried working with him, picking him up, carrying him around, etc... but none of it worked. He spurred me 5 or 6 times and it got to where he would wait for me to turn my back, look away for a minute, lean over to pick something up & then he would attack. A 2nd rooster of that group was extremely mean to all the other chickens, beyond normal dominant rooster behavior. We got rid of him also. That left Texas and a black australorp hen ( she died unexplainably at about 6 months, the best I could tell was that she had a lot of internal bleeding, but from what, I have no idea).
Texas was my favorite, he liked to perch on my shoulder and would fly up from the ground when I was walking around so he could be up there. Once he got his own harem, he stopped doing that and eventually tried spurring me instead. He, however, was able to learn that I wasn't putting up with that nonsense and quit.

 

[karenerwin]

This morning when I checked on Texas, he looked very bad & still had very labored sounding breathing. I gave him his vitamins and then had to leave for work. Tonight when I got home & went in to check on him he was sitting upright with both feet under him! He even had his head up right. I got him out and gave him his vitamins and held a cup of water for him to drink out of. He was plunging his whole head up to & sometimes over the top of his eyes in to the cup! I thought he was going to drown himself. He drank a bunch of water (about 1/3 of the small juice glass size cup) & then I decided to try putting some feed into the water. I had tried this the other day, using the eyedropper, but it didn't work very well at all. Tonight Texas was able to drink/eat almost all of the very watery feed from the cup. It took him over an hour and he had very wet feathers when he was done, but he actually has food in his crop tonight!! I also went over him again, this time even more thoroughly. A friend had called & told me that a cockerel that he got from me a month or so ago had mites when he went to butcher it. So I wanted to see if Texas had any. After researching what I was looking for, I don't think he has any. But I did notice again that his left ear is very swollen. This time I could actually see inside the ear canal/ear hole. I don't think that is normal, but I'm not sure. The right ear is similar but not nearly as swollen or as easy to see the ear canal. So now I am wondering if he could have an ear infection & if that would cause any of his symptoms.
Well, I have to get to bed, I have to get up for work in about 6 hours and then when I get home, do more research about how to treat chickens, coops, and yard for mites. While Texas doesn't appear to have any, I think 2 hens in another coop may have them. (I thought they just had dirty vent feathers & cleaning them up was on my to do list for this weekend). Plus, I want to look into the ear infection possibility.
I forgot to add that by the time I put him back in his "hospital cage" his neck & head were twisted around again.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Glad he is improving.

 

[Blooie]

 

[Lora Indy]

Hi Karen,

Your poor rooster looks exactly as my Bobbi did and the cause was an inner ear infection. It's very treatable with antibiotics,rest and a little coddling.

Right now he is probably dehydrated,dizzy and nauseous. Try holding him upright and holding a spoon with water to his beak so just the tip is in the water. He should try to drink if he doesn't have to bend down and put more painful pressure on his ear(s).
When a bird gets dehydrated they lose their binocular vision. Add that to the loss of balance and they spiral downward very quickly. If you can get enough fluids into him he will start to come back up pretty fast. You could try adding a drop or 2 of corn syrup mixed in the water to give him a bit of energy.

If you can, use some old towels rolled up to get him into a more upright position. It helps them orient themselves and head up means less pain and pressure. I don't know what your options are for antibiotics, the vet gave Bobbi SMZ. It took her a total of 6 weeks on antibiotics and a short round of metacam to clear things up to where she could get on the roost first try. It took a long time because I delayed treatment thinking she had wry neck. Adult birds don't get wry neck. Please find some antibiotics and the best of luck to you and Texas.
Lora

 

[karenerwin]

Hi Karen,

Your poor rooster looks exactly as my Bobbi did and the cause was an inner ear infection. It's very treatable with antibiotics,rest and a little coddling.

Right now he is probably dehydrated,dizzy and nauseous. Try holding him upright and holding a spoon with water to his beak so just the tip is in the water. He should try to drink if he doesn't have to bend down and put more painful pressure on his ear(s).
When a bird gets dehydrated they lose their binocular vision. Add that to the loss of balance and they spiral downward very quickly. If you can get enough fluids into him he will start to come back up pretty fast. You could try adding a drop or 2 of corn syrup mixed in the water to give him a bit of energy.

If you can, use some old towels rolled up to get him into a more upright position. It helps them orient themselves and head up means less pain and pressure. I don't know what your options are for antibiotics, the vet gave Bobbi SMZ. It took her a total of 6 weeks on antibiotics and a short round of metacam to clear things up to where she could get on the roost first try. It took a long time because I delayed treatment thinking she had wry neck. Adult birds don't get wry neck. Please find some antibiotics and the best of luck to you and Texas.
Lora

Thanks Lora! I've been trying to find information on ear infections, but so far haven't found much. Yesterday and today he was able to drink from a cup. He sticks his whole head in! He has also eaten watered down feed yesterday and today. I put that into a cup or bowl and hold it up to him. Today it took him an hour to eat about 1/4 cup of feed mush and drink about a half cup of water. I'll check at the feed store tomorrow to see if they have any poultry antibiotics. I don't know if any of the vets around here have any experience with poultry. But I won't know until I ask.

 

[Lora Indy]

That he is eating is very good news! Bobbi was a sloppy mess, they can't aim, she couldn't keep her head still long enough to aim.I just kept her wiped off as best I could and she cleaned herself up when she got better.

There isn't any info out there about ear infections in chickens. There were absolutely no outward symptoms, no swelling,redness or drainage. The only way it got diagnosed was by a super duper avian specialist that I was very fortunate to find through the vet grapevine. She watched Bobbi for 30 seconds and told me it was neither wry neck or Mareks. She had the tiniest little ear scope I've ever seen, showed me the awful mess inside her head and declared her fixable. She did the antibiotics in 2 week batches. I would call & give her an update each week.Bobbi improved very quickly at first, was able to eat by herself in the first week but improvement stalled . Dr. Peacock added Metacam to allow the ears to drain better at week 5 and it was like a miracle. Week 6 I would take her out to the barn with me to do chores and she could get up on the low roost.
The big problem was winter was coming and Bobbi was still severely underweight and her feathers were a ragged mess.She had been sick for weeks before I found her twisted & balled up in a nestbox and I then spent weeks treating her incorrectly. She ended up living in the house for the winter

We had wind chill as low as-50 that year, she never would have lived through it in the barn.

Today she is a fat and sassy 5 year old hen, still comes in the house to lay her egg in her basket.

 

[Blooie]

I love stories with happy endings.....I am so hoping it works out for Texas, too. @Lora Indy You are a gem for your thoughts and well done explanations! Maybe after Texas gets better, like I know he will, you and @karenerwin could collaborate on an article for BYC.....then if someone else does a search like you did something informative and helpful will come up.

 

[Lora Indy]

Hi Karen,

I hope Texas is doing better tonight. Here is a link that you might find useful https://sites.google.com/a/poultrypedia.com/poultrypedia/medicine-chart
Did you find any antibiotics?

Hi Blooie,

Thank you

I hope Karen would like to go in on an article.

 

[karenerwin]

Hi Karen,

I hope Texas is doing better tonight. Here is a link that you might find useful https://sites.google.com/a/poultrypedia.com/poultrypedia/medicine-chart
Did you find any antibiotics?

Hi Blooie,

Thank you

I hope Karen would like to go in on an article.

Hi Lora Indy,
Texas is doing about the same. I didn't get by the feed store as I had a doctor's appointment today with a new (human) doctor, and then had to get my girls (human) from high school. The link was/is very helpful as it confirms that I should be able to get something at the feed store. Some people talked about using peroxide in the ear of chickens that they have had with ear infections. I gave that a try, so far it hasn't seemed to do anything one way or another. Some of these same people have also suggested putting an antibiotic ointment in the ear canal, so I tried that also (this evening). Others have talked about cleaning out the " junk" in the ear, but nothing seemed to want to come out & I was afraid of damaging his ear or making things worse, so I didn't pursue that too vigorously.
I'm game to go in on an article, if you are!