Can a chicken suffer from a concussion?

[yinyue]

Hi, I'm new here. I've kept two pet chickens, a rooster and a hen (domesticated, and not for egg-laying and stuff) for about four years now, and I'm rather worried about my rooster. I don't know what breed they are, and I hope it's not an issue.

In the past three days, my rooster suddenly started acting rather disoriented (Friday, today is Sunday). He was acting normally on Thursday in the run. He can still move, but his gait has become rather lopsided, and his right leg seems weak. When I pick him up, the claw curls while the left one is spread out. At first I thought he injured his right leg, but after observing him for a while, it seems that he's actually unsteady on both legs, though it's a bit worse on the right. He has a great deal of trouble balancing, and if he tries to move too fast or tries to chase the hen, he ends up falling over/stumbling.

I haven't been able to observe him properly since I've been busy for the past few days (and will continue to be busy for the next week), but I noticed today that he's been nodding a lot when I was trying to get him to look at me. He seems to be able to see food, but when I bring my finger close to his eyes, he doesn't react.

I am unable to tell if he has thrown up or if he has been passing out proper stools. Furthermore, because we've been feeding him corn, his stools are of a different nature than on his regular diet. Where I live, nobody sells chicken feed, so we usually feed him cooked rice, but he hasn't been taking cooked rice since Friday. I suspect that he is only eating corn because it's his favourite food. I'm rather worried, and I hope someone can alleviate my worry. Thank you.

 

[dlhunicorn]

First off...what is his diet? Where do you live where there is no chicken? I ask because I suspect this is nutritionally related.
What is his run envirnment (plants and such) and what is your weather like?
Has he ever been wormed?
What breed?

 

[yinyue]

Quote:
I live in Singapore. His normal diet is white rice, though we usually supplement it with greens like lettuce and corn. His run environment is short lawn grass, and recently the weather has been very hot, although we have kept him watered. The hen that lives with him in the same environment is fine, he seems to be the only one suffering from these problems.

Never been wormed, and my father got these pets from a friend, so I have no idea what breed they are. They've been living with me for four years.

 

[silkiechicken]

Hmm... 4 years old with lots of rice and corn in the diet. My guess is also nutritional. Maybe you can see if you can't find some childrens vitamins and feed them some hard boiled eggs? Not sure what is available for you in singapore. Best of luck.

 

[yinyue]

I've looked through the breed pages, and they remind me most of the Nankings, though the hen...doesn't look like any of the hens I saw haha.

The corn is not often (I think once a month?). It's really mostly rice and lettuce. I just saw his stools, normally it's black with white streaks, with corn it's green, but there this whitish fluid that I've never seen before. He's still really unsteady, but otherwise is still fairly active.

The thing is, I'll be going overseas tomorrow until Saturday, so I won't be able to monitor his progress. Thanks for all your help anyway, dhunicorn and silkiechicken, it's been great.

 

[dlhunicorn]

There is a "museum" of chickens in Japan... i saw it on youtube with fascinating longtail breeds (yokohama, ohiki etc)... I am sure they would have info or perhaps even a web site with contact information so you could ask questions on where to buy the proper feed needed for your birds....
I will try to find the youtube video(s) again as the name of the openair museum I am sure would be on there and you could call or see if they have a website. Without proper nutrition your bird will not get better. I suspect it is a japanese bantam sort (there are several breeds featured in the youtube coverage) in the meantime you can go to the petstore and get a vitamin preparation for petbirds specifically with B and A vitamins ... look there also for UNIVERSAL SOFTBILL FEED (SOFTBILL birds are birds that do not eat seeds but are insect eaters)... buy the CeDe brand or if they do not have that another. I will post the video as soon as I find it.