Little Silkie Rooster is acting strange

[ssnyder27]

My little silkie rooster "Raven" is acting really strange (he's 7 weeks). I live on the east coast. Thursday morning he was fine when I let them out of the coop, but all during the day when they are in the pen area, we had some strong rain and wind. I'm not sure if he got wet & cold, or if he got scared. Last night he didn't go into the coop, I had to put him in there myself. This morning he came down out of the coop but kept squatting down and not running around like normal. I took him out and wrapped him into a towel and then he got a little perky.......but when I place him back into the coop he starts acting strange again. WHAT IS WRONG WITH HIM.

 

[chooks4life]

Hello and

Hard to tell from the description but sounds like he may be injured. Does he walk normally?

Best wishes.

 

[ssnyder27]

yes Raven walks normal, but is now slow maybe a slight wabbly. When I touch Raven she/he (not really sure about sex) will kind of stumble around and when it goes down into the pen it just stands over by itself and doesn't interact with the others that much. I use to laugh at Raven because he/she use to run around pen chasing flys. I don't know if they've been wormed or not. I haven't seen anything in it's poop. Just really confused as to what is wrong.

 

[chooks4life]

Sounds like an injury, but if that's the case then left to his/her own devices, if you don't see them getting worse, they should recover. If you think they need it you can separate them, but sometimes the other chooks will make it hard on them when you reintroduce them as separating them shuffles the hierarchy ladder so all of them have to sort it out all over again when you reintroduce a chook.

Best wishes.

 

[ssnyder27]

Thanks I'll just keep and eye on raven to be sure it doesn't get worse.

 

[chooks4life]

If they normally perch, you may want to check on them at night to see if they're sleeping on the ground, because if they are and if it gets quite cold or damp where you are, they may well suffer from that if also injured or ill. If Raven is sleeping on the ground a nice bed of straw with some sort of covering and walls, i.e. a box on its side will do, to break the wind and help trap heat, should help a lot.

 

[ssnyder27]

No

they have a nice coop that they sleep in and I have some pine shavings on the floor.

 

[chooks4life]

I can't see if there's a ramp leading up into there or not. If there isn't, the effort to get up or down from there, even though it's a short distance, can worsen any injuries Raven has. Just something to be aware of. Hope all turns out well.

Best wishes.

 

[ssnyder27]

Yeah there's a ramp....I have raven out at the moment and she's eating well....I beginning to think she was injured by the strong winds & rain we had and she's just taking it easy....thanks for all your help.