Strange acting chicken!

[DireC]

Hello everyone! My grandfather has been having an issue with one of his roosters. He has found it in the “dead chicken” pose at least three times with its right leg stuck out behind it stiff as a bored. He said it appeared to be 95% dead every time, it’s eyes are dialates, and it has a creamy/watery diarrhea right after he warms it up and helps work it’s muscles. It’s his favorite chicken and it’s breaking my heart seeing him trying to help it. To make it come too the last time (the only thing he had on hand) he gave it a couple drops of an energy drink which woke it up right away. Anyone have a clue what’s going on?

 

[Sublight]

Marek's disease possibly.

I think it causes muscles to stop working. And in pics they lay on their side, and just kinda wither away.

Give it a few minutes, you will get more help in here.

 

[Sublight]

@lazy gardener
You have any input here, or know who can help this person?

 

[rebrascora]

How old is this bird? I agree with @Sublight that the most likely diagnosis is Marek's Disease, especially if the bird is under a year old. Usually it affects adolescent birds. Unfortunately there is no recognised treatment, but a vitamin supplement and probiotics to support the immune and digestive systems as well as ensuring it gets good quality food may help it to fight the disease, but it will always be a carrier and prone to other attacks, if it recovers from this one. He is likely to see other birds suffer odd symptoms like lameness or walking backwards or wry neck or wry tail from time to time as the disease will most likely have infected the rest of the flock. Some will be resistant to it and others, it will lie dormant until something triggers an outbreak. Usually it is stress related, like the surge of hormones at adolescence or moulting or moving to a new home and the bird will appear perfectly health until they have an outbreak and what causes an outbreak in one may not trigger another bird, so they don't all come down with it at once, but just one now and another in a few months time or maybe even a year later. It is a strange disease.

 

[Sublight]

How old is this bird? I agree with @Sublight that the most likely diagnosis is Marek's Disease, especially if the bird is under a year old. Usually it affects adolescent birds. Unfortunately there is no recognised treatment, but a vitamin supplement and probiotics to support the immune and digestive systems as well as ensuring it gets good quality food may help it to fight the disease, but it will always be a carrier and prone to other attacks, if it recovers from this one. He is likely to see other birds suffer odd symptoms like lameness or walking backwards or wry neck or wry tail from time to time as the disease will most likely have infected the rest of the flock. Some will be resistant to it and others, it will lie dormant until something triggers an outbreak. Usually it is stress related, like the surge of hormones at adolescence or moulting or moving to a new home and the bird will appear perfectly health until they have an outbreak and what causes an outbreak in one may not trigger another bird, so they don't all come down with it at once, but just one now and another in a few months time or maybe even a year later. It is a strange disease.

It truly is a terrible disease. And its really hard to get rid of because its transmitted by feather follicles.

 

[lazy gardener]

May be Marek's disease, but IMO, if it was, the signs would persist, and the bird would not have bouts of "looking dead" interspersed longer periods of "normal behavior". I think there is a seizure disorder, and if the bird were in my flock, I'd cull him rather than watch him go through repeated episodes of this.