Help! My young boy is wobbly can't walk laying around :-(

ForTheLoveOfSilkies

Free Ranging
5 Years
Aug 18, 2019
2,424
8,135
611
Australia
😢 Burtle the cockerel only a few months old, wobbly to walk or not at all, lays down mostly
Any advice? I have vitamin water and feed chick starter currently.
Doesn't seem interested in food but had a few pecks at it.
I really love this boy and wanted to keep him 😭 my previous cockerel (in April) had similar problem around the same age for some reason but his head went backwards and I had to put him out of his misery 😢 all other 13 chickens (incl 1 rooster) are fine.
IMG_20220111_093152.jpg
IMG_20220111_093834_1.jpg
IMG_20220111_095414.jpg

IMG_20220111_093202.jpg

IMG_20220111_092305.jpg
 

Attachments

  • IMG_20220111_093202.jpg
    IMG_20220111_093202.jpg
    449.4 KB · Views: 3
Toes on 1 foot a little curled up,
any more advice?? He's eaten a bit more but can't walk around without wobbling or falling. I added the poultry vitamins to wet his feed aswell as water. It's fairly hot here so I half covered his area with shade as he was panting. He shuffled himself over a little to the shade spot.
 
What are the vitamins you are giving him?
I would make sure those contain Vitamin E and B1 (Thiamine). Vitamin therapy of 400IU Vitamin E and 1/4 tablet B-Complex may be helpful, with direct dosing you are sure that he's getting the vitamins instead of relying on a sick bird to drink.

The symptoms you describe are neurological. There's numerous causes and it would be hard to nail it down unless you lose him and have a necropsy. A few common causes are disease like Marek's, head trauma, nutritional/vitamin deficiency and/or genetics.
Since you had another that had similar symptoms, then disease may be the problem.

If you have vet care, getting a fecal float to see if worms and/or coccidia are contributing factors would be a good idea.

Check to make sure his crop is emptying, syringe fluids and food into him if necessary, look him over for lice mites.
 
What are the vitamins you are giving him?
I would make sure those contain Vitamin E and B1 (Thiamine). Vitamin therapy of 400IU Vitamin E and 1/4 tablet B-Complex may be helpful, with direct dosing you are sure that he's getting the vitamins instead of relying on a sick bird to drink.

The symptoms you describe are neurological. There's numerous causes and it would be hard to nail it down unless you lose him and have a necropsy. A few common causes are disease like Marek's, head trauma, nutritional/vitamin deficiency and/or genetics.
Since you had another that had similar symptoms, then disease may be the problem.

If you have vet care, getting a fecal float to see if worms and/or coccidia are contributing factors would be a good idea.

Check to make sure his crop is emptying, syringe fluids and food into him if necessary, look him over for lice mites.
Thanks for advice
Here's pic of poultry vitamins..
IMG_20220111_111746.jpg

0.5ml per kg recommended dosage.
Strange how it's just the 2 cockerels that has had similar disease around same age and not any pullets or any others.
 
Good advice by Wyorp Rock. Hopefully, he doesn’t have Mareks disease, but that could be a possibility after losing another young one with similar symptoms. The vitamins are a good idea. Is there a poultry lab or vet in your area that can do a necropsy or Mareks testing if you lose him? Mareks can have multiple symptoms and differs in each case. Lameness in one or both legs, or wings, twisted neck, curled under toes, imbalance, and other signs may be possible. Here is good article about Mareks disease:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/the-great-big-giant-mareks-disease-faq.66077/
 
He's eating chick starter right?
Could he have hit his head? Any fighting?
Can he see ok?

Is there a way to get a fecal float to see if Coccidia is an issue? What's his poop like?

I would use those vitamins. It contains B1 and E along with other essential b vitamins and minerals.
He has had over 1ml of the poultry vitamins now as he has drank all the water and eaten half the little container of wet feed.. yep chick starter, as all mine are eating that with chicks in the flock. Could be a head injury I guess, no fighting other then the usual pecks to show dominance but that may have got the wrong spot and caused neurological damage as you know Silkies are susceptible to that.
Poop is dark browny green in the last few hours. They have plenty of grass /plants to forage on and he has eaten some oregano too.
No vet around here.
All mine have been raised by broody hens and never had any worm issues, I do use worm meds every few months but not with chicks yet.
He can see ok, unlike some of my others I do trim their crests if needed.
 
Good advice by Wyorp Rock. Hopefully, he doesn’t have Mareks disease, but that could be a possibility after losing another young one with similar symptoms. The vitamins are a good idea. Is there a poultry lab or vet in your area that can do a necropsy or Mareks testing if you lose him? Mareks can have multiple symptoms and differs in each case. Lameness in one or both legs, or wings, twisted neck, curled under toes, imbalance, and other signs may be possible. Here is good article about Mareks disease:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/the-great-big-giant-mareks-disease-faq.66077/
Umm, possible Mareks I guess ☹️ hopefully a vitamin deficiency problem though strange previous cockerel had a similar thing but backwards head, maybe a worse stage. And strange again it's only this cockerel and previous cockerel that has these sort of symptoms and no other chicken. No other boys have hatched besides those ones but next hatch if one is a boy and has the same problem then it must be something genetic for boys only? Ashame as I wanted to keep at least 1 boy as a backup to my rooster, they are so beautiful and my rooster surely can't handle 13 girls!
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom