5 wk old pullet keeps head tucked and rolling over

[PurpleMint]

Hi, I am new to backyard chickens. I have 6 chicks. Mixed breeds. All are 5 weeks old. I purchased them from Rural King. The one I am concerned about is 5 wks old. Not sure exactly what the breed is. ***'t Arac is what the sign said for the breed. I also have ISA BROWNS, silver laced and buff Orpington. The other 5 are acting normal and avoid the ***'t Arac now. She has been showing the same symptoms for 24 hrs now. She doesn't raise her head much. When she does she looks up side ways. She keeps her head tucked underneath her breast. She picks at herself quite a bit as if she is over grooming herself or itching. When she has her head tucked she tries to walk but ends up doing a front flip completely. She is stumbling at times. She is drinking and eating and defecating. No sign of blood or non normal stools. They all are still in a brood in my basement. I use a corn cob bedding that is changed completely every two days. I have a gal water changed twice a day and the regular feed trough for chicks. I feed them chick starter medicated. I occasionally in the past two weeks give them eggs shells, grass and a few worms but only a few times over the last two weeks. I don't know what is wrong. I don't know what to do for her. If you recommend something please be sure to tell me where I can purchase it. I don't know if she's in pain or if I should put her down or try something. I'll try to post a pic in daylight hours. I will be moving them to their new coop we just completed today. Thank you. Misty

 

[chloezoebob101]

Could she have a wry neck?

 

[PurpleMint]

Hi, thanks for a reply. You know after looking wry neck up on YouTube, she does act the same way. I'm a mess over this. I've never raised chickens before and I am already wishing I hadn't. I get emotionally attached and these gals are such joy to have. I have already bonded with each of them and they each have their own personalities and it's bothering me to see her like this and I'm not quite educated enough I guess. So now I need to know more about this and what I can do to help her if it's not too late. I still don't know what it is without a vet checkup but it sure does sound and look a lot like wry neck. Thank you so much. Now I'm going to be up all night trying to figure out what I can do about it if anything. Misty

 

[chloezoebob101]

Feed her vitamin E. When we had this, we squished the goo out of the liquid gel capsule. But you can use a syringe, and liquid vitamin E, We forced it down her throat.
Hope this helps

 

[PurpleMint]

[VIDEO]Here's an update: I got the vitamins and gave one dose so far. I have kept her in the brood. All others are in the coop now. She is eating, drinking and defecating. All seems normal. I have taken pics and a video of her but will try to post them. I have been observing her for a while today. It seems like she is having seizures. She will walk with her head up and at times seem normal. Every minute-to two minutes she curls her head beneath her breast, her eyes roll then close and then she walks backwards or rolls completely over doing a summer-sault(sp). I have a heat lamp back on her and am watching her closely. I do wonder how much meds and how often to administer them. I have electrolyte, vitamin E, and poly-vi-sol I was lucky to find at my local dollar store and pharmacy. Any advice? Thanks, Misty

 

[PurpleMint]

Here is the direct link to pictures and videos of the chick. Let me know if it does not work. Thanks



http://s21.photobucket.com/albums/b275/mint5jf/Chicken/

 

[chloezoebob101]

Here's an update: I got the vitamins and gave one dose so far. I have kept her in the brood. All others are in the coop now. She is eating, drinking and defecating. All seems normal. I have taken pics and a video of her but will try to post them. I have been observing her for a while today. It seems like she is having seizures. She will walk with her head up and at times seem normal. Every minute-to two minutes she curls her head beneath her breast, her eyes roll then close and then she walks backwards or rolls completely over doing a summer-sault(sp). I have a heat lamp back on her and am watching her closely. I do wonder how much meds and how often to administer them. I have electrolyte, vitamin E, and poly-vi-sol I was lucky to find at my local dollar store and pharmacy. Any advice? Thanks, Misty

Just keep watching her! you are doing great so far

 

[PurpleMint]

She is still about the same. Something new I have noticed is that she is doing it more often when excited. Like if I move towards her too fast or getting her excited the spasms, seizures happen immediately. But if I'm quiet, move slow and talk soft then she is doing the neck curling and flipping occasionally. Hmm. So I've added a few drops of electrolytes to her water yesterday. Still massaging her neck as well. We'll see...

 

[5Leepy!]

It took 14 days for my chick to get back to completely normal. I gave her Polyvisol, liquid Vitamin B with Selenium and Vitamin E 3 times a day. It took about 7 days to see some subtle improvement, 10 days for the improvement to be really noticeable and by day 14 she was well. She couldn't eat during that time so I would hand feed her the best I could. She lost a ton of weight and stopped growing but once she was better she made up for it and completely caught up with her brooder mates. The only time I separated her from the other chicks was to wash her one time because she got so messy from the oil based vitamins in her fluff. When she was messy, the other chicks started pecking at her to clean her up and it freaked her out. I then started wrapping her in a wash cloth to give her the vitamins and that was easier.

Keep it up!!!

 

[5Leepy!]

Also, mine definitely got worse when she was stressed/excited. She also couldn't eat, her aim was horrible. She could only drink by putting her beak in the water and then flinging her head back so the water would go down her throat. I put a small container with food out and added water. The food soaked up the water and made the food soft. She LOVED it and was able to eat it because she didn't have to aim so precisely. The other chicks ate it as well, it was like they thought it was chocolate cake or something!

I know some chicks are better within 24 hours but some take longer so don't give up!