Rooster resting weight on neck - but isn't paralasis

[cmcm]

Hi,
I noticed other posts recently about chickens that are standing but with the head resting on the ground and my Bantam Brahma is doing that and has been for 2 days. We found him drooped over after a very hot day and thought he had gotten too hot - so we misted him repeatedly and gave him water and the next day he seemed a little worse. He is completely resting his weight on his neck while standing - but he puts his head up to crow - but then back down. When he walks he isn't very steady. There is no swelling anywhere that i can tell. I took his temp yesterday and it was 105.8. We had just moved the chickens to a new home and the floor is a bit slick and the chickens slide a bit when they are chasing each other. We talked to someone at an extension office and they thought he might have a broken neck. I also talked to a vet and he suggested antibiotics. I gave him some baby vitamins yesterday and some of the powdered antibiotics you mix with the water from the feed store.

I am not with him right now so I can't take his temp - but I was told that he seems a little better, but if anyone has any ideas or suggestions or has experienced this - any info would help. Even country vets don't seem to know what to do with chickens.

Thanks,
Carol

 

[chickenlady]

How is your rooster doing now? Although I cannot properly diagnose him over a computer, from what it sounds like I would have to guess either trauma to the neck, or maybe he ate something toxic or poisonous to him. What do his droppings look like? What color are his wattles and comb, are they pale or red? Is he eating and drinking?

 

[dlhunicorn]

do these birds free range? Are there puddles or such he could have drunk out of (boutulism often comes from such/stagnant water sources or decaying vegetation).

 

[cmcm]

Hi,
Thanks for responding. Elvis is much better now. Since we didn't know what the problem was we gave him the Terramycin for 2 days and he got better really quickly - but we still didn't know if it was any sort of infectious disease or an injury.

None of the rest of the flock has had any problems (they don't free range yet - we had just moved them to a new home the day before Elvis got sick and we are still building a run and cleaning up tons of broken glass that the previous owners left all over the 6 forested acres). So it does seem like it was an injury.

This is the first problem like this we have encountered and it was really surprising that, if it was an injury, he didn't seem to be in pain. He was crowing and seemed ok except for some loose stools and his neck resting on the ground.

Thanks again for the responses and I hope this post helps someone else.

Carol