Rooster still having trouble walking

[jrfields672]

Feed sounds good.

I don't know much about Xrays, so there's that.

I'll tag in a couple of others to see if they have some thoughts or suggestions.

@Eggcessive @coach723

Thank you

 

[Eggcessive]

The infection is internal causing inflammation and pressure on but not in the leg nerve. I have heard of a silkie with that, and the vet found and treated infection in an abdominal organ. Hard to know what exactly is causing his neurological problem, but keep the E and b complex vitamins and having food and water nearby. The sling is for help with feeding, and he should spend time out of it for rest and to try and get around. Help him to stand and observe his ability to walk a couple of times a day. Old story, but I had a hen who was vaccinated for Mareks, suddenly lose her ability to remain upright. Her legs were strong, but she lost balance for about 5 weeks. Only with feeding her wet feed, egg, vitamins, twice a day right up to her beak, and keeping her nest clean, she finally regained her balance. Let us know how he gets along.

 

[coach723]

I agree that it appears neurological. I'm not great at x-rays but I don't see anything obvious, the bones look pretty normal to me. I've had a couple of birds with neurological issues that did not seem to be related to anything else. I do have Marek's in my flock, so that is always a question. But I have an old roo that is going on 12 years old who developed a neurological issue well before I had Marek's. He had an intermittent and involuntary head shake, bad enough that he would sometimes lose his balance. It was usually short and didn't affect his eating or drinking or other normal activities. Nothing helped or made it worse. Maybe 3 years ago those head shakes stopped (hormones??), but he has obvious balance issues and sits down a lot more. That could be age related, or may be related to the original issue, I really don't know. He now resides in a separate pen (safe from the other boys) with a couple of older hens for company and seems to be happy there. Sometimes neurological things are seemingly unrelated to anything we can identify, so may be genetic, congenital, from an injury we are not aware of, incubation or hatch issues, etc. All you can really do is try to treat the standard things that are treatable to see if anything helps (vitamins are often the issue). Once everything is ruled out that you possibly can, then it's just a mystery. I have a hen that has ocular Marek's symptoms that has recently started "spacing out" for lack of a better description. I find her in odd places just standing like a statue. She has some vision, though it may be part of the issue, but it seems more than that. If I talk to her quietly she will look at me and go off on her way like nothing happened. In her case I suspect that one way or another, it is likely Marek's affecting her.

 

[jrfields672]

Thanks to everyone for your help. I'll keep him on the vitamins and scrambled eggs. I was just so worried that he was in pain and I didn't want him to suffer. He's always been my sweetest rooster. I will let everyone know how he does.

 

[jrfields672]

Rooster is about the same still eating and drinking a lot of water but it's been over 100 degrees here. I have noticed he has a parrot beak and has a hard time getting food in his mouth so I've been making him a mash with eggs and giving him B & E vitamins daily. Also I've been doing a lot of reading on here and noticed that there is a lot of dark brahma rooster having walking problem. Could it be something to do with this breed?

 

[coach723]

I'm not aware of genetic issues with Brahma's that would cause this. They are larger, heavier birds, especially some of the roo's, so that can aggravate other issues. Can you post some pictures of his beak? I can't see it clearly in the video, but the tip of the upper may be overgrown. If that is the case and he's having trouble feeding, then I would trim that back to a more normal length. Just don't hit the quick as that would be very painful. Some birds may need periodic trims, it can vary bird to bird. I see in the video that you have concrete blocks under the feeder, those often are used by them to hone their beaks themselves. Some birds just seem to have more issues than others. If it's just a small overgrowth, you can probably just file it down. I'm sorry he's not looking better. I would address the beak, see if his eating improves. I would continue the B vitamins for a while longer, they won't hurt anything. I hear other crowing in the background, is there any possibility that he may have been injured in a spat with another boy (head injury)? That would not be uncommon in a group with more than one boy.

 

[jrfields672]

I trimmed the tip off and it had just a tiny dot of blood so I haven't went any further but it still has a lot hanging over. Yes definitely could be a injury. I have 4 roosters and 6 hens. I purchased as day old chicks.

 

[coach723]

Unless you have separate pens for the boys, that is way too many boys for that many girls. Usually 10 hens to one rooster is a good average. It can depend very much on the rooster in question, some may be ok with fewer hens than that, some may need more than that. Otherwise your girls are going to get very beat up, or even injured, from over mounting. And the boys are very likely to fight trying to be top rooster, and protecting that position. Whomever is on top will be fending all the others off, repeatedly, and that makes him very outnumbered. Injury is likely. Some roosters will tolerate another in the flock, some will not. Personalities and temperaments vary greatly. But with 4 roos to 6 hens, you are very likely to have fights and injuries. Injuries can be serious, or even fatal at times. So if you are not able to keep them separate, preferable with space between pens (they will fence fight as well, which can still cause injuries), then it's best to not have extra's. If he got some kind of injury, and you may never know, it may get better with time, or it may not, it's very hard to say.

 

[jrfields672]

I trimmed the tip off and it had just a tiny dot of blood so I haven't went any further but it still has a lot hanging over. Yes definitely could be a injury. I have 4 roosters and 6 hens. I purchased as day old chicks.

 

[jrfields672]

I totally agree, I just wished I would have done it sooner. I don't know if it would be a injury that could be fixed are not. I've already put out $289 in vet bill just to have his legs x ray. Thank you so much for your help