3 week old chick problem...

[iSeth77]

I just got 7 chicks a few weeks ago at TSC. They all seem to be doing fine (besides the occasional picking/scratching under their wings, etc...is that normal?) except one of them (who looks like maybe she could be a few days older..she's the biggest of the group). She keeps picking at her neck, and this eventually leads to her flipping over and freaking out. Other than the picking she is eating and drinking just fine, but I don't know. Is it just because her feathers are coming in and it makes them itch? It looks like it be an itchy process. I've checked for mites, and lice. They are all clear. Thanks for any advice!

 

[Eggcessive]

Welcome to BYC. Maybe they are trying to take a dust bath. Are you raising them inside the house or in the coop? If outside it could be mites. Look with a magnifier just in case. Some mites will only come out at night. You can make a little dust-bathing pan out of a plastic container, and fill it with sand, dirt, and a tiny amount of wood ash. Dust bathing can help with bug prevention.

 

[iSeth77]

They are inside right now in a large plastic tote with pine shaving for bedding and they have their heat lamp. I just went to check on her again. When I pick her up and hold her she buries her head in my hand, and her neck is positioned in a weird angle. Seems like she doesn't want to keep it up, she's always looking down. She seems calmer in my hands than in the brooder...doesn't try and pick at her neck until she's back in the brooder and then the flipping continues. I'll be able to make them a dust bath tomorrow and see if that helps...

 

[Eggcessive]

Uh oh, I think she may have wry neck. I wondered about it from your first post, and it sounds a little more like it. Wry neck is where the neck is twisted to the side, or down, or up looking over the head. It is a neurological symptom of head/neck injury, from vitamin deficiency, or in older chickens, from diseases such as Mareks or Newcastles. I would start her on chick or poultry vitamins and get some selenium. Some vitamins such as Poulty Nutridrench and Poultry Cell contain selenium. Some use PolyVisol baby vitamins w/o iron 2-3 drops daily plus 25 mcg of selenium daily. Here are a couple of links for you to decide if this is what you are seeing or not:
http://oureggbasket.blogspot.com/2013/04/wry-neck-or-crook-neck-understanding-it.html
http://www.browneggblueegg.com/Article/Crookneck/Crookneck.html
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/97121/lets-talk-wry-neck-crook-neck

Wry neck