young rooster sudden odd behavior???

[bambamsdad]

Just noticed my wht cochin roo(6mos) moving very slow and moving his head as if hes looking up a pole bottom to top slowly and keeps repeating this movement. Does not have much intrest in food only seen him pick at it couple times have not seen him drink as of yet came out for scratch time but didnt eat any seems to move around okay no visible signs of injury. I noticed this for the first time last night same today after work almost as if hes acting like when you turn out the lights and is trying to focus but cant? Any ideas or things to look for?? No other birds showing any signs. Also forgot tomention hes in with the other boys but doesnt seemed to be bullied any more than the rest ya know how the boys are!! thanks

 

[rollkeeg877]

well he could have gotten pecked on the head and now has brain damage thats what happened to mine but i didn't keep him i had to put him in the freezer no offence but thats probably one of the only things to do and just get a new rooster cause he won't breed if he has problems.

 

[chickenzoo]

Is he moving it up and down or looking sideways...
Could be crop trouble if up and down...
Could be on set of wry neck if sideways looking up etc... Or neck injury etc... Also weakness from parasites can open up the door to strange problems..

 

[bambamsdad]

Totally unsure of what this was but the movement was up and down as looking from shoes to head on a person only noticed 2 days ago and now hes dead. Im very involved with my chickens and monitor them all very closely strange to me because of his age (6mos) and seemed healthy up to this point guess i'll mark it up as no clue can't really provide anymore info as it was very fast!!Thanks for your ideas.

 

[rollkeeg877]

like i said before he probably had brain damage or some nerve damage that would make him act kinda stupid or he had a tumor in his head and that killed him I've had chickens get into fights and the next few days the rooster was all buggered up and i had to kill it because he got pecked on the head

 

[bambamsdad]

suppose could be the case as they grab each other by the neck could have injured his neck/spine trying to get away just dont like knowing for sure as have 105 other birds to be cocerned about

 

[chickenzoo]

He could have had something stuck in his crop. They often do funny up and down..round and round movements when trying to grind or pass something....so sorry you lost him

 

[bambamsdad]

Thanks i dont thnk it was a crop issue cause i have a spk sussex hen who has reoccuring crop issues she does the snakehead movement i think your referring to thats how i know when her crops acting up. Like i mentioned this was bottom to top and it was continuous it seemed to me that he was also having trouble focusing and reconizing his surroundings like when you turn from white to red light it takes them a moment to adjust just very strange..... Right now just monitoring the rest of the flock to see if any other signs show up or if this was an isolated case. Unfortunatly they dont talk so most of the time its just a shot in the dark to try and figure out whats wrong and the possible cause gets frustrating when your at a loss not like getting killed by a coon or something of that nature.Its the ones like this that happen so fast that get me no time to try and help!! but mother nature can be cruel at times!! Thanks Pete

 

[rollkeeg877]

i had a silkie that had crop issues and it was the weirdest thing it wasn't a rooster and it wasn't a hen so it was a mule but i looked in its crop when it died and it was filled with rocks and really long peaces of grass all in a big ball so i think thats why it died.