My Rooster Can't Move His Neck - WHAT DO I DO

[lilaht]

So this morning my rooster (Burger) was attacked and now he can't move his neck. We didn't see the attack but my dad was outside and heard it happen, what we assume what happened was that my Delaware hen (Lemon) was attacked by a hawk (we again assume because her feathers were ruffled pretty bad on her back and it was the daytime), he intervened and was then injured by the hawk. He was able to walk some but his neck is almost completely limp and he can't seem to lift it, though he was able to drink some water after the attack. I've heard that chickens can get wry neck from a head injury but I'm worried that he may have broken his neck and I'm not sure if he'll make it then. What should I do?

 

[Eggcessive]

It probably is wry neck (torticolis.) Head or neck injury is a common cause along with vitamin E or B1 thiamine deficiency, and it can be seen in some diseases. Usually it is recommended to give 400 IU of human vitamin E softgel and 1/2 tablet of super B complex orally for thiamine daily for a couple of weeks. You can crushe the B complex into a small amount of egg or food, and the E can be popped into his beak or emptied into food. Just make sure he gets the full dose daily. He may need to be separated if others pick on him, but place him close to food and water. He will need to be fed a watery mash if chicken feed, soft egg for selenium, and water twice daily. If h e is not picked on, let him spend some time with his hens. Let us know how he gets along. He may just need some time to heal and for the inflammation to go down. If you can get some prescription meloxicam from your vet you could use that. Aspirin 81 mg can be given daily for 3 days.

 

[lilaht]

It probably is wry neck (torticolis.) Head or neck injury is a common cause along with vitamin E or B1 thiamine deficiency, and it can be seen in some diseases. Usually it is recommended to give 400 IU of human vitamin E softgel and 1/2 tablet of super B complex orally for thiamine daily for a couple of weeks. You can crushe the B complex into a small amount of egg or food, and the E can be popped into his beak or emptied into food. Just make sure he gets the full dose daily. He may need to be separated if others pick on him, but place him close to food and water. He will need to be fed a watery mash if chicken feed, soft egg for selenium, and water twice daily. If h e is not picked on, let him spend some time with his hens. Let us know how he gets along. He may just need some time to heal and for the inflammation to go down. If you can get some prescription meloxicam from your vet you could use that. Aspirin 81 mg can be given daily for 3 days.

Okay thank you so much, I'll work on getting those and I'll update you on how it goes!

 

[lilaht]

Unfortunately Burger did not end up making it. We took him to a veterinarian and poultry research center near us that could possibly treat him and they found some minor puncture wounds and after an x-ray, they found a fracture in his collar bone and one of his vertebrae. They had him stay overnight and from what they had found his injuries would be treatable, but he ended up passing this morning from what they assume was some kind of head trauma. Normally we would try and treat these injuries at home with vitamins and hand feeding (I had a hen a few years ago with a similar thing happen and she survived another month but passed), but he was really special and was one of the first batch of chickens I ever got when I was in middle school. Burger had so much personality and protected the hens at all costs for five years, now we're down to five hens and I'm not sure what to do without him.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Unfortunately Burger did not end up making it. We took him to a veterinarian and poultry research center near us that could possibly treat him and they found some minor puncture wounds and after an x-ray, they found a fracture in his collar bone and one of his vertebrae. They had him stay overnight and from what they had found his injuries would be treatable, but he ended up passing this morning from what they assume was some kind of head trauma. Normally we would try and treat these injuries at home with vitamins and hand feeding (I had a hen a few years ago with a similar thing happen and she survived another month but passed), but he was really special and was one of the first batch of chickens I ever got when I was in middle school. Burger had so much personality and protected the hens at all costs for five years, now we're down to five hens and I'm not sure what to do without him.

I'm so sorry to hear of the loss of your well-loved rooster. We hear so often about the bad ones, it's rare and touching to hear about the really special ones like Burger who do what roosters are supposed to do, protect their hens at all costs. I'm really sorry you lost him, he left big tracks to fill.