Star Gazing cockerel??

[pebojuno]

We recently caught and wormed all our birds, including my lovely white orpington cockerel. When we caught him he was fine but when we put him back on the floor he tripped up and lay on the floor as though he was dead.
Since that day he seems to be having trouble with his neck. If we are a distance away he looks normal but the closer we get he tips his head over to one side to the point that one eye is pointing at the sky, the other at the floor.
He is able to function completely normally, apart the fact that because of his head tilt, when we herd them into their coop at night he can't judge steps etc (because his head is going to the side) I also assume he wont be able to perform his duties as a cockerel beacuse of this.
It seems to me that the tilt is triggered by stress- when I pick him up for example he twists his head so that it is right upside down. When he is in the field with his ladies there is only a very slight tilt to one side- barely noticable.
He doesn't seem to be in any pain so I'm happy to give him time to recover but am just wondering if anyone has any ideas on how (if at all) he can be cured?

 

[Davidd]

Hi, if he is not getting any better then i don't think he will- it could be nerve damage- you will need to see if there is any improvement after time - he may always be like that but having said that if he's not suffering and is managing to eat/drink ok then there is no reason why he can't live an active and long life- i know if you need him to breed that may not be the case- only you can decide- but in my experience- nerve damage never gets any better- hope is does well
regards, David

 

[pebojuno]

Thanks for your reply David - Would nerve damage manifest itself by getting worse when he gets stressed then?
If you didn't know he had the problem you wouldn't notice when he's walking around the field but as soon as he gets upset (he's a strangely nervy boy!) that's when the head tilt is very noticable!- very odd!

 

[Davidd]

hi, just another couple of thoughts- have you checked his ears for mites/infection?
and..could it be possible he can only see out of one eye?
regards, David

 

[pebojuno]

I had a look in both his ears and couldn't see anything- no signs of mites either. I'm pretty sure he can see with both eyes- he reacts when I move my hand closer to them.
I'm convinced it's linked to the fall he had but it is bothering me why he gets so much worse when stressed out or confused. What makes it worse is that he does seem to get worried very easily- just putting him in the coop at night gets him flustered (and always has!)
I can give him time to see if he recovers as I can't find a replacement yet anyway but if he starts to suffer I'll ask the hubby to cull him- I'd be sad to though because he's a lovely bird.

 

[Tim]

I have had a similar thing happen to a duck. I'm not sure what caused it but I isolate the duck for a few days and slowly her head came back around into the normal position and she made a full recovery.

It does appear to be a neuro problem but there were no other symptoms and I wonder if it wasn't just damage to the neck (somehow..?)

When birds are picked up / stressed, the muscles will tense and I think that might be why the head goes back / to one side when picked up.

I could be miles out here though... there's not much to go on.

 

[pebojuno]

Thanks Tim, he's still looking good except when we get close to him so I'll give him a chance to recover. I don't think I'll isolate him as he's used to open spaces and being with his girls so I think a cage on his own would stress him even more!

 

[pebojuno]

UPDATE

We left the cockerel carry on as he wasn't in pain, and could carry on as normal bar getting up steps, perching (and mating!)

Over the past few weeks he has made massive improvements - he still gets a bit stressed if we pick him up and his head goes slightly to the side but when he is walking he holds his head properly, he can now deal with steps, I saw him perching last night and we have even seen him performing his cockreley duties this week! Fingers crossed for some baby orps soon (It's been a long enough wait!!)

Thought I'd update in case anyone has a similar problem with one of their birds. We're delighted to have a happy ending- our Gorky is a fab fella- very friendly so we are glad we gave him time to get better

 

[Tim]

Thanks for the update, I'm really pleased to hear he's getting a little better.

One thought I had was water on the brain - I have read about this somewhere but I can't remember where. I will post some more information if I come across it again...

Tim