Very worried - head shakes/tremors

[Chickentings]

I feel defeated and very sad. I had another issue with an Easter egger around 2 months old in the beginning of June. She didn’t make it, but I did not send off for necropsy. I opened her up myself and didn’t have any noticeable tumors but could possibly have had microscopic things I didn’t see?

Now to this speckled Sussex. She is 19 weeks old and I noticed from around 1 month old her growth kind of stunted compared to her flock mates. I raised them from 1 week old chick stage and so far, do not see issues with the others. I have checked for lice and mites- none. No bleeding injury that I notice. Yesterday she was fine, today when they all got out of the coop, she stumbled around a bit before she got her bearings and then I noticed her head shakes. She’s still pecking around but when she eats a treat, she uses her right wing to balance a bit. Does this look like mareks or ALV? Could this be due to heat stroke? We’ve been in 100+ degree days for a couple months and I follow replacing water with fresh cool water twice a day. I provide frozen water bottles for them to stand on or near to cool off. I have one laying Easter egger. The entire flock of 7 is 19 weeks old. Someone else mentioned she looked pale. Would providing additional vitamins for her shock her system more or be helpful? Anything recommended? If I separate her at this point it would be basically be too late right? If the issue were contagious? Please help! @Wyorp Rock (sorry to tag you in again)

They have always had regular dry pellets (I switched to an organic layer feed a week ago) + wet mash with those same pellets with top dressing of brewers yeast OR poultry cell and kickn chickn. They free range the small yard for 3-4 hours a day and are in a 10x16 run the remainder. They did have a ripe papaya snack yesterday (seeds removed) is having papaya flesh toxic? So far, all the other chickens show no signs but you know chickens, they don’t show em till it’s too late. They all weigh a lot more than this speckled Sussex with head shakes.

 

[Eggcessive]

Can you check her for lice and mites, and also have a look in her ears? Rule out ear infection first. If there is gunk in the ear by checking with a QTip, you can clean the ar canal with a little hydrogen peroxide, clean it out with QTip, and then apply Triple Antibiotic or Neosporin to the ear. The head movement could be neurological, so you could get some human vitamin E 400 IU softgels and give her one daily with a little scrambled egg for selenium.

 

[Kiki]

Do you feed treats daily?

If so make sure you aren't over feeding treats. Over feeding treats is anything more than one tablespoon worth per bird.
Over feeding treats takes away from the room they have in their crop to eat the complete balanced feed which is the pellet or crumbled poultry feed.

Not getting a balanced diet can cause serious problems.
The number one thing in your control is their diet.

Did you buy all of the birds at the same time from the same place?
Did you buy from a backyard breeder or a major hatchery?

 

[Chickentings]

Do you feed treats daily?

If so make sure you aren't over feeding treats. Over feeding treats is anything more than one tablespoon worth per bird.
Over feeding treats takes away from the room they have in their crop to eat the complete balanced feed which is the pellet or crumbled poultry feed.

Not getting a balanced diet can cause serious problems.
The number one thing in your control is their diet.

Did you buy all of the birds at the same time from the same place?
Did you buy from a backyard breeder or a major hatchery?

The flock of 7 is combined 2 flocks. 4 from a reputable hatchery and 3 from another long-time reputable hatchery with thousands of birds. They were all vaccinated for mareks and fowl pox, and I believe one other thing. I give them super awesome organic feed + chicken only nutrients added to top of their feed. I will make note of the treats limitation. I don’t give them treats often especially in this heat wave. Do you think it could possibly be botulism?

 

[Chickentings]

Can you check her for lice and mites, and also have a look in her ears? Rule out ear infection first. If there is gunk in the ear by checking with a QTip, you can clean the ar canal with a little hydrogen peroxide, clean it out with QTip, and then apply Triple Antibiotic or Neosporin to the ear. The head movement could be neurological, so you could get some human vitamin E 400 IU softgels and give her one daily with a little scrambled egg for selenium.

I do an overall chciken check of vent, under wings, under neck feathers, for mites and lice and today I did one on her after seeing her head tremors. Does it look like it could also be botulism? I have been scouring the internet for videos that look like this and soem have come back with botulism or a toxin of some sort form moldy food. I wonder if they got into something in the yard? Our yard is pretty empty. I will go ahead and start with the vitamin e as we do have that. I’ll check for the ear infection if there is one. Thank you for the advice so far. I just hope I can bring her back from whatever this is! Do vitamin deficiencies have to do with head tremors? Should I provide an antibiotic that can treat ear infections or botulism?

 

[Mariakoltsa]

The flock of 7 is combined 2 flocks. 4 from a reputable hatchery and 3 from another long-time reputable hatchery with thousands of birds. They were all vaccinated for mareks and fowl pox, and I believe one other thing. I give them super awesome organic feed + chicken only nutrients added to top of their feed. I will make note of the treats limitation. I don’t give them treats often especially in this heat wave. Do you think it could possibly be botulism?

How did your chookie end up ? Did you find out what it was and what were the later symptoms like ?
I hope its all good