The abridged version:
I have an 8 month old Barnevelder pullet (named Peanut Butter aka PB), who I believe was born with some sort of neurological disorder. She weighs almost 3 lbs and is not a great eater. I'm in Maryland, and today we had our frist snow of the season. This morning/afternoon, she (her name is Peanut Butter) was hanging with the flock and being her normal self. Later today, she stopped hanging out with the flock and instead was with my "exiled" young cockerel. She was laying in the snow, and kept staring upwards towards the sky, angling her head so far back it appeared her neck had disapeared into her body.. When I picked her up, she laid back down. This laying around lasted a couple hours. Then I brought her indoors to warm up and within a few minutes, she was (mostly) back to her normal self. Had she gotten too cold? What would cause this bizarre behavior?
Video of PB when I first brought her indoors at 5:20 PM.
The long winded-version:
PB is a hatchery chick I got in May of this year along with 3 other Barnevelders. She struggled with a case of poopy-butt for the first several weeks of her life. Then she developed a strong tremor that lasted several months. At times the tremor was so strong she would shake herself right off balance and fall over. But otherwise, she behaved normally. She has grown into a beautiful but tiny hen, and has never laid an egg. She eventually out-grew the tremors, but has always been a little "off-balance." As a chick, I inquired about her trembling in this post. Nowadays, she gets along well in her flock. She is tenacious and loves treats, but only ever eats a small amount at a time. She's low in the pecking order, but is still able to access food and water. However, her crop is rarely full. She loves snacks, but seems to lose interest in eating quickly. I've been worrying about her getting too cold with these low temps, but she seemed to be doing okay until today.
PB has always had some quirky behaviors, and that includes a unique "head tilt" that gives her a cute expression. She also has a strange habit, that when she looks upwards, she tilts her head really far back. Sometimes she loses her balance and teeters over backwards. This happens if she's watching something in the sky, or just looking up at a prospective roosting spot she wants to jump to. Perhaps this is indicitive of a visual impairment, but I don't really know.
This afternoon, PB was hanging out with the flock like normal. This is their first snow, and we shoveled them some paths and I was trying to teach them how to use the paths. This video was taken this afternoon at 11:15 AM. She loses her balance easily- that's her "normal" and you can see it a little in this video.
When it's really cold, PB usually stays in the coop along with some of the older ladies who don't care for the cold. However later today, I noticed PB and my "exiled" cockerel hanging out by the garage door. The rest of the flock was in the coop The wind had picked up and it was really unpleasant. PB appeared to be standing on a tiny strip of the doorsill that was devoid of snow. It was a little odd that she wasn't with the flock, but also we sometimes throw scratch from the garage so chickens will occasionaly hang out here to beg. This was around 2 PM. She was standing up at this time. I offered them some scratch, but she only ate a few pieces. A short while later they were still hanging out. This time she was laying down, and she was under a cart we keep propped up along the house. This is a popular spot for the chickens to hang out because it stays dry, but was also a little odd because there was no protection from the wind. This spot was next door to the shed where chickens often hang out during inclement weather. I didn't pay close attention to her at this time becuase I noticed my cockerel's spurs were coated in ice, and instead of paying attention to her, I focused on breaking the ice off of his spurs. I did come back a bit later to check on them. This time they were out in the open, and PB was laying in the snow and did not want to stand up. I did not immediately realize something was amiss until I picked her up, and she did not want to stand. She was doing the staring up at the sky thing, only she was not looking at anything.
This is Peanut Butter today at 2:45 PM
We were on our way out to run a quick errand, so I decided to put both PB and the cockerel (who gets run off by the big rooster) into a small coop on the patio that was out of the wind. I figured they'd be warmer there since neither of them seemed to be making good choices about staying warm (there are a myriad of dry, snowless, wind-protected places they could have been hanging out in). Anyway, we returned a couple hours later. PB seemed to be in the same condition as when we left., perhaps slightly more alert (Cockerel tried to mount her and she yelled him and said no). I brought her indoors, and took the video at 5:20 PM of her on my kitchen floor (the first video in the post).
Within about 10 minutes of being indoors, she began perking up. She started eating and talking (she is very chatty) and even walking around the kitchen. I decided at this point that she needed to stay warm. She was acting normal (by PB's standards) in less than hour. She was eating and drinking, and then while drinking she began doing this strange thing with her neck. This video was taken at 6:20 PM.
She only did this neck move while drinking. It doesn't seem like wry neck, but I did put Poultry Cell in her water in case it's a vitamin deficincy issue. She's now contentedly sleeping in a dog crate in my living room.
Has anyone ever had a situation like this? Could this be a result of the cold or is the cold coincidental? How do I go about returning her to the flock after she's become acclimatized to indoor temps?
And somewhat unrelated, but is it normal for a cockerel's spurs (they're not much more than spur buds at the moment, he's 7 months) to ice over? My older roosters did not have this happen, but they both also spent more time in their coops/out of the wind.
Thanks for any insights and/or sharing your experiences.
Here are some pics of PB when she is healthy.
I have an 8 month old Barnevelder pullet (named Peanut Butter aka PB), who I believe was born with some sort of neurological disorder. She weighs almost 3 lbs and is not a great eater. I'm in Maryland, and today we had our frist snow of the season. This morning/afternoon, she (her name is Peanut Butter) was hanging with the flock and being her normal self. Later today, she stopped hanging out with the flock and instead was with my "exiled" young cockerel. She was laying in the snow, and kept staring upwards towards the sky, angling her head so far back it appeared her neck had disapeared into her body.. When I picked her up, she laid back down. This laying around lasted a couple hours. Then I brought her indoors to warm up and within a few minutes, she was (mostly) back to her normal self. Had she gotten too cold? What would cause this bizarre behavior?
The long winded-version:
PB is a hatchery chick I got in May of this year along with 3 other Barnevelders. She struggled with a case of poopy-butt for the first several weeks of her life. Then she developed a strong tremor that lasted several months. At times the tremor was so strong she would shake herself right off balance and fall over. But otherwise, she behaved normally. She has grown into a beautiful but tiny hen, and has never laid an egg. She eventually out-grew the tremors, but has always been a little "off-balance." As a chick, I inquired about her trembling in this post. Nowadays, she gets along well in her flock. She is tenacious and loves treats, but only ever eats a small amount at a time. She's low in the pecking order, but is still able to access food and water. However, her crop is rarely full. She loves snacks, but seems to lose interest in eating quickly. I've been worrying about her getting too cold with these low temps, but she seemed to be doing okay until today.
PB has always had some quirky behaviors, and that includes a unique "head tilt" that gives her a cute expression. She also has a strange habit, that when she looks upwards, she tilts her head really far back. Sometimes she loses her balance and teeters over backwards. This happens if she's watching something in the sky, or just looking up at a prospective roosting spot she wants to jump to. Perhaps this is indicitive of a visual impairment, but I don't really know.
This afternoon, PB was hanging out with the flock like normal. This is their first snow, and we shoveled them some paths and I was trying to teach them how to use the paths. This video was taken this afternoon at 11:15 AM. She loses her balance easily- that's her "normal" and you can see it a little in this video.
When it's really cold, PB usually stays in the coop along with some of the older ladies who don't care for the cold. However later today, I noticed PB and my "exiled" cockerel hanging out by the garage door. The rest of the flock was in the coop The wind had picked up and it was really unpleasant. PB appeared to be standing on a tiny strip of the doorsill that was devoid of snow. It was a little odd that she wasn't with the flock, but also we sometimes throw scratch from the garage so chickens will occasionaly hang out here to beg. This was around 2 PM. She was standing up at this time. I offered them some scratch, but she only ate a few pieces. A short while later they were still hanging out. This time she was laying down, and she was under a cart we keep propped up along the house. This is a popular spot for the chickens to hang out because it stays dry, but was also a little odd because there was no protection from the wind. This spot was next door to the shed where chickens often hang out during inclement weather. I didn't pay close attention to her at this time becuase I noticed my cockerel's spurs were coated in ice, and instead of paying attention to her, I focused on breaking the ice off of his spurs. I did come back a bit later to check on them. This time they were out in the open, and PB was laying in the snow and did not want to stand up. I did not immediately realize something was amiss until I picked her up, and she did not want to stand. She was doing the staring up at the sky thing, only she was not looking at anything.
This is Peanut Butter today at 2:45 PM
We were on our way out to run a quick errand, so I decided to put both PB and the cockerel (who gets run off by the big rooster) into a small coop on the patio that was out of the wind. I figured they'd be warmer there since neither of them seemed to be making good choices about staying warm (there are a myriad of dry, snowless, wind-protected places they could have been hanging out in). Anyway, we returned a couple hours later. PB seemed to be in the same condition as when we left., perhaps slightly more alert (Cockerel tried to mount her and she yelled him and said no). I brought her indoors, and took the video at 5:20 PM of her on my kitchen floor (the first video in the post).
Within about 10 minutes of being indoors, she began perking up. She started eating and talking (she is very chatty) and even walking around the kitchen. I decided at this point that she needed to stay warm. She was acting normal (by PB's standards) in less than hour. She was eating and drinking, and then while drinking she began doing this strange thing with her neck. This video was taken at 6:20 PM.
She only did this neck move while drinking. It doesn't seem like wry neck, but I did put Poultry Cell in her water in case it's a vitamin deficincy issue. She's now contentedly sleeping in a dog crate in my living room.
Has anyone ever had a situation like this? Could this be a result of the cold or is the cold coincidental? How do I go about returning her to the flock after she's become acclimatized to indoor temps?
And somewhat unrelated, but is it normal for a cockerel's spurs (they're not much more than spur buds at the moment, he's 7 months) to ice over? My older roosters did not have this happen, but they both also spent more time in their coops/out of the wind.
Thanks for any insights and/or sharing your experiences.
Here are some pics of PB when she is healthy.
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