Disoriented Rooster, need suggestions please

Tony

Songster
Jan 16, 2008
647
17
224
Connecticut
My roo has been acting strange for about a month or so, he eats/drinks perfectly fine and is growing well. BUT, he has this thing where he will lower his head and walk clumsily backwards stumbleing in a way, then walks forward again like nothing happened, its almost as if he gets dizzy spells. I will confess that I HAVE on many occassions fed him meat of all types(leftovers from dinner) rangeing from fish,hot dogs,hamburgers to steak. As well as many other things, fruits,vegetables,nuts. more or less anything left over from the fridge. AND, he has a bite on the back of his head, its healed now though. I`m thinking its a rat bite. Could he have caught something from the rat? Rabies?
Any suggestions what his problem is?
 
i feed my chickens table scraps all the time and its fine everone does that the best part of having chickens but i would call a vet ( if you dont know a farm animal vet your cat/dog vet might recommend one) about the backwards walking because that sounds pretty weird unless he is just playing (my goats do stuff like that all the time)
 
There is some sort of neurological problem that silkies are prone to that sounds similar. I had a chick that had it really bad last season but it didnt make it. Utube had videos showing some chickens with this problem. I will try to find it again.
I dont think it was his diet.
 
i have had several silkies with that issue. It can be caused by a head bump or peck on the head. My little frizzled silkie mix does it on occasion - backward walking, head shaking back and forth. It helps if i keep Avia Charge 2000 in their water on a regular basis and make sure they have plenty of protein (yogurt, scrambled eggs, mealworms, hulled sunflower seeds).

What breed is your roo?
 
this rooster is a China gamefowl, I looked at the silkie video on Youtube, luckily mine is not as bad as that one, that silkie seemed to have a hard time keeping its head upright. My roo does what looks more like he`s looking down at his feet or takeing a bow (minus the applause) lol, while stepping backwards.
He`s been living alone for about 2 months now in a cage, so getting pecked or injured by another chicken is not possible. I`m thinking maybe a rat bite or something. He has a scar on the back of his head, its healed though, the feathers are just starting to grow back in.
scar is on back of head, right above earlobes(darkish spot)
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom