Australia - Six states..and that funny little island.

[Fancychooklady]

Good morning folks .... Once again I need your thoughts and advice please?

So, I searched back and remember when LuLu gave us a scare and we were not sure if she fell off the roost which caused symptoms of head back, pulled into her feathers, lack of balance, disorientation etc or whether the symptoms caused her to fall off the roost; that was 21 September.  If you remember, she did it a couple of times that night and we ended up putting her in the nest box to sleep.  She was perfectly normal the next morning.

That was when we started the Anitone and she has been fine up until last night.

I was watching them go to roost and LuLu was looking up at the roost, getting ready to jump, her head went way back, she toppled over and flapped her wings a bit.  Then she came good, tried to jump and totally misjudged it.  So I picked her up and popped her on the roost.  We watched her for a while and she seemed OK.  However, later when hubby checked her, she was back on the coop floor, disorientated.  He popped her in the nest box to sleep and this morning she is perfectly normal again.

Having had an epileptic dog, this reminds me very much of epilepsy and while I could find lots of information on Google about chickens having seizures with not much definitive cause, no-one was actually calling it epilepsy.    It is nearly 7 weeks since the last episode and she has been perfectly normal in between time.  She is also the only one to have experienced this.

Has anyone else had experience with chickens and seizures?  Do you think she could have epilepsy?

Anything is possible. Some bantam breeds are pre disposed to cerebral hernia but that is usually accompanied by a vaulted skull. If I were you I'd keep a diary of her diet and what the weather is doing when she has these ' episodes '.

 

[Teila]

Thank you satay

I remembered that she also had something similar way back, may be 12 to 18 months ago [if not longer] and I had completely forgotten about it. Very similar, very brief and total recovery.

Thanks also Fancy

Yeah, I have been looking back and trying to see a pattern but have not come up with one yet.

Probably not heat related, while it was warmish yesterday it was not hot 7 weeks ago. Her diet has not changed. They are on the same feed and same treats but yeah, I am definitely going to see if I can detect a pattern at all, keep a record etc.

 

[Teila]

Hey remember when I tried them all on the dried crickets? Only Dusty and KiKi would eat them. Dusty got diarrhoea and we lost KiKi?

We threw out the crickets and did not buy any more dried crickets but we do have some dried meal worms in a screw top coffee jar which they do not get very often; normally just live ones.

Sunday hubby threw them a handful. I wonder if that could be the cause? I can not remember if it was 7 weeks ago that they last had some but it has been a while.

 

[mooandmcgee]

I haven't been on this feed for quite sometime. I originally bought three hatchlings for my daughters for Easter sadly two of our three originals were rosters.

Ella became Allen, Rosie became Rocko and they had to go. Luckily our breeder found them good homes. Then we introduced Flower and Diamond two Buff Sussex girls to our one very special original hatchling Carla, a black Orpington. After a few dramas with the little chicks to begin with and then having to say good bye to two all has been going well. We have eggs, we get cuddles it's been awesome.
BUT we now have a BROODER!!!!!!!!

I've read a few things about this but still a little unsure what to do. Any advise would be much appreciated.

 

[Chook Newby]

Just make sure you try it out when you are around first. I have two chickens that have panic attacks in cages like that.

I will definitley watch her closley if I go down this path. The last thing I want is for her to be upset and stressed.

After I got home last night I 'kicked her out' of the coop again and locked it so she couldnt go back in for a couple of hours. She happily wondered around the yard with her sisters but every now and then went back to the coop to try and go in. She was clearly very confused as to why she couldnt get in and just paced back and forward looking for a way. After they all went to bed, I went out every 40 mins and popped her on her roost, to which she immediatly got back down. I'll do that again for the next few nights to see if that works while I wait for the cage to arrive in the post

 

[Teila]

Howdy mooandmcgee nice to see you again. If you skip back to Page #3147 and Post #31464 you will see that we have been chatting about just that subject. Hopefully there are some posts there that might help but if you have any other questions, ask away

Chook Newby any way you can block off the nest boxes at night? My nest boxes are just plastic containers over which I can put a deterrent … doesn’t stop Blondie from planking though

In the old coop, I fashioned a partition that blocked off the nest boxes.

 

[satay]

Howdy mooandmcgee nice to see you again. If you skip back to Page #3147 and Post #31464 you will see that we have been chatting about just that subject. Hopefully there are some posts there that might help but if you have any other questions, ask away Chook Newby any way you can block off the nest boxes at night? My nest boxes are just plastic containers over which I can put a deterrent … doesn’t stop Blondie from planking though In the old coop, I fashioned a partition that blocked off the nest boxes.

I so love blondie she is just so darn cute.

 

[Teila]

I so love blondie she is just so darn cute.

Tee hee .. thank you! Yeah she is a sweetheart and very cute, when she is not broody

Definitely Princess-material.

 

[Fancychooklady]

Hey remember when I tried them all on the dried crickets?  Only Dusty and KiKi would eat them.  Dusty got diarrhoea and we lost KiKi?

We threw out the crickets and did not buy any more dried crickets but we do have some dried meal worms in a screw top coffee jar which they do not get very often; normally just live ones.

Sunday hubby threw them a handful. I wonder if that could be the cause?  I can not remember if it was 7 weeks ago that they last had some but it has been a while.

That's what I was getting at, excess salt and as far as I know mealworms are also very high in protein. I'd withhold them just in case that's what's setting her off.

 

[Teila]

That's what I was getting at, excess salt and as far as I know mealworms are also very high in protein. I'd withhold them just in case that's what's setting her off.

Yeah, thanks Fancy I am definitely not going to give any more of the dried meal worms. They are not that keen on them anyways.

I was also wondering about possible dehydration, not because of the heat but more because she is silly

Anyways, I have put out a third water container on the deck where they hang out a lot; just in case she was not going back into the run for water or forgetting about the other one in the garden.

Hubby is sitting out there with them today and she is fine, pottering around the place like nothing happened.