Anyone!!!Rooster holding head sideways/walking backwards/seizures????

[PearlD]

I noticed last week that my roo was holding his head sideways....you know ...like when they see a hawk or something flying over??? I though nothing of it until this weekend, and I saw him eat or drink, and his head would spin around over his back and stay that way. Several times over the past 2 days, I thought he was dead, only to go poke him and he raises up with that crooked head!!!! What could this be?? I'm so scared that it may be contagious to my other birds. It seems neurological to me......anyone???

 

[dlhunicorn]

yes it is neurological and could be due to any number of things (a peck to the head, vit or micronutrient deficency (like vitE/selenium and or B)
toxicosis from something he ate. mycotoxin (perhaps he ate asome moldy feed or such) , heavy metal poisoning (lead> a member once had a bird that had ingesting a staple and that was causing the symptoms0 or even malabsorption syndrome which is viral but causes the bird to not absorb nutrients properly from its feed which in turn causes deficiency which in turn causes the symptoms you are seeing, or perhaps he had too much salt from some source... to just name a few.
Whatever is causing the symptom please separate him and confine so you can monitor his symptoms further ...
What you can do now to help (even when you do not know the cause):
>you will need to put electroytes in his waterer if he is unable to drink sufficiently and you suspect dehydration... dribble along beak regularly as you do nOT want him to get dehydrated (this will kill your bird quicker than the original ailment!)

>>Give him three drops of Polyvisol enfamil formulation (preferably unflavored > this is a liquid childrens A-B-D vitamin) for a week then taper off the next

>>>Get a (human) combo vitaminE/selenium geltab (I have seen that it is sold in some agway and walmarts) > you MUST ensure that the selenium content does NOT exceed 50 MICROgrams... p r i c k open with a needle and squeeze out contents and give in beak. This is known to help with neurological problems whatever the cause . (Please make the effort to find the combination vitE/selenium as they are interdependent on each other.) Give the contents of on geltab once a day for three days (you can give half twice a day if you wish) ... then one tab every other day 3x ... see if there is any improvement from that.

Keep monitoring him. These are basic support measures. You may need to make a slurry of his feed (do not feed layer ration to a roo...choose a non-medicated starter or grower) >you can also cook some human oatmeal in water and add just enough to the feed to make it clump tegether and offer some small clumps in the beak. it is crucial he swallow on his own (be it water or feed as you do not want anything going down into his lungs as the bird is unable to close this off as we humans and other mammals can do.

Here is info I have collected on some causes of this symptom:
http://dlhunicorn.conforums.com/index.cgi?board=emergencies&action=display&num=1160928615

 

[PearlD]

Thanks so Much!!!! It could be a number of these things, but I don't feel like its a nutrition issue. I feed Flockraiser, and then they are allowed to free range during the daylight hours........which leads me to the suspicion that it may be toxicity of some sort, since none of my other birds appear affected.
I will quarantine him and hope for the best!

Thanks again for your information!!!