My rooster got attacked and now he cant balance.

[dragonmorgan]

I have a small flock of free range chickens. Recently we have started having some go missing from, what we suspect, is coyotes. anyway we came home yesterday afternoon, after only being gone a few hours, and my buff Brahma too was staggering around and occasionally being attacked by the flock. I'm afraid one of the other roosters attacked him. He is around 1.5 years old and the other 2 roos are only about 7 months old so he is the only one with spurs. I know I have too many roosters but it wasn't a problem until hens started showing up missing. Anyway the chickens were raised desperately so behave like 2 different flocks at night with half sleeping in a tree above the coop and the other half sleep in the coop. Last night the hens belonging to my Brahma slept on my back steps instead of in the coop and I'm afraid its because Franklin wasn't there to get them back in the coop. I also appear to be missing another hen this morning.

Anyway onto Franklin. His balance is really off. He is pooping normally but he won't close his mouth and I haven't tried to get him to eat this morning. He's a little skittish of being handled. He has a small gash on his head behind his ear but it isn't bleeding anymore and doesnt look too bad. He looks fine everywhere else but his small downey feathers are coming out. I have him in a kennel inside right now. What should I do?

On a side note I know I need to get rid of a rooster or 2.

 

[dragonmorgan]

Any ideas what I can do to help him? He wont eat and is just laying in the kennel but he seems alert.

 

[Eggcessive]

Could your rooster have gotten into something to eat that harmed him? Botulism is a condition that a toxin in the soil, maggots, rotting carcasses of fish and animals, and in pond mud, among other places. It can cause feathers to be easily pulled out, and weakness of the legs and wings which can progress to paralysis. Another disease to consider is Mareks disease. Here are 2 links for your reading:

http://www.thepoultrysite.com/diseaseinfo/19/botulism and
http://extension.unh.edu/resources/files/Resource000791_Rep813.pdf

 

[Eggcessive]

Your hens need to be confined to their coop for up to a week to know where home is, so they will come in at night. You cannot have hens sleeping outdoors at night--they will be killed. It is common for hens raised together to remain separate in groups, but they need to go inside at night.

 

[dragonmorgan]

The wound on the side of his head is what has me thinking it isn't a si

ckness or something that he ate. And the chickens spent a year living in the coop with a run until I started letting them out to free range the yard this past summer.​

 

[Eggcessive]

If he still isn't eating, I would offer him some scrambled eggs or tuna with some high protein to tempt him. Vitamins in his water would be good, also. How is he today? This is just something to think about, but sometimes when chickens avoid going into the coop, there might be a predator (rats, possums, etc.) or chicken mites (the ones that only come out at night, sleeping in the woodwork during the day.)