Stargazing rooster

[Zinnia-Hen]

My Silkie rooster has been cocking his head and occasionally twisting his neck for the past couple of days, or stargazing, as I saw it was called. I thought he was just having one of those days, but no.

Other than stargazing and stumbling around, he seems okay. He seems to be eating and drinking and acting as mean as ever. The only thing that really worried me was that I had to help him into his coop to go to sleep an hour ago. He had a minor ear infection a couple of months ago, so I'm wondering if maybe that's it? One of his ears looks less clear (as in, there's a bit of... dust? I don't know how to explain it, just that there isn't any nasty discharge) than the other but I'm not really sure if it's infected or not. If this is the case, how should I treat the ear infection so it doesn't come back again?

If it's not an ear infection, then could it be a vitamin deficiency? And what should I use for that?

Thanks.

 

[junebuggena]

Sav-A-Chick, if you have a feed store nearby. Or Poly-Vi-Sol baby vitamins without iron. Either one should be added to all water. Most likely it is a vitamin deficiency.

 

[Isaac 0]

Stargazing is a associated with wry neck which is a vitamin e deficiency.He is on the verge of going into wry neck mode happened to this other person on BYC too.



Treatment

400iu of vitamin E per day


25mcg of selenium


They have every thing at Walgreens for wry neck/stargazing

Try not to feed him anything high in vitamin A as it affects the intake of vitamin E.

 

[Zinnia-Hen]

Oh my. Okay, thank you! I'll be going to the store soon anyway.

 

[Zinnia-Hen]

Gave him the vitamin E and selenium mixed in with some yogurt. He took a couple of bites, but didn't seem too interested in it. His head is tilting further to the side and he's less active, and he doesn't want to leave the coop. I don't know if he's gonna pull through.

 

[junebuggena]

Mix it with water, and administer orally via dropper. He'll have no choice but to swallow it down. However, it's been 48 since you first posted. You may have delayed treatment too long.

 

[Isaac 0]

Agree @junebuggena .You have to give it straight into his mouth.Make sure he is getting food and water.It takes a while for the treatment to start to work so don't get discouraged .

 

[Zinnia-Hen]

We've been getting him to drink the vitamin E + selenium mixture through a dropper for the past couple of days. He seems to be active, just kind of disoriented in smaller spaces like his coop. But otherwise, he seems to be moving around the yard like he normally would, save for his head being cocked a bit, and is eating and drinking normally.

 

[Isaac 0]

Keep doing it for a week after he fully recovers or it will come back.Glad he is doing better

 

[Zinnia-Hen]

Just letting everyone know that he's doing a lot better now. We've been giving him his stuff every other day now, but otherwise he seems to be getting around by himself. Thank you for all of the advice. I was really worried about him.