2 year old hen displaying symptoms of vertigo

[P & Q Ranch]

My 2 year old Rhode Island Red has just finished moulting and almost every morning when she jumps out of the henhouse she flutters around in circles and turns her head under her, closes her eyes and falls down on the ground. After lying motionless for a few seconds she jumps up as if nothing happened and goes about eating and scratching the dirt as usual. This has been going on for a couple of weeks and I am concerned for her as the other hens want to attack her when it happens. Please let me know if anyone out there has experienced this behavior?????

 

[Ema]

Wow crazy, can't help on the topic but I hope you find the solution. other than that I wanted to say

 

[P & Q Ranch]

Well it has been a little over a month now and the hen with vertigo has died. No one seemed to know what was going on with her, but after searching through some of the questions others had and looking on the internet I believe that all three hens that died had a genetic disease known as Marek's Disease. Of course I'm not a vet but the symptoms of a gray eye on each of the three hens that I thought had been blinded was really the disease that finally killed them. Somewhere I read that chickens do not normally get blinded and are very protective of their eyes. The three that died came from a separate mother hen!!! Anyway now I only have five hens left, they have finished moulting and finally started laying eggs again, so we are back to eating fresh eggs! If anyone out there is experiencing the same problems with their hens let me know!

Thank you,
Shirley

 

[KatieBugg]

I am so sorry about your girls. Mereks is a virus not genetic and is spread in the air. Did you have your birds that died tested for Mereks?