HELP SOMETHINGS WRONG WITH MY CHICKEN!!!! NEED ANSWERS ASAP!!!!

[Eggcessive]

Stargazing is usually a vitamin E deficiency in young chicks after hatch. In older chickens, it is wry neck, a neurological symptom of vitamin B1 (thiamine) or E deficiency, head injuries, and of certain diseases, such as Mareks and lymphoid leukosis. Sometimes it can be hard to tell neurological symptoms fromcrop problems.

 

[Devunisaacs]

Your hen's behavior sounds a lot like the problem I've had with a rooster. It's called Star Gazing Syndrome. You can Google it and find a lot of information about it. It's not usually fatal for adult chickens and the problem usually lasts 3 to 4 weeks. I think it's a virus but I'm not sure. Another site suggested that it was a vitamin deficiency so to be on the safe side I added vitamins to his water.
It is spread by droppings or thru hatching eggs from affected breeders. It looks very uncomfortable and is hard to watch when they are having a spasm.
I hope your hen will eventually improve.

Thats great to know! I will research it... thank you very much though hopefully that is the problem

 

[Devunisaacs]

Stargazing is usually a vitamin E deficiency in young chicks after hatch. In older chickens, it is wry neck, a neurological symptom of vitamin B1 (thiamine) or E deficiency, head injuries, and of certain diseases, such as Mareks and lymphoid leukosis. Sometimes it can be hard to tell neurological symptoms fromcrop problems.

Hmmm... I thought it was Wry Neck as well but we will never know what it is but hopefully she gets better soon

 

[Devunisaacs]

So we found out what it is!!! As many people said it was Vitamin Deficiency sadly lots of our chickens have had it from the pecking order and sadly we have lost many to it we lost our last splash silky and for some reason all of our good chickens have died from it but I do thank everyone for the help!!

 

[rebrascora]

So we found out what it is!!! As many people said it was Vitamin Deficiency sadly lots of our chickens have had it from the pecking order and sadly we have lost many to it we lost our last splash silky and for some reason all of our good chickens have died from it but I do thank everyone for the help

How do you know it is vitamin deficiency? Have you had a necropsy done?

I'm afraid it is far more likely that you have Marek's disease in your flock as that is one of the commonest killers of chickens.... far more common than vitamin deficiency, unless you have been doing something seriously wrong with your feeding regime. I appreciate many people do not want to accept that their flock has Marek's Disease but it is so widespread you are probably lucky if you don't have it. Because there are some strains that are more virulent than others and some birds are more resistant than others, there are people that just lose the odd bird to it and put it down to vitamin deficiency or whatever and others lose half their flock. Also birds sick with Marek's will often respond to a vitamin supplement because it supports their immune, digestive and neurological system and that helps them to fight the disease. People then assume it was a vitamin deficiency. It does not always work but can give birds a helping hand. It will not cure the disease though and they will likely have another outbreak of it at some point in the future, just like people have with cold sores (Marek's is the same type of virus (herpes), but in between will appear perfectly normal.

I hope I am wrong but I think it is important to know all the facts and be aware that you may have a very contagious disease in your flock.

Regards

Barbara

 

[Devunisaacs]

It is not Marek's disease fortunately, we were very scared that it was but we got an necropsy done, yes it w

How do you know it is vitamin deficiency? Have you had a necropsy done?

I'm afraid it is far more likely that you have Marek's disease in your flock as that is one of the commonest killers of chickens.... far more common than vitamin deficiency, unless you have been doing something seriously wrong with your feeding regime. I appreciate many people do not want to accept that their flock has Marek's Disease but it is so widespread you are probably lucky if you don't have it. Because there are some strains that are more virulent than others and some birds are more resistant than others, there are people that just lose the odd bird to it and put it down to vitamin deficiency or whatever and others lose half their flock. Also birds sick with Marek's will often respond to a vitamin supplement because it supports their immune, digestive and neurological system and that helps them to fight the disease. People then assume it was a vitamin deficiency. It does not always work but can give birds a helping hand. It will not cure the disease though and they will likely have another outbreak of it at some point in the future, just like people have with cold sores (Marek's is the same type of virus (herpes), but in between will appear perfectly normal.

I hope I am wrong but I think it is important to know all the facts and be aware that you may have a very contagious disease in your flock.

Regards

Barbara

It is not Marek's disease fortunately, we were very scared that it was but we did get an necropsy done, yes it was very expensive but it was worth it... we have had birds for four years we only started off with at least 20 ducks but last year we did start to get more and ended up with 200 chickens and noticed that we had a very little chicken that we noticed started to become very weak and wasn't his jumpy little self so we started to give him a very small amount of electro lights in his water and thankfully he became better some have unfortunately passed away due to it but some have also survived with the help given, we never get any birds from auctions because of how easily marek's and other diseases spread so if we do get birds from somebody else we get them while there still in the egg and hatch them through an incubator. Thank you though for all the information I do appreciate but I am very happy that it is not marek's

 

[rebrascora]

In that case, I can understand your relief! Was there a particular vitamin that was identified as deficient?.... Just trying to improve my knowledge, so that I can better help others.
Good luck with your remaining flock.

 

[Devunisaacs]

In that case, I can understand your relief! Was there a particular vitamin that was identified as deficient?.... Just trying to improve my knowledge, so that I can better help others.
Good luck with your remaining flock.

Yes it was vitamin B deficiency

 

[rebrascora]

Thanks for that. Out of curiosity, did you use medicated feed for an extended period? Medicated feed has a thiamine (vitamin B1) blocker. Just wondering if that prevented them from obtaining sufficient from their feed.