Chick acting weird

[MONKEY2580]

I have a buff orpington that is acting kinda weird. She seems fine when she is on the ground except for she rubs her head around alot, like most do just not as frequent as her. She always is preening herself. But the thing that caught my eye is the fact that she runs in circles alot. She looks like she is chasing her tail. But when I go to grab her she just runs in circles under my hand. Then when I carry her she hangs her head super low and rubs her beak between my fingers, and kinda struggles. I know it's natural for chickens to fight a little, but if I let her sit on my hand or something she tries to jump off no matter how high it is. I don't know if I should be worried like it's a worm eating away at her brain or something. But if it is something I'd like to figure out sooner rather than later.

 

[Eggcessive]

A few of her actions sound like she could have wry neck, a symptom of a neurological problem that mya be caused by head injury, vitamin E deficiency, or from other conditions that can affect the brain. They can have a twisted neck to the side, down, or up, and make run in circles or walk backward. Give vitamin E and selenium, found in Poultry NutriDrench and Poultry Cell vitamins.

 

[MONKEY2580]

I have Durvet Vitamins and electrolytes which has vitamin E in it. Will that work is there anything else I can do?

 

[MrsBachbach]

I have Durvet Vitamins and electrolytes which has vitamin E in it. Will that work is there anything else I can do?

Give a vitamin E pill if you have one. But yes, put the Duravet in their water a few days a week. Improvement could take weeks if it happens at all. Feed can lose nutrient value quickly after a few months from manufacture, especially in warm weather. so adding supplements to water is a good idea especially if a bag of feed last awhile for you or it is already a few months old when you purchase it. You should supplement some selenium in her diet also. Look up foods rich in selenium and give a bit of that to her diet also. Sunflower seeds and fish are two high on the list. It's not a one time treatment, but weeks of vitamin/mineral supplementation to hope to see improvement. One other thing is it could be a tumor causing the problems, so if you don't see improvement in a couple of months, you would have to consider that..

 

[MONKEY2580]

OK I am going to the store tomorrow to get some supplements. Should I isolate her, and if not will the supplements in the water harm the other chicks? Also if she doesn't improve what then?

 

[MrsBachbach]

OK I am going to the store tomorrow to get some supplements. Should I isolate her, and if not will the supplements in the water harm the other chicks? Also if she doesn't improve what then?

No vitamin supplements won't harm others. Don't know if isolating would help not knowing what is wrong, but if you have a cage you can put her in and still be with her flock, that might be good idea. Vit/mineral therapy can take weeks so that's a long time to isolate a bird. If it is something viral, like Newcastle, isolating her so she doesn't spread poop around or drink and eat from same containers would be good. If it's Mareks, your flock is already exposed. So just a cage or dog crate you could keep her in, but she can still see her flockmates. Although, if it's something viral like that, she may not recover. Time will tell.

 

[MONKEY2580]

I know she has wry neck. I have her on nutridrench I hope it helps but the others kinda step o b her occasionally. So I might isolate her with them so they can still be together.