Silkie head shaking problems

[Maplerunchickens]

Marigold is one month old and will do this head shake (YouTube video link below) every few minutes. Any ideas? I’ve never seen this before. She eats fine (medicated feed) and is vaccinated. She gets outside time an hour a day. She’s with 7 other mixed chicks, mostly silkies. She eats and plays and does all the normal chick things except for the head shaking!

 

[Tookie]

How long has this been going on? It looks neurological to me.

What I'd do is give her vitamin E 400IU, 1/4 of a B complex tablet, and eggs for selenium, give all that daily for 2ish weeks and see how she's doing then.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

How long has this been going on? It looks neurological to me.

What I'd do is give her vitamin E 400IU, 1/4 of a B complex tablet, and eggs for selenium, give all that daily for 2ish weeks and see how she's doing then.

Agreed.

 

[Maplerunchickens]

Thank you so much for the advice! It’s been a few days and getting worse. I will definitely try your suggestions. Do you think she can function normally if she improves?

 

[Elliemae1984]

I agree, seems neurological more so than illness.

I’d also reconsider medicated feed in the off chance it’s early wry neck, which seems to plague silkies quite a bit. This is usually a really hot topic within the silkie community, but there’s some good evidence that medicated feed can block vitamin absorption in silkies, which can make them more susceptible to wry neck (cause by vitamin E and selenium deficiency).

If you catch wry neck and treat early enough they should recover no problem (unless I’m the rare case that the deficiency is linked to genetics and not diet). Occasionally, if the case is advanced enough, you may have to give a vitamin E selenium paste orally to help them improve.

If it’s neurological…it would depend on her condition. Reminds me of cats that have the “wobbly” syndrome (can’t recall name) that live a healthy life as long as their owners know what they’re dealing with and make accommodations for them.

 

[Tookie]

Thank you so much for the advice! It’s been a few days and getting worse. I will definitely try your suggestions. Do you think she can function normally if she improves?

Hard to know for sure, and I really don't know. I hope so though!

 

[Debbie292d]

I had exactly this problem. About 3 months ago I purchased 4 fancy silkies from a breeder. I've raised 100s of silkies I've hatched on medicated but ran out, so these ones got regular Kalmbach's grower. One almost immediately started doing that same thing as a three-day-old chick. Plus, would all of a sudden zip off to the opposite side of the brooder and shake head some more. I thought vitamin deficiency, so gave Poultry Cell water one day, Hydro Hen the next, fresh water the next, then kept repeating this. Nothing helped. I ground up some sunflower hearts to mix in their mash, which are high in Selenium and Vitamin E. I did this for a week. No change. I called the breeder, she had no idea either. No matter what I tried, this chick never stopped doing this for two months.

Fast forward two months, I put them outside in a pen with a temp coop. I noticed within a couple of days, she was improving. I don't know if that was a coincidence. They've been outside free-ranging now for a couple of weeks, and I've never seen this behavior again. I've since hatched a few more batches of my own, nothing wrong. To this day, I have no idea what was wrong with her and assume she outgrew it. I hope if nothing else works for you either, at least yours will too.

 

[Maplerunchickens]

I had exactly this problem. About 3 months ago I purchased 4 fancy silkies from a breeder. I've raised 100s of silkies I've hatched on medicated but ran out, so these ones got regular Kalmbach's grower. One almost immediately started doing that same thing as a three-day-old chick. Plus, would all of a sudden zip off to the opposite side of the brooder and shake head some more. I thought vitamin deficiency, so gave Poultry Cell water one day, Hydro Hen the next, fresh water the next, then kept repeating this. Nothing helped. I ground up some sunflower hearts to mix in their mash, which are high in Selenium and Vitamin E. I did this for a week. No change. I called the breeder, she had no idea either. No matter what I tried, this chick never stopped doing this for two months.

Fast forward two months, I put them outside in a pen with a temp coop. I noticed within a couple of days, she was improving. I don't know if that was a coincidence. They've been outside free-ranging now for a couple of weeks, and I've never seen this behavior again. I've since hatched a few more batches of my own, nothing wrong. To this day, I have no idea what was wrong with her and assume she outgrew it. I hope if nothing else works for you either, at least yours will too.

Thanks for the advice! I’m so glad to hear a story with a happy outcome. I switched to non-medicated just in case it was an issue and increased her daily outdoor time. I also gave vitamin e and selenium to the chick. Hope Marigold outgrows it too!

 

[Debbie292d]

Thanks for the advice! I’m so glad to hear a story with a happy outcome. I switched to non-medicated just in case it was an issue and increased her daily outdoor time. I also gave vitamin e and selenium to the chick. Hope Marigold outgrows it too!

No problem. It wasn't the feed, whether medicated or not, at least in my case as I almost wished I'd had medicated which I always use, but was out, so for the first time just started them on regular, and then have my first issue. Go figure lol.

 

[Tookie]

How is she?