help please! 7 day old chick tucking its head and rolling onto its back!

[kl115]

Hi all! First off, I have NO experience with chickens. My son's science class hatched eggs and the students were allowed to take a chick home. We took one to raise with the expectation to give it to a friend that has chickens.
This chick was very late hatching. The last one to hatch actually. It needed help getting out of the egg and afterwards just layed on its side with eyes closed, not moving. The teacher was not expecting it to live through the night. But it did and we brought it home.
It is now 7 days old and is eating, drinking and running like normal. BUT on occasion it will tuck its head and roll over into its back. Like a front somersault. Sometimes its flips back over right away and sometimes it lays there!
Anyone know what is going on with it & what ( if anything ) I should do?? Thank you for reading!

 

[Firekin1]

Your chick sounds like it's falling asleep standing up....then falling over. Do you have a heat source for it to stay warm?

 

[kl115]

Yes I do have a heat lamp
It actually does it fully awake..
I was holding it in my hands once and it was very insistent on rolling over! I don't know if it was choosing to do it or if it couldn't control itself. Sometimes I will find it just laying on its back with its legs stretched out! It acts fine 95% of the time but then it will just tuck its head to it's chest and flip over and act funny for a sec and then its OK again! :-/

 

[Firekin1]

You should go on youtube and look up "wry neck" to see if that resembles what your chick is doing. You physically see it happen so you would be able to compare much better, other than that I'm at a loss, but perhaps someone has had this exact thing and will see the thread and come up with another answer for you...I've seen wry neck with a friends chickens, but I personally have not experienced it....I'm hoping that's not the case for your little baby....

 

[kl115]

I think that is what my Chickie has
I'm trying vitamin e to see if it will help it. Thank you for replying!

 

[Firekin1]

You're welcome. Wish I could have been a bit more help. Here's a link to a thread on BYC about other people who have experienced wry neck, there may be more help for you there as well. https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/97121/lets-talk-wry-neck-crook-neck

 

[jh7192]

Again, it's difficult to diagnose chickens on the internet. I will throwout a couple of possibilities. First, Newcastle disease (ND) is a possibility. ND is caused by a virus and is similar to canine distemper. Commercial chicks are vaccinated for ND in the shell at 18 days of embryonation. ND starts as a respiratory infection and progresses to a central nervous disease.
Avian encephalomyelitis is a 2d possibility. Again commercial chicks have passive immunity passed through the egg. By the time the passive immunity wears off, the bird is no longer in the age range of susceptibility.
Vitamin E deficiency is a possibility but the chick should have enough passed through the egg to last for about 3 weeks.
Botulinum toxicity is a far-out possibility.
In summary I don't know what is wrong, so I am unable to suggest treatment. It sure sounds interesting.
JH7192

 

[ten chicks]

X2 on the wry neck.

 

[kl115]

Thank you for your replies! Here are some videos of my chick.
The first video was taken last night and is of my chick rolling over.
The second video was taken today and is of how my chick is most of the time. My
7 day old chick rolling over:

My chick day 8: