Rooster has problems keeping head up and sleeps all the time!

[hatprohas]

Hello all,

I have a sick rooster. I have taken him to the vet. It started as a small head tilt with depth perception problems. Two weeks into the head tilt I took him to our local vet who gave him a shot in case it was a type of infection (ear infection). Well fast forward to a month and a half with a head tilt and he now can barely keep his head up. He will bring it up and it will fall back down. Besides that, he sleeps all the time. I'm not sure if it is because he is inside the house now by himself and it is warm (it's currently winter- avg 30 degrees, house is kept to almost 70), but it's not his usual perky behavior. I did take him to an exotic vet approximately two weeks ago, the vet is currently treating with an antibiotic and anti-inflammatory, along with ear drops. He also prescribed vitamin E and selenium. We have been giving him these for almost two weeks now and have seen no improvement. We have our two week check up this Saturday. I understand that a vet knows what they're talking about, but he is not a chicken expert.

I am just wondering if anyone has had a chicken with similar symptoms and what they did to help or did the chicken even get better?

Symptoms
-head tilt
-can't keep head up
-off balance
-bad depth perception
-sleeps A LOT

Thank you in advance!

 

[Eggcessive]

Do you know if he was vaccinated for Mareks disease? That may not be his problem, but wry neck or crook neck can be a symptoms of many diseases, as well as head or neck injuries, and vitamin deficiency. The vitamin E and selenium is the usual treatment. Sometimes vets will prescribe steroids such as prednisolone, but many do not like to use them. Wry neck can be hard to treat. Sometimes chickens will get better, sometimes not.

 

[hatprohas]

He was not vaccinated for Marek's he was one of two eggs that hatched that spring (2 years ago) and hadn't even though of vaccinating. Since his head has been like this for two weeks I figured it wasn't Marek's since I've read that Marek's usually goes downhill fast. When I go to my two week vet check I will ask about prednisolone. I hope this rooster gets better, he's got the best personality and is so sweet. Besides having the neck problem and sleeping a lot, he has the biggest appetite and is still able to get water and food for himself.