Chick seems to have an unbalanced head, what's wrong?

[TJsTwinzz]

She's a RIR pullet about four weeks old, and she carries her head strangely. I don't think it's life-threatening; she seems a normal chick in all other aspects, growing normally, eating well, but I would like to know what's wrong with her. She seems unable to control her head completely. When she runs, she holds her head out like an ostrich, and when she's resting, it moves around in an unnatural way. It seems like her center of balance is off, and it's kind of like she's drunk. None of the other chicks have the same problem. Does anyone know what's wrong with her?

 

[realsis]

this could be a vitamin deficiency. sometimes vitamin deficiency can in chicks cause these kinds of movements. I'd start her on a vitamin and see if it helps. hope this helps best of luck.

 

[TJsTwinzz]

Thank you for your help. We'll start them on vitamins, but why is it only this one that's affected? She was like this when we bought her, and the chicks that we bought with her, as well as the other two batches from the same store, are perfectly normal.

 

[realsis]

could be just different or sensitive. maybe she was more stressed and it brought her down a bit. I was looking in my chicken health book for you on this subject and it said lack of vitiman could cause this. see if the vitamin helps. if it doesn't then it could be something else going on. I'll do some more searching and let you know if I come up with anything else or maybe someone else knows of a different answer. I'll search for you. in the mean time the vitamin sure can't hurt her. I looked up issues with chicks and it came up with vitamins deficiencies. I'll dig a bit deeper and see what I can find. but besides that she's eating and drinking and pooing normally right? her feathers are not ruffled and doesn't seem ill right? I'll do a bit more searching and let you know what else I find.

 

[realsis]

could also be a bit of a inner ear issue? I searched more mostly I found vitamin defiency or inner ear trouble. try the vitamins if they don't help maybe her ears? hope this helps. good luck to you! I'll keep looking if I find something else I'll post. I hope she gets better!

 

[TJsTwinzz]

Bobblehead's perfectly normal, except that she has coordination problems, and she can't fully control the movements of her head. She can't fly properly, but she can run, eat, and drink. She seems to have adapted well to her condition. My dad thinks it may be cerebral palsy. She fits in pretty well with the other chicks, and they don't really pick on her. We love her a lot, though.