Chickens can have epilepsy. Their seizures have distinct phases starting with increased alertness followed by dorsiflexion and rotation of the head and neck. Wings extended and downward they lose the ability to stand then begin to thrash and tumble. They may also go rigid and then become limp and unresponsive. They will not blink and look dead. Once responsive again there also may be a period of disorientation and even temporary blindness.
This can be followed by loss of appetite and the ability to stand or walk. My isa brown Sweet Pea has epilepsy which is complicated by the fact she is also permanently blind. Several times I thought I was going to lose her. She will go a whole month without standing or walking. She always gets better.
She will also stop eating for a while. Since she is blind I started crop feeding her to make sure she gets proper nutrition. Right now she is eating her corn and greens pretty good. However I can rarely get her to take a drink of water. I crop feed her with the same thing used to feed baby parrots supplemented with poly-sol vitamins and baby food. I like to vary her diet. She gets meat, veg and dessert just like baby.
Epilepsy can be genetic, arise from head trauma or toxic poisoning. This may be important for figuring out treatment. Also there can be triggers for seizures. Most of sweet Peas seizures occur between 9pm and 2am. Haven't figured out why. So complicated. Not sure if her blindness is related or not.
It does seem to help if I can get to her at the start of her seizure. I hold her tight and much of the time she does not go rigid then limp which is terrible to experience. Her heart goes a million miles an hour then nothing. So, you guessed it, since her seizures are at night we sleep close together. Sometimes I can tell she is going to have a bad night and I put her in bed with along with as stack of towels. She may have up to three in one night.
If you want the details from the horses mouth the man who did the initial research is prof. R.D. Crawford. He worked with fayoumi chickens in the 1970's. You find him quoted in many books on google. I have not been able to find his original paper or if he is still working. I have to tell you it has been a huge relief to finally know what is going on so I can start to look for a treatment.
Her seizures can look like wry neck but it most definitely is not. Her symptoms match perfectly in every way the symptoms reported by Crawford. If you think your chicken may have epilepsy I encourage you to look up the research. It is interesting and helpful. If I can be of any assistance please feel to contact me
[email protected] just note that I am not a professional vet nor do I have any training in that area. What I have is a deep attachment to my Sweet Pea and a computer with Internet.
