weak, trembling legs loses balance

[OHhappychicks]

I posted a couple of days ago that my bantam rooster had scaly leg mites. Thank you to all that responded!

I have been treating him and I'm waiting to see if he heals. I've also treated my coop with DE. I'm also giving him antibiotic in his water. My ?, Is it normal with severe leg mites to have weak and trembling legs? If he turns his feet, mostly I've noticed particularly his left leg, he falls on his side and has a hard time getting back up. They tremble when he is up and walking. His feet turned a bright reddish/ orange.
I thought it was just the irritation from the leg mites. He does ok just walking straight, but if he walks on uneven ground he loses his balance I notice he shakes his head just a little but not all the time. He eats and drinks just fine. He crows and chirps and is alert. He is about 101/2 months old. He is the only one that has any symptoms. I'm treating all my other chickens for leg mites, although I haven't noticed any of them with it. He is the only rooster with 17 hens. I know that is alot for 1 rooster, but I only have 3 bantam hens, the rest are bigger. He is in a 10x12 chicken house with plenty of room. We built it new last summer. We use wood shavings. He is outside in a very large pen everyday. I really want to treat him myself and not go to vet. His droppings are a little thicker and smaller than usual.

 

[dlhunicorn]

I assume that the type of DE you are using is the correct one (food grade and not the stuff they sell for Pools or gardens which is toxic).
You do know that when you have roosters that you must set out a non-layer feed for them as the amount of calcium in the layer is way too high for them ?

 

[OHhappychicks]

I didn't know about the feed for the rooster! Maybe that is it!!! I will change his feed today! I'm not sure about the DE. I bought at our local feed mill. I will call them and ask that today also. Thank you for you imput.

 

[mypicklebird]

Has the trembling/weakness/falling happened after your mite treatment? Or was it existing before? If it started afterwards- what did you use? Things like olive oil/vaseline ect should not cause trembling, but many of the insecticides & parasiticides can cause muscle tremors or neurologic symptoms if overdosed.

Scaly leg mites can be painful if severe and cause limping, but they don't tremble and fall down (that I have ever seen).

 

[dlhunicorn]

Ditto... (why I asked about the DE) ... it could be he is simply weak and not eating sufficiently ... perhaps you should separate until the issue is resolved and ensure his feed and water is within easy reach.

 

[OHhappychicks]

We noticed about 21/2 weeks ago that he was not sleeping on the roost but in the nest boxes. We also observed his legs were trembling when he walked. He has slowly gotten worse. Today especially but I may have hurt him when I picked him up and he was struggling and he started to fall out of my hands and I grabbed his right leg. Since then he hasn't walked very much at all. Kinda walk then flops down on his side. He doesn't squat and sit, his legs are kinda out to the side. I also have been watching his droppings and they are about 1/4 inch round and about 2" long with little white caps on them. There are smaller ones than that also. They have been like that for a while. I have been keeping him in a pet carrier with his own water and feed at nite and some during the day. I let him out for 2 or 3 hrs a day. He is out side except at nite. I set the pet carrier outside so he can be with the hens. to day I put him in a small pen that sets inside the chicken lot where he had acces to grass and his own feed and water. I went to day and bought different food for him. Not layer feed. Just in case it was the calcium thing. I start the mite treatment about 3 days ago. I haven't used anything harmful. Just vaseline and olive oil. If I can get a picture of his droppings and of him I will post them tomorrow. i just went out and checked on him and he has gotten up and walked in the house and is in a nest box. So I guess I didn't hurt him. Thank you all for commenting

 

[mypicklebird]

I don' think his symptoms are due to scaly leg mites. He sounds weak. Roosting in the nest box is likely because he is too weak to stand on a perch for long. Have you checked him thoroughly for lice? Under his wings and around his vent? Lots of these can cause anemia. The description of his poop does not sound abnormal.
How old is he? Is he young or old?
The higher calcium in the layer feed can cause problems in non-laying birds, but is not usually an issue in backyard flocks- as they are eating all sorts of normal or low calcium stuff like grass, bugs, scratch ect. The GI tract doesn't absorb calcium it doesn't want- unless forced to by combination of high levels of Vit D. Or if presented with huge amount of calcium- like when a person eats a whole bottle of tums, or a chicken gorges on oyster shell it hasn't seen in months and is excited about it!

I think feeding layer feed to chicks is much more likely to be an issue than layer feed to a rooster. Most people I know feed the flock including a rooster or two, layer feed.

If he is very old, he may have an age related problem (organ failure, joint problems ect), if he is less than a year- you may be looking at early signs of Marek's. He could also be anemic from lice, or internal parasites. Looking at a photo of his poop is probably not useful, but taking a sample to a vet's for a parasite check might be...

 

[OHhappychicks]

He is about 11 months old. I have checked him for mites and lice but I will check him again. Its hard to check them thoroughly by yourself. I'm thinking of internal parasites myself. But shouldn't all of them be infected or affected by what ever is wrong with him. He was vaccinated for Mareks or was supposed to be when we ordered him. He was the rare chick breed that was in our order. I will call the vet to see if they can test his droppings. Thank You.

 

[redraven]

So it's been over a month. I'm dying to know what happened. How's your chicken?

I have a hen that's got trembling legs and is losing her balance. She's 14 weeks old. She has starter growing food, as much as she wants. I let them out of the coop in the morning and close them back up at night. No fence. Dog protects them. So far anyway. It's a brand new coop. She's got no bugs that I can tell, in her feathers or on her legs. She's been like this for about 3 weeks, that I've noticed. Some days you can hardly tell, others she's having a hard time just standing.

All the other chickens are healthy.

Red

 

[OHhappychicks]

To redraven: I'm sorry to say he is still the same. He seems normal in every way. None of the others have it. I've checked him for everything else, using different remedies. right now someone suggested he could have E-coli and it has affected his nervous system and to give him a wet probiotic mash which is 3 tbs sweet, buttermilk, or sourmilk, 1 tblsp plain yogurt, 1 1000iu vitamin E and a Vitamin B complex, mixed with 2 tbsp of crumbles and a tbsp of applesauce. the Vit E is an oil and I just make a hole and squeeze it in and mash the Vit B in a spoon and add it. I've been doing this once a day since sunday. I haven't seen any improvement so I made an appt. with a vet tomorrow. I will let you know. He has been this way for going on 2 months.