Dreading what this could be! Help!?

[Raven625]

I have a chick that is 5-6 weeks old now. He has been perfectly healthy and so has the rest of his batch (8 others). Today he came out of the coop down on his hocks, he is confused looking and doing hand stand like behavior- like reaching way under himself with his head/neck and looking like he is twisting his head around and then stops. He is out in his small pen now walking pretty normally, but will stop and reach under himself again. He then walks off picking the ground, he seems slightly off balance, but not too bad. He has an almost blank look on his face, and seems to be tight in his upper neck. I'm wondering if this is Newcastle disease....and if so, am I about to lose all of my birds??? This chick is a big deal to me, I'm completely heart broken... I have no idea what to do!!

On another note:
I have another batch of chicks and different breed that I hatched here, there are 6 of them. The week after hatch I noticed one of the chicks start doing almost a vibrating/ shaking thing- mostly in its upper body and usually just when surprised, or during active times, almost like he's scared. The shaking stops when somewhat calm, this is the only chick doing this and I see no other signs of anything. This chick has been in a brooder next to the ill chick I described above, is it possible something is going around? This chick is 3.5 weeks old.
None of them are vaccinated for anything.

Thanks for any help in advance!

 

[Eggcessive]

The first chick sounds like there could be something neurological going on, such as avian encephalomyelitis, wry neck (crook neck,) or a vitamin deficiency. I would put the flock on poultry vitamins in the water, and give him a little (25 mcg) selenium daily, either by pill form or in some eggs, chopped nuts, sunflower seeds, tuna/salmon, or chopped meat.
The second chick sounds like it could possibly have avian encephalomyelitis, too, but it could be something else. What type of feed are you using? If you lose one of these chicks, you may wnt to send in the refrigerated body to your state vet for a necropsy. Here are some links to read about the conditions above:
http://www.browneggblueegg.com/Article/Crookneck/Crookneck.html
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/diseaseinfo/9/avian-encephalomyelitis-epidemic-tremors/
http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/p..._poultry/vitamin_deficiencies_in_poultry.html
http://www.usaha.org/Portals/6/StateAnimalHealthOfficials.pdf

 

[Raven625]

Hi Eggcessive, thank you for your reply! I use organic NatureSmart chick starter/grower. here are some photos, I tried video, but it won't go through, I'll email it to anyone interested in viewing. He is the white bird, this is a group of Swedish Flower Chicks.
I will get vitamin/ electrolyte water going immediately.

 

[Raven625]

Ps- now that several hours have passed, I'm leaning towards a vitamin problem like you had mentioned above. None of my other 23 birds have anything symptomatic, and I spend tons of time watching their habits. I'm hoping this is the case, I'll support the chick with everything I can offer and and update. Thanks again, and any other ideas are always welcome!!