Need Advice - Wobbly Chicken

[BLaBauve]

I have a 4-5 month old Wyandotte (probabaly Roo) that started acting funny yesterday morning. His balance seems off, and he trips over his own feet. He tries to be as active as usual but falls over often. He can't scratch at the ground easily. . . he falls over after a few tries. He then uses his beak to forage. He is eating and drinking normally though.

My other pullets are all fine. I had brought in a new pullet 2 weeks ago that had a cold. I started them all on antibiotics. The newest pullet died 2 days ago. But her symptoms were sneezing and eyes shut. The roo isn't acting anything like that.

I'm new to this, so any advice is appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[threehorses]

Birds don't always present with symptoms, much less the same. Did you quarantine the other bird for the 30 days? Did that bird have access to this one? (I'm sorry for your loss.)

On this bird, I wouldn't automatically assume respiratory although that's a high probability. I'm concerned about other issues particularly at his age.

What exactly is he eating?
Is he free-ranged?
Does he have access to compost, fallen fruits/berries, decaying vegetation?
Could he have gotten into anything mildewy, fungus, wet or soured feed or grain? Canned stuff? Milk or meat products? Kitchen scraps?
Any stagnant ponds, hay bedding, excess rain lately, algea water, or mud?
Any mucky areas in the pen, or under pens?
Any maggots, even in fallen trees or under plants?

You need to pick him up immediately and examine him carefully. Check his weight and let us know what it is: thin, fat, etc. Also look him over very very carefully for any sign of lice/mites. Mites you will have to recheck at night several times to even maybe catch them. Lice and their eggs are easier as they stay on the bird (mites don't). Either can make a bird so anemic that they appear drunk. So check carefully, every literal inch of him, under the feathers, on the feather shafts (particularly for clusters of tiny white stuff), under the wings, the back of the neck, around the vent.

Isolate him so that he can have food and water. If you have vitamins/electrolytes give to him in his water. Get him to eat, even if it's eggs. Dampening crumbles and mixing a little with eggs can get them to eat. He needs the fuel. Mixing that with a little honey or karo can also help him out.

He'll need to be isolated anyway.

If this isn't about being dehydrated or malnourished (he's very fat in other words), then I'd treat for neurological issues with at least vitamins (polyvisol baby vitamins is my recommendation at least. 3 drops in the beak daily. Non-iron-fortified, vitamin section of most stores, and I got mine at Walmart.

I'd also recommend a B-complex tablet crushed or brewer's yeast, and getting vitamin E/selenium capsules (oil capsules) from the store. 400-700 IU of vitamin E, and **less than 50 micrograms** of selenium. (Micrograms are listed as ug, not mg.) If you can't get that little selenium, use just the E capsules. Slit the end, drop the contents into his beak.

If you don't have electrolytes, gatorade or pedialyte will act in a pinch.

I look forward to the answers to the questions above which I feel will help clarify the possibilities of what's going on with this bird.

 

[BLaBauve]

Thank you for the reply.

He did have access to the new birds. They were from the same hatchery, and I foolishly thought it would be OK.

The sick bird is eating organic grower. He free ranges a few times a week. I do give him fruit as a treat sometimes. We have had excess rain lately. Their run has sand and clay on the bottom. I keep wood chips in their coop, and it stays very dry. No clue about maggots, I don't think so though.

The birds were not vaccinated, FYI.

He doesn't seem very thin to me. I don't see any lice/mites on him, but I'm not positive I'd know what they'd look like. Would I notice them moving? I keep a lot of DE around for them.

He is eating and drinking and still gets very excited for scratch. I did notice that when he bends down to get the scratch he struggles to keep balance and his tail is not held as high as usual.

Thanks again,
Beth

 

[DianeP]

Strange, I have a 6 week old chicken with exactly the same symptoms. She's still very hungry but falls over and stumbles. I've isolated her (mainly to keep her from being stepped on) and she's just laying around. The only other sign is that her 'bottom' is dirtier than usual but no blockage and she's pooping normally. I checked for mites and can't see any. The other weird thing is that she's usually hard to catch and hold and today is completely docile. Doesn't look good, hope your situation is improving, let me know!

 

[threehorses]

BETH: I would definitely start him on the things I've recommended, Beth. What I was trying to rule out was toxins from bacteria or from fungus (still possible because of the rain).

There seems to be a lot of this after some rains lately. Which always makes me still suspect feed that got wet and they ate it. But if this were so, then you STILL want to provide vitamins - particularly the oil vitamins. Doing the B, and E/sel along with polyvisol vitamins (3 drops in the beak daily for 5 days) would be the least I would do. And give him some yogurt mixed in a little bit of crumbles or boiled eggs.

Any droppings info? Really need more information, honestly.

Did he eat when you isolated him?

DIANEP: There are so many different things that cause this. I would at least recommend the same to you. And like with BLaBauve, if you'd like us to help we'd really need more information. If you'd like, start a new thread and PM me and we'll get you started, too. Your pullet needs immediate attention as she is much younger and likely to die. The pasty vent to me means she has at least a bacterial imbalance. At her age it's more likely to be nutritional, at least in a big part, possibly coccidiosis. But you can see these two birds have to very different environments.

 

[BLaBauve]

He is isolated. Today I noticed one of his eyes was shut. Should I start him on terramycin? I'm giving him vitamins and yogurt. He is still eating even in isolation. The droppings are light brown and runny.

His unsteadiness hasn't gotten better or worse.

Thanks,
Beth

 

[threehorses]

Quote:
By terramycin, do you mean the meds or the ophthalmic ointment?

You could certainly start antibiotics today. I prefer other ones over Duramycin, terramycin, etc. But if he's only presenting some symptoms now, then if you use the correct dosage and do it the full 2 weeks it could help.

He'll need probiotics during that time and they cannot be yogurt; it has to be something like Probios brand probiotics from the feedstore, or acidophilis capsules/tablets from the grocery vitamin section, or drug store, etc. Two weeks is how long that medicine takes to work now, and it must not be stopped early. So if you start it, you must eithe rkeep with it or switch to a different antibiotic if that doesn't work in 4 days.

Good thing you had him isolated. It still could be mycotoxins. It's just so hard to tell with these things.

 

[BLaBauve]

When I say terramycin I mean the medication. I was told to give 1 tablespoon per gallon of water for 5-7 days. Does that sound right?

I've never heard of Probios, but I'll look around for it.

If I get acidophilis capsules, how much do I give him? Do I just open the capsule and mix it in with his feed?


Thank you!

 

[threehorses]

Quote:
Could you link the med, or tell me what brand and how many grams it has? I can look it up and give you a full dosage. that doesn't sound right to me, but it could be. I went through this with a friend earlier this year and we underdosed some birds and had to go back and retreat them, which is a pain. You really want to get it done the first time if you can.

Can you feel his joints and look at them? Do you see any swelling or inflammation, feel any heat?

 

[BLaBauve]

The package states:
Terramycin-343 9oxytetracycline HCI)

Soluble Powder

A broad-spectrum antibiotic
Packet contains 102.4 grams of oxytetracycline HCI

The manufacturer is Pfizer.
Net WeightL 4.78 oz (135.5g)

I hope that helps.

I don't see any swelling on him at all, and he feels fine. He's very active in isolation - protesting to get out. I did pick some discharge out of one of his nostrils a bit ago, that's when I noticed his eye was shut.