If you are a long time member of this forum you might know me and my flock and the struggles I've faced for a while. A bit of my post history would reveal the whole story, but TL;DR, I spent *thousands* to determine what was causing strange symptoms for specific birds in my flock and learned *nothing*. Learning nothing, having no treatment, no medicine to try, nothing to give. Just throwing everything I have at it has done nothing for me.
I have one bird left that is symptomatic. The rest of them have succumbed to their symptoms over the hard winters we have here.
Her primary symptom is disorientation. It is very difficult to describe, but, essentially while the bird can "see" and will avoid you and objects, she seems to be in a state of delirium. She will spin in place, spin in wide circles, run in circles, scream and kick and attack the air in the instances where it is severe. When it is mild, she will lazily pace in circles, seemingly unobservant of the flock entirely, able to acknowledge stairs and rocks but unable to acknowledge the flock. They see her as an intruder. Her strange behavior means she doesn't obey flock rules like putting your head down in deference to those at the top of the pecking order. So they attack her. They attack her over and over, kicking her face, grabbing her eyelids and ripping them, shredding at her comb like a terrier with a rat, pull feathers off her face, head and back. When I am home, I can separate her into a little pen and let her come to her senses before anything terrible happens to her. She screams so loud I know when something is wrong and can catch it before it becomes terrible for everyone. However if I am not there to catch it... they will ruin her very quickly and then I am doing wound care and damage control.
Episodes last anywhere from a few hours to a few days. Her periods of lucidity last anywhere from a few days to months. I never know when she gets "over an episode" if she's going to have another tomorrow or if it's going to be a while. I dose her liquid vitamins every day until she starts to come around and then I re-integrate her. Integration is never terrible, the flock seems to accept her every time she reappears with them over night.
I am having a hard time watching this. She will be four in July and has been symptomatic now for almost three years. The flock clearly doesn't accept her, she keeps a very wide berth from them all when she is cognizant, but desperately craves their companionship. When she strays too close, a top pecking order bird will attack her, chase her down, ensure she stays ostracised.
When it comes to a bird that is clearly suffering from pain and misery, the choice is clear and simple. When the misery is weird social problems and disorientation, what is the answer?
I have one bird left that is symptomatic. The rest of them have succumbed to their symptoms over the hard winters we have here.
Her primary symptom is disorientation. It is very difficult to describe, but, essentially while the bird can "see" and will avoid you and objects, she seems to be in a state of delirium. She will spin in place, spin in wide circles, run in circles, scream and kick and attack the air in the instances where it is severe. When it is mild, she will lazily pace in circles, seemingly unobservant of the flock entirely, able to acknowledge stairs and rocks but unable to acknowledge the flock. They see her as an intruder. Her strange behavior means she doesn't obey flock rules like putting your head down in deference to those at the top of the pecking order. So they attack her. They attack her over and over, kicking her face, grabbing her eyelids and ripping them, shredding at her comb like a terrier with a rat, pull feathers off her face, head and back. When I am home, I can separate her into a little pen and let her come to her senses before anything terrible happens to her. She screams so loud I know when something is wrong and can catch it before it becomes terrible for everyone. However if I am not there to catch it... they will ruin her very quickly and then I am doing wound care and damage control.
Episodes last anywhere from a few hours to a few days. Her periods of lucidity last anywhere from a few days to months. I never know when she gets "over an episode" if she's going to have another tomorrow or if it's going to be a while. I dose her liquid vitamins every day until she starts to come around and then I re-integrate her. Integration is never terrible, the flock seems to accept her every time she reappears with them over night.
I am having a hard time watching this. She will be four in July and has been symptomatic now for almost three years. The flock clearly doesn't accept her, she keeps a very wide berth from them all when she is cognizant, but desperately craves their companionship. When she strays too close, a top pecking order bird will attack her, chase her down, ensure she stays ostracised.
When it comes to a bird that is clearly suffering from pain and misery, the choice is clear and simple. When the misery is weird social problems and disorientation, what is the answer?
