Head moving rapidly now

[kmmp]

I posted earlier about my roos. The dad was 3 years old, seemed fine and then one day just could not walk or sit up straight. I treated with antibiotics, isolated him and hoped for the best. He died on Thursday (had been isolated since Monday). Now, his son is showing the same symptoms this morning except that he could walk at 6:30am, now he is just flapping around and his head moves around like he is having seizures or is dizzy. Has anyone seen anything like this before? Both had watery stool but it looked normal in color until the end when it was yellowy.

 

[Judy]

Probably no one is answering because we don't know. I sure don't.

Have you looked here?

https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=15239

 

[threehorses]

Yellow droppings indicate liver involvement. If the droppings are foamy, I'd immediately suspect parasites (worms). However, you could have an E. coli or other enteritis (stomach infection) working in your flock.

Time to evaluate your whole flock. Pick them up, check their keels. If you feel sharp keels, it's time to consider your worming protocol. If you haven't wormed in a while, then worm first with piperazine to knock back the majority of roundworms, the most common worm in poultry. It won't kill them all - and that's good. If your birds are heavily infested then you only want to kill a good number and not all so as not to overwhelm your birds' systems with dead parasites. Overwhelming could include rejection of the foreign proteins which the dead worms become, or clogging of the intestines with the passage of dead worms. So piperazine first, wait a bit, then either do it again or go with something more strong like ivermectin or another broad-spectrum wormer recommended here.

Any time you treat with anything, including wormers, you should always use probiotics thereafter in the following week. These can include store bought livestock probiotics like Fastrack or Probios, avian specific ones from Petsmart/Petco like Ornabac, capsules of acidophilus (or yeast-infection treating pills) from the grocery/health food store/pharmacy, or even plain yogurt with live culture (most are). Mix whatever probiotic you choose into something you know they'll eat quickly - wetted down crumble with egg yolk is generally irresistable.

More evaluation: are you seeing any parasites on the feather shafts or on the skin? (Check the neck and vent areas, a favorite of pesky parasites.) Any pasty vents? Any irritated vents? Pale combs, weird droppings (green, foam, running, rusty)? Is your feedstore selling you fresh food with a good turnover? Are the chickens away from anything such as compost piles, rotting vegetation, maggot sources (including carcasses or even wet spots sometimes attract flies)? Are there any stagnant water areas on your property? etc etc.

Spring checkup time. You've lost one, might lose another, and I don't want you to lose any more. They're too precious to you or you wouldn't be here asking us to help and we understand that.

In the mean time, see if you can get nutrition into that male -particularly easy to digest foods (no grains at the moment please) like the crumbles/yolk mixture and probiotics mentioned above. If he has diarrhea, a vitamin'electrolyte solution in his water (and the water used to make the crumbles/yolk) will help. Pedialyte will help in a pinch as well.

Hope to hear from you soon.

 

[kmmp]

He died, very rapidly, didn't have time to treat. It only seems to be affecting the roos and it is interesting that it was father and son, could be something genetic. The other roo and all females seem fine. I will worm them but they do not have any other parasites, no injuries, combs not pale, just sudden paralysis then seizures then death. Yellow runny droppings right before the end. Hopefully it was something genetic. I will keep an eye out and hope I don't lose anymore. Thanks for the advice, I really appreciate it.

 

[Glenda L Heywood]

In given with Nathalie's advice as she would have good thoughts
there might have been a case where the E.coli got more severe and that could have given the paralizing and thrashing around
meaning that the bird had it for some time before dieing
it would have been good to take it to a vet and have a lab work done on them

for the E.coli I would treat the whole flock as it may have been something in their feed

Just to be sure that the other birds don't have it start this program after you worm the birds and then worm in 10 days and give this treatment as directed
It will put your mind at ease and not be that expensive either

I would start with the Vit E and Vit B complex with wet mash

A) natural probiotic wet mash with Vit E and Vit B complex added immediately
basically the chicken has some nerve damage do this immediately
need neurolodigal vit E and Vit B complex for nervous disorder Also the apple cider vineager in water

(1) 2 tbsp per gallon of water till chickens are well and the 2 times a week for life
for one chicken use 1 tbsp of ACV
1 pint of water

(2 immediately give the chicken 1000 mg capsule of liquid Vit E by cutting the end of the capsule and taking the vit E liquid and mix in wet mash probiotic

(2-B) total amt of capsules equals the total amt of chickens fed vit's

(3 also need to crush a vit B complex pill in tabsp and add tsp of water to it
put it in the chickens wet mash after it is disolved

(3-C) then give this to the chicken twice a week for two weeks should see much improvement

(4 Do both Vit's twice today then for 7 days till you see some improvement in the chicken

(5 today I would see if the chicken will eat a wet mash with the Vitamins E and B complex
JUST MAKE 1/2 OF THE WET MASH GIVEN HERE FIRST TIME WITH THE VIT'S

(-B) THIS IS FOR ONE CHICKEN multiply it times amt of birds being fed this wet mash with vitamins

natural probiotic wet mash
2 tbp of dry crumbles
3 tbp of milk sweet, sour or buttermilk
1 tbsp of non flavored yogurt
2 tbsp of apple sauce
put it on top so the chicken can smell and see it
mix good and put the
vit E liquid as directed in the wet mash
and crumble the Vit B complex tablet in a tabsp and add to the wet mash
**BESURE AND MIX VIT'S VERY GOOD IN WET MASH***

(6 Do this twice a day for 7 days to see if the chicken is better
then do this once a day for another week then once a week for a while
this should give the nervous system some stability

(6-A) they should clean it up in 20-30 minutes

(7 you can email by PM for more information and include this inf so I remember what


this will help them get good gut flora
also put 2 tbsp of ACV in gallon of water and keep giving them this water for a week straight
then give it 3-5 times a week for life

any questions or changes in the chickens let me know by email

 

[lilchick]

Range Paralysis or Mereks Disease come to mind..
Do they blink their eyes rapidly? That is a big sign of Mereks..
Sorry you lost your roo. If they have this disease it is not always fatal.. good luck with his son...

 

[Glenda L Heywood]

yes that was my other thought
the wet mash probiotics that I gave with the Vitamins in it does wonders for the mareks thing
and I would feed it to all the chickens

 

[threehorses]

I'm so sorry to hear that you lost him. What a shame. It does sound like it was very fast.

There are other possibilities, too, but at this point it'd really be guessing. I wonder if maybe he didn't get into something that could have given him botulism. But you'd think more than the two would have it. Is there anything, other than their roosterhood, that set them apart? Where they're kept, etc?

There's also the possibility as mentioned of the other diseases. I still stand by the fact that yellow droppings are pointing to something that caused liver damage, possibly failure. The head and body movement sound pretty much unfortunately like dying chickens generally, or could be more indicative of disease. But something was going on there involving their digestive tract and/or liver.

Sometimes these things happen. My mom warned me not to get back into chickens, swearing that they'd "break (my) heart". When they go they do go fast, and it is heartbreaking. I hope this was a fluke and the rest of your flock continues in health.

Take care.

 

[seminolewind]

Can you think of anything they could have gotten in to? Poison, mold, anything?

 

[kmmp]

My other roo is now sick with the same thing! My hens are now producing white watery poo. They free range and there is nothing new around the property except lots of foxtails this year, but they don't eat them. I washed their coop out last week and did a good scrubbing with water (no soap) and then the first roo got sick. I see no pests, I don't use pesticides and the only thing I did differently was shear my sheep! I hope I don't lose the whole flock. I will treat them today, all of them with a wormer and I'll put antibiotics in their water and and electrolytes too. I have three broody hens setting 15 eggs and I hope I don't lose them too! I can't move them because they simply refuse to sit on the nest once I do.

There is no rapid eye movement, just sudden inability to walk corrrectly and watery yellow poo.

I am so very sad, I hope someone didn't dump something poisionous over the fence because they don't like my chickens. I live in a rural area but there are lumps of housing units not far from me with people from the city who may not appreciate my roos at 2am.