Hiding head / losing balance... normal?

[Scotchegg85]

We recently adopted a silkie about 5 months old. He/She (we are not sure yet) has been hiding their head underneath them and sometimes falling over. It sometimes walks with its head tilted to one side. I have attached a video at

.Is this normal or something to worry about?

 

[Ebony Rose]

Not normal. These symptoms are cause for concern. If a vet is an option, I'd get the bird in to see them asap. If a vet is not an option, you're going to need to do some detective work.

 

[Scotchegg85]

Thanks, we think it could be wry neck and it's currently on vits. It seems to be a little better today, not losing balance so much. So are keeping an eye on it over the next few days.

 

[LaFleche]

Might be in need of deworming too, as worms cause nutrient and vitamin deficiency leading to severe problems i.e. disturbance of equilibrium among others.

And while you're at it, you might inspect for mites and lice as well. Unwell/sick chickens tend to attract them as they often are unable to properly groom themselves.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

5 months old

Thanks, we think it could be wry neck and it's currently on vits. It seems to be a little better today, not losing balance so much. So are keeping an eye on it over the next few days.

Looks neurological to me.

What are you feeding? You've started vitamins - what are you giving?

I would give 400IU Vitamin E and 1/4 tablet B-Complex daily to see if that helps.
Offer a bit of egg daily as well.

Hard to know the cause - sometimes vitamin deficiency, but Marek's disease comes to mind as well since the bird is 5 months. Being a Silkie - head trauma is a possibility as well.
Hopefully you will see a great improvement in a day or 2 if deficiency is at play.

 

[Scotchegg85]

Thanks for the responses, to provide an update, the chicken seems much better today. No loss of balance, slight head tilt but not as noticeable as yesterday. The chicks currently on liquid multi vits and amino acids, so will keep on providing that and monitoring over the next few days.

 

[cajuncluckerswla]

I had a chick doing the same thing about a week ago. He kept falling into the waterer and looked horrible (only a few wing feather buds and all his fluff stayed matted from his wet falls), but he was still trying to eat and drink despite going into flipping fits and having intermittent seizures.

I isolated him from his flock mates, gave him a shallow waterer with a smidgeon of ACV, a paper plate as a feeder so he could reach in even when he couldn't right his head, and made a paste with some starter feed, vitamin E oil, selenium (broke a tablet into quarters and crushed it), half a tablet of vitamin B6 crushed, and some electrolyte water (specifically for the B12 it contained). He wasn't much interested in it when it was damp so I let it dry some and then crumbled it up and gave it to him.

Success. He ate all of it like it was going out of style. The second day he was looking a little bit worse with more frequent seizures so I upped the mash/ crumble ration to twice a day. By the third morning he started to keep his head righted for longer periods of time before tucking and the seizures had returned to being intermittent. I went to the store and got some plain greek yogurt (it had probiotics in it where the regular one was sugary nothingness). I made the same mash before mixing it in with just a little dollop of the yogurt. It was the consistency of granola after mixing thoroughly.

To say he was ravenous about it is an understatement. I wish I would have got a picture of him eyes deep in the little pile. He ate it all and chirped for more. Three days of yogurt mash and you couldn't tell there was ever anything wrong with him. Seizures gone, no more tucking, fluff all filled back out and feather buds starting to come in all over his little wings. He's still separated from the others for now, but he's begun attempting to fly out of his little enclosure so I'd say he's just about ready to go.

I think his problem might have been a case of wry neck that resulted in slight brain injury from all the falling, but something within this combination got him on the right track to healing. I wish you the best of luck with your baby!!

PS: When I get home I'll look at the Selenium and B6 bottles to get the exact dosages.