Anyone who as a special needs chicken please help me with ideas

[Chirpy10]

I have a rooster who isn't your average rooster. He was chilled in the egg and survived. Then when he was four months he got limber neck and survived it. He does have spells every now and then. Usually the spells entail not eating or drinking well stumbling and limber neck but he hasn't had a spell since late February. Chirpy he is 9 months and 10 days old. Today I came home from work he didn't crow. This I thought was one of his spells but, today its extreme greenish white diarrhea, lethargic, and not eating or drinking on his own. I did get some water with electrolytes in it down him. Also, I probably should mention he gets vitamin e daily(from limber neck incident). I'm not sure quite what I should do cause today's spell has different symptoms.
Okay, I thought about what changes I have done lately and one is I changed his diet a tad. I added cracked corn to it and crumbles 2 days ago. Could he be allergic to corn or something in the corn? However, I usually feed him finisher but, around here it's hard to find. So I did find something called Crumblets that seem to be fine with him. He has been on it of a little more than a month.

 

[seminolewind]

How thin is he? Does his breast bone stick out? Is the poo real bright green? Are you sure he's been eating and not faking it?

 

[Chirpy10]

Thanks for the information. I honestly don't think it's not mareks. Yeah, he does have like two or so symptoms but, these symptoms can be pertained to other things as well. Today he is back to crowing (not well but trying), and he is drinking and eating on own. He is still very tried. He is back to following me around. Its possible that he is was fake eating and yes the poop was bright green but now its more solid not so much diarrhea. I'm really thinking it was the cracked corn cause he did have an issue before with it but no so severe.

 

[seminolewind]

Well I hope he continues on. Are you talking about plain chicken crumbles?

 

[Haunted55]

I have a rooster who isn't your average rooster. He was chilled in the egg and survived. Then when he was four months he got limber neck and survived it. He does have spells every now and then. Usually the spells entail not eating or drinking well stumbling and limber neck but he hasn't had a spell since late February. Chirpy he is 9 months and 10 days old. Today I came home from work he didn't crow. This I thought was one of his spells but, today its extreme greenish white diarrhea, lethargic, and not eating or drinking on his own. I did get some water with electrolytes in it down him. Also, I probably should mention he gets vitamin e daily(from limber neck incident). I'm not sure quite what I should do cause today's spell has different symptoms.
Okay, I thought about what changes I have done lately and one is I changed his diet a tad. I added cracked corn to it and crumbles 2 days ago. Could he be allergic to corn or something in the corn? However, I usually feed him finisher but, around here it's hard to find. So I did find something called Crumblets that seem to be fine with him. He has been on it of a little more than a month.

Can I ask why he is on a finisher? Most finish feeds are around 18% and that is way too high a protien level for a roo this age, unless you plan on slaughtering him for meat. He should be on a 15% feed and unless he is showing symptoms of limber neck, be very careful of the vitamin E. It isn't something he should be getting everyday as it is a fat souable and builds up in the system and can cause it's own problems. Vitamin E is already a part of the feed, he shouldn't need any more.
http://voices.yahoo.com/causes-symptoms-vitamin-e-overdose-toxicity-7618768.html

Yes it's about humans but think how much smaller your roo is. I think you should stop whatever suppliments you are giving this guy, find the right feed for him and just give his body the chance to clear itself. It's my opinion, you've been giving him too much of a good thing.

Here's another from the Mayo Clinic, it's interesting to note the information of a premature infant. The weights of one and your bird are probably quite similar.
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/vitamin-e/NS_patient-vitamine/DSECTION=safety

 

[Chirpy10]

Chripy is now back to his normal as he can be. Crowing, mocking, and chasing. I stop the cracked corn everything seems to be well. The cracked corn I'm investigating.

Okay the reason why he was on finisher was because it is what he could handle at the time before crumblets. Pellets he won't eat and crumble makes him have diarrhea to a point its everywhere on him. That when I found this product called crumblets its smaller than a pellet, has some crumbles, some pellet to it. Got to remember Chirpy isn't quite you average chicken, he kinda like a mentally challenged kid. Honestly he makes think of forest gump, he runs like a duck.

I also, agree with you that too much a good thing can be bad but when I did stopped the vitamin e that's when he had spells while ago and the vet had me do a low dose. Also, I've read somewhere that chickens don't absorb vitamin e so easy. That why usually with you do vitamin e one uses selenium to have it absorb faster. However, I know selenium is a poison and I don't nor wish to use it. So the vitamin e that I give is a very small dose and plus he isn't actually absorbing all of it. I'm also applying it to the food and chicken well being chickens get it every where not getting all of it anyway. So, I'm thinking it wasn't the vitamin e but thank you for you opinion. Without it I could have over looked this. Thank you!

 

[Haunted55]

I'm glad to hear he is doing better. This past year's corn crop was hard hit with an aflatoxin and it is possible that something came through and that batch you were feeding had higher levels of it or it could also be mold from getting wet after it was bagged for sale. Lots of possibilities....If your gut tells you something could be causing the problem, go with your gut feeling. Stop whatever it is and go from there. Most times the feelings are right on the money. I think our heads 'see' things that may not make it to the conscious brain level and instead gives us a 'feeling' about something instead. Whatever the workings of it are...go with your gut.

If you had mentioned the Vet being the one to advise a low dose vitamin E, I would have been more at ease and not keyed on that. I had visions of you giving the poor guy 1 or more 400iu E caps a day. In a short term, yeah, not for longer than a week though. The selenium is a worry. A lot of places have high naturally occuring levels of it in the soil and adding it to anything's diet, man or beast, can have terrible results. I'm glad you've done some homework and are not just taking things with blind faith.

May I ask what is wrong with Chirpy? Was he hatched like this or did he have some type of an injury?

 

[Chirpy10]

Chirpy was hatched like that. You see I had a hen go broody and I was new to the chicken life. I learn when I was little not to bother a bird or any baby animal cause the mom could abandon it. Well, she had made a nest about 50 yards way from the house. I monitor her the first couple weeks when I got careless and assumed she would be fine. One morning I woke up for work she was just going off and the was off the nest and that when I notice she had blood on her. She had been attached by a opossum, caught the little booger eating the eggs. I got the eggs that were left but they were chilled. I ended taking her to the vets and having to but the hen down cause the opossum got the air sacks. Also, this was in the fall so incubator  were hard to find so  I called around to get one. We had 5 hatch but they all died except for chirpy. One had a hernia and the rest died due to some sort of breathing issue. They acted like they couldn't breath. Chirpy however didn't have that he just developed yawning that followed by limber next. After beating limber next see seemed to have stopped yawning..... Incase your wondering  we also caught the opossum and relocated him.
Another factor to chirpy is his father and mother were only six month when she started nesting. I've read somewhere that rooster normally aren't fertile up to a year old. So it could be immature parents or eggs chilled or who knows. The vet that chirpy sees doesn't even know but she does say she certainly he has a pick to choose from.

 

[Haunted55]

Wow, poor little guy! Yeah, I'd say it's an uphill climb for him daily. After I answered your other postings, I started doing some looking. I found a couple of things you may or may not have seen already.

http://www.merckmanuals.com/vet/pou...vitamin_deficiencies_in_poultry.html#v3347955 scroll down to the Vitamin E section.

http://ucce.ucdavis.edu/files/repositoryfiles/ca3204p14b-62501.pdf Funny stuff, this one.....this drug is dilatin used for epilepsy.

http://jn.nutrition.org/content/107/10/1786.full.pdf

From what I am getting from all this, you might want to rethink the use of the selenium. If your Vet gave you dosing information for it, I'd follow it. The E is great, but there seems to be a bit more than just it's lack going on. One last one...

http://tru.uni-sz.bg/tsj/Vol5N3-4_2007/bozakova_et_al1.pdf

No really, lol, last one....
http://tin.er.usgs.gov/geochem/doc/averages/se/usa.html

If you look at this last one it may help you with your choice on how much, if any selenium to add to his diet. If you live in a place with high concentrations....I don't think I'd add any at all. Just get him out on the ground as you've already been doing, but if it's low to med., do the math or get friendly with someone who can and you should be able to come up with the exact amount this little guy needs. Something else to consider....I remember reading somewhere that iodine, through kelp, was given to MD patients and it helped them with symptoms. The iodine worked on the thyroid and unfortunately that's about all I remember. Can't even remember where I saw this but you might do your own search and come up with something on it. If you can find kelp suppliments, it couldn't hurt him for sure. I wish you the very best of luck and I hope you keep this thread updated!

 

[Chirpy10]

Thank you for the extra information. It did help cause I would have never ever thought of chickens having scoliosis. Also, Chirpy is okay he been a little strange these past couple of days. I don't what wrong with him but he is eating and drinking so I'm sure he'll be okay. It could be the heat, he isn't used to it... What makes me think its the heat is because, in the evening he acts more livelier while during the past two days when its been warm he acts dopey and not very responsive but like I said he is drinking and eating that's a plus.