I have a nearly 7 month old Easter Egger Rooster who, in a matter of minutes, went from perfectly fine to quiet, calm, and very unbalanced. Whenever I approach him, he doesn't run off like usual, but instead tries to hide under something, and if he stands around or walks about too much, he tends to wobble around as if he has no balance. I don't know if it is his toes - They are curled because of a Riboflavin deficiency since he was a chick, but never had problems before. Or - we've been having on and off casualties in our flock with the identical symptoms of weak, almost usless legs and a quiet behavior. What could be the problem here?
He originally has been housed seperate from all our hens - He shares half of their coop, which is a large shed with white pine shavings, and outside he has a large, open run of just grass and weeds. He's been fine in that area for the weeks he has been seperated, but yesterday I let him loose to fertilize my hen's eggs. He was fine, and so was every one else, except for a quarantined bird that is currently perfectly fine except for her legs - She can't use them 100% of the time, and usually just likes to lay down unless I'm around to offer food or water. Today, I let the rooster loose again to be with the hens, and he hasn't been as wildly "rooster-like" as he was yesterday, but it is rainy, and that changes the moods of all of our chickens. It wasn't until about 5 minutes ago that I noticed him standing there, then he suddenly stumbled a little. I walked up to him, and he slowly walked away with a slight stumble every now and then. I tested him out, and followed him from place to place to see how his walking was doing. He hid from me under branches, downed trees, anything he could - He didn't chatter or run off like usual. When I picked him up and put him back in his seperate pen as a quarantine, he stood there, pecked around at things, then wobbled about. He was swinging his head around quite often, too, as if it was a balance issue.
Anyone know what could be the problem? And what I should do to stop it? If there is any info I left out that would help - Please let me know, but otherwise I'd like some input on what I can do to help him. He's my last rooster, my other one died days ago from a lethargic leg issue most likely brought on by mold that was growing in his sleeping area. And no, my current Rooster doesn't have mold in his area.
He originally has been housed seperate from all our hens - He shares half of their coop, which is a large shed with white pine shavings, and outside he has a large, open run of just grass and weeds. He's been fine in that area for the weeks he has been seperated, but yesterday I let him loose to fertilize my hen's eggs. He was fine, and so was every one else, except for a quarantined bird that is currently perfectly fine except for her legs - She can't use them 100% of the time, and usually just likes to lay down unless I'm around to offer food or water. Today, I let the rooster loose again to be with the hens, and he hasn't been as wildly "rooster-like" as he was yesterday, but it is rainy, and that changes the moods of all of our chickens. It wasn't until about 5 minutes ago that I noticed him standing there, then he suddenly stumbled a little. I walked up to him, and he slowly walked away with a slight stumble every now and then. I tested him out, and followed him from place to place to see how his walking was doing. He hid from me under branches, downed trees, anything he could - He didn't chatter or run off like usual. When I picked him up and put him back in his seperate pen as a quarantine, he stood there, pecked around at things, then wobbled about. He was swinging his head around quite often, too, as if it was a balance issue.
Anyone know what could be the problem? And what I should do to stop it? If there is any info I left out that would help - Please let me know, but otherwise I'd like some input on what I can do to help him. He's my last rooster, my other one died days ago from a lethargic leg issue most likely brought on by mold that was growing in his sleeping area. And no, my current Rooster doesn't have mold in his area.
