My rooster can't balance? He keeps falling backwards and sitting on the ground.

[Ederle]

My 1 year old rooster got in a fight with another rooster recently. The only injury he got from it was a bloodied comb...or so I thought. Now he seems listless. He is walking around, but is acting as if he is drunk. He stumbles, falls backwards, and has been sitting in an odd way...kind of like a hen laying an egg. He still eats and tries to pursue hens, but he's stopped crowing and acting roosterish in general. Oddly enough, this rooster's uncle (who was identical to him) also showed these symptoms shortly before dying, except he had blood in his droppings too. But what is causing this?

TL;DR:

Age: 1 year old

Breed: Large mixed breed

Symptoms: Still walking, but stumbling a lot. His wing keeps "drooping" and he is leaning backwards and sitting in an odd way. He seems listless, though he is still eating.

Other: His droppings seem perfectly fine. He seems a bit thin, but nothing serious. This has been going on for five days and is steadily worsening.

 

[GoProChickens]

Hmmm.... Sounds strange, never heard of that happening. I'll try looking it up.

 

[janiedoe]

You said another rooster who died had similar symptoms. How long ago did he die, and how long had he had those symptoms before he died?

 

[janiedoe]

An injury that caused some blood loss could cause a pre-existing nutritional balance to worsen. Vitamin B12 often helps when people are having balance issues caused by malnutrition. I don't know anything about chicken malnourishment but I'm sure someone on here can help if that is the problem.

 

[GoProChickens]

Have you tried giving it probiotics or electrolytes?

 

[Ederle]

You said another rooster who died had similar symptoms. How long ago did he die, and how long had he had those symptoms before he died?

I had a rooster named Karl, along with my other rooster (and Karl's brother), Poe. Karl died almost exactly two years ago. One day he started stumbling, acting as if he was drunk, and he stopped crowing. These symptoms went on for a little over a week, worsening, until Karl could no longer stand at all. We euthanized him. I assumed he had internal injuries or something.

Fast forward to a year after Karl's death, I decide to breed Karl's brother, Poe, with another hen. Kalliope is hatched. He looks and even acts completely identical to Karl. Now Kalliope (or as I call him, Karl II) is about one year old, and after a fight with his brother, he is showing the same symptoms that led to his uncle, Karl's death. Kalliope never had any contact with Karl, because Karl died quite a while before Kalliope was born.

Also, the fight didn't seem to be severe at all. Didn't last long, and Kalliope seemed to only have a little bit of blood on his comb and a bruised ego as a result of it.

 

[Ederle]

Have you tried giving it probiotics or electrolytes?

I don't have any electrolytes here, and I can't get to the store today. I do have some vitamins that are supposed to treat a lot of different deficiencies, so I'm going to give him one of those.

 

[GoProChickens]

That might help...

 

[GoProChickens]

Check this out...
https://www.mypetchicken.com/backya...my-chicken-have-trouble-keeping-his-H222.aspx

 

[Eggcessive]

He sounds like he has a head injury, but your rooster that died could have had the same or even Mareks disease. For electrolytes in a pinch, you can use Gatorade or Pedialyte, or mix a tsp of sugar and a small pinch of salt in a quart/ liter of water.