Chickens Shaking Their Head

[kazhays]

Chicken Breeds and Ages:
(1) Rhode Island Red hen, about 2-3 years old
(1) Ameraucana hen, about 2-3 years old
(1) Plymouth Rock hen, about 3 months old
(1) Ameraucana hen, about 3 months old)

Symptoms/Behavior Exhibited:
- ocassionally yawning
- constant shaking of head
- scratching of face with feet
- looking around in many directions as if on alert

Timeline:
About 7 days ago, I saw our adult Rhode Island Red hen yawn repeatedly and shake her head and our adult Ameraucana doing the same ocassionally. I looked up what this could be caused by and found that she may have had gapeworm or a respiratory disease. We checked all our hens for symptoms of respiratory disease such as wheezing, sneezing, bubbly eyes, etc., and noone showed any symptoms. The day after, we treated all 4 of our chickens for gapeworm with Flubenvet. Since then, I have noticed a lot less yawning/gaping from our chickens but they still are all constantly shaking their heads, after they make noise, when they're walking, etc. Today especially our adult Rhode Island Red was shaking her head constantly so I looked up what this could be caused by and one forum post said that there could be an object in her ear or throat. We then checked all of our hens' ears for any objects in them. None could be seen. Now I'm suspecting that they could have mites. We do have Diatomaceous Earth but I've heard it's not effective once mites have established a colony.

Bleeding, Injury, or Other Trauma:
No signs at all of bleeding, injury, or other trauma in any of our birds.

Chickens' Food and Water:
All four of our chickens have been eating and drinking as normal (eating mealworms, layer food, bird seed, grass, bugs, etc.). They also seem to still have high energy, our adult chickens chasing our babies around and everyone running around just fine.

Chickens' Poop:
All four of our chickens seem to have the same poop as they have had before any symptoms arised. No worms visible in the poop.

Treatment Administered So Far:
- Flubenvet for all four chickens (1 drop per pound)
- Checked chickens' ears for objects inside (none found)

Housing/Bedding In Use:
Our two adult chickens live in a coop meant for four chickens with sand as bedding. Our two younger chickens live in a coop adjacent but separated from the adults with newspaper as bedding.

Please let us know if you have any idea what could be causing this and recommended treatments.
Thank you!

 

[ChickNanny13]

Have you checked for mites/lice? Possible allergy, Spring pollen in the air? What's your location? Is it possible they got something in their ears?

 

[kazhays]

Have you checked for mites/lice? Possible allergy, Spring pollen in the air? What's your location? Is it possible they got something in their ears?

We live in Hawaii. We've checked the ears of our adult Rhode Island Red, our 3 month old Plymouth Rock, and our 3 month old Ameraucana and didn't see anything in there. We will check for mites/lice as soon as possible. What sort of allergies can chickens have?

 

[Fancychooklady]

Take a torch out at night and have a good look over them for lice and mites. Another sure way to check is to handle the birds, any creepy crawlies they have on them will eventually make their way onto you.

 

[kazhays]

Take a torch out at night and have a good look over them for lice and mites. Another sure way to check is to handle the birds, any creepy crawlies they have on them will eventually make their way onto you.

How big would mites/lice be? I noticed today while handling our 3 month old Plymouth Rock a bug crawl onto me about the size of an ant but assumed this was too big to be a mite.

 

[ChickNanny13]

What Island? Are you using beach sand or purchased? Possible sand fleas if from the beach. Check the vent area & under the wings close to the skin. No clue what type of allergies but know animals can develop food/environmental allergies.

 

[kazhays]

What Island? Are you using beach sand or purchased? Possible sand fleas if from the beach. Check the vent area & under the wings close to the skin. No clue what type of allergies but know animals can develop food/environmental allergies.

We're on Oahu and using purchased sand. We'll check for mites and lice tomorrow.

 

[Leihamarie]

My first thought is mites/lice. Gapeworm is actually more rare than we anxious chook parents think. It's good that you treated for worms anyway though and doubly great that you used the right wormer for gapeworm! If possible I would recommend doing a follow up fecal exam at a vet's just to be sure. Some cat/dog vets will let you bring a sample in since it's the same procedure with chickens but just ask them ahead of time.

As far as mites/ lice go... Look at them during the daytime and also take a flashlight out to the coop after dark and check them AND the roosts. Sometimes the little bloodsuckers creep out after dark for a feast and scurry back to the crevices before daylight, leaving your chickens itchy and drained.
As far as DE goes, I know that some people swear by it but I personally would never use it to treat my chickens. It creates more problems than it actually solves. It can REALLY damage a chicken's respiratory system. I use it to prevent ants from getting into the cat & dog dishes, use it as quick roach death but never around the chooks and never where it would get airborne. For lice/ mite infestations I'd use Elector PSP which can be applied directly to laying hens and has no withdrawl period. The active ingredient is spinosad. I RARELY if ever use harsh chemicals, so I make these recommendations as an organic nut, lol! I do prevention naturally and intervention as gently but effectively as possible.

I'd figure out what's going on first though.

The other possibility is wet fowlpox. When you looked in their mouths, was there any sort of cheese-like substance or pimple-like bumps? Tis the season for mosquitoes galore, which can transmit fowlpox (amongst other nasties).

 

[Fancychooklady]

How big would mites/lice be? I noticed today while handling our 3 month old Plymouth Rock a bug crawl onto me about the size of an ant but assumed this was too big to be a mite.

Lice are quite large and often brown to translucent like head lice.

 

[Fancychooklady]

My first thought is mites/lice. Gapeworm is actually more rare than we anxious chook parents think. It's good that you treated for worms anyway though and doubly great that you used the right wormer for gapeworm! If possible I would recommend doing a follow up fecal exam at a vet's just to be sure. Some cat/dog vets will let you bring a sample in since it's the same procedure with chickens but just ask them ahead of time.

As far as mites/ lice go... Look at them during the daytime and also take a flashlight out to the coop after dark and check them AND the roosts. Sometimes the little bloodsuckers creep out after dark for a feast and scurry back to the crevices before daylight, leaving your chickens itchy and drained.
As far as DE goes, I know that some people swear by it but I personally would never use it to treat my chickens. It creates more problems than it actually solves. It can REALLY damage a chicken's respiratory system. I use it to prevent ants from getting into the cat & dog dishes, use it as quick roach death but never around the chooks and never where it would get airborne. For lice/ mite infestations I'd use Elector PSP which can be applied directly to laying hens and has no withdrawl period. The active ingredient is spinosad. I RARELY if ever use harsh chemicals, so I make these recommendations as an organic nut, lol! I do prevention naturally and intervention as gently but effectively as possible.

I'd figure out what's going on first though.

The other possibility is wet fowlpox. When you looked in their mouths, was there any sort of cheese-like substance or pimple-like bumps? Tis the season for mosquitoes galore, which can transmit fowlpox (amongst other nasties).

Mites feed on the birds at night whilst they roost and hide in the crevices of the coop during the day , that is why it is best to check for mites at night. Lice on the other hand spend their entire life on the bird, unless they find another warm host to crawl on.