Hi everyone,
First of all, let me introduce myself. My name is Dani, I’m from Spain. Here, Serama chickens are very uncommon, and keeping chickens as personal pets is not very popular either. In fact, laws around poultry ownership are becoming increasingly strict, making things more difficult for those of us who care deeply about our birds.
In October 2024, we adopted a small Silkie Serama hen weighing around 250 grams. We named her Mochi. Since the beginning, Mochi has displayed very unusual behaviors. She hardly walks — only short distances to eat or explore briefly. She hates being outdoors or far from us, and honestly, she behaves more like a small dog than a typical chicken.
Shortly after adopting her, she developed a severe case of avian pox/diphtheria, which resolved completely in a couple of weeks with appropriate care. However, we noticed from the start that she was unable to regulate her body temperature well. During the entire winter, she required constant heat from infrared lamps or thermal panels.
About a month ago, Mochi suffered a strong and completely unexpected seizure. I genuinely thought she was going to die, as I’ve seen similar episodes in other birds right before they passed. But, surprisingly, she gradually recovered over about 48 hours and began eating again on her own. Her trusted vet supported her through this, feeding her with a feeding tube, giving anti-inflammatories, antibiotics, and liver protectants, as an X-ray showed what seemed like an enlarged liver.
Two weeks later, after a minor handling episode (I simply picked her up gently), she had another identical seizure, again needing two days to recover. Since then, I’ve noticed that she often seems to be in pain around her neck. She resists head movement, becomes defensive if touched in that area, and frequently tilts her head to the right. She also displays signs of head tremors or involuntary turning of the head, which look similar to horizontal nystagmus, but involving the entire head, not the eyes. These movements worsen with sound or stress.
Her walking has always been uncoordinated, and she’s never truly been “well,” even before the seizures started. Given her unusual condition and after ruling out infections and parasites (she’s completely isolated from other birds), we started suspecting nutritional deficiencies.
So about a week ago, I began supplementing her with Vitamin E + Selenium, Vitamin B1, and improved her diet by adding boiled egg, tuna, and high-quality pigeon seed mix. Specialized feed is very hard to come by in Spain unless you own a large farm, and most commercial feeds are made for laying hens only.
A few other things worth mentioning:
• She tends to overreact to sound stimuli, shaking her head rapidly as if she’s disturbed by noise.
• During one crisis, I used a stethoscope to monitor her heart rate and found it accelerated but stable, while her breathing became labored. She opened her mouth wide, tongue to the side, and I had to gently extend her neck to help her breathe more freely.
• She shows clear improvement when on anti-inflammatory medications like Meloxicam, leading us to suspect possible muscle or cervical inflammation.
• She has phases of being “okay” and phases of being very weak and lethargic, but she’s never truly 100% normal.
• Recently, we’ve also seen mild signs of difficulty focusing her gaze and mild neurological instability, although X-rays showed no cervical trauma or bone damage.
• We haven’t done bloodwork yet, since we’re afraid sedation might be too risky in her condition.
At the moment, I’m giving her recovery formula (like Harrison’s or Psittacus Recovery), which she tolerates well during bad episodes. Luckily, she’s now eating independently again.
I’ll be sharing some videos soon, hoping someone here might be able to offer insight or experience with similar cases. My current suspicion is that something might be going wrong with her cerebellum or cervical spinal cord. There’s no sign of infection or intoxication. No external parasites, no signs in feces, ears, or skin. Her environment is stable and clean.
Thank you so much in advance for any advice or guidance. Mochi is a very special little bird to us.
Warm regards,
Dani
First of all, let me introduce myself. My name is Dani, I’m from Spain. Here, Serama chickens are very uncommon, and keeping chickens as personal pets is not very popular either. In fact, laws around poultry ownership are becoming increasingly strict, making things more difficult for those of us who care deeply about our birds.
In October 2024, we adopted a small Silkie Serama hen weighing around 250 grams. We named her Mochi. Since the beginning, Mochi has displayed very unusual behaviors. She hardly walks — only short distances to eat or explore briefly. She hates being outdoors or far from us, and honestly, she behaves more like a small dog than a typical chicken.
Shortly after adopting her, she developed a severe case of avian pox/diphtheria, which resolved completely in a couple of weeks with appropriate care. However, we noticed from the start that she was unable to regulate her body temperature well. During the entire winter, she required constant heat from infrared lamps or thermal panels.
About a month ago, Mochi suffered a strong and completely unexpected seizure. I genuinely thought she was going to die, as I’ve seen similar episodes in other birds right before they passed. But, surprisingly, she gradually recovered over about 48 hours and began eating again on her own. Her trusted vet supported her through this, feeding her with a feeding tube, giving anti-inflammatories, antibiotics, and liver protectants, as an X-ray showed what seemed like an enlarged liver.
Two weeks later, after a minor handling episode (I simply picked her up gently), she had another identical seizure, again needing two days to recover. Since then, I’ve noticed that she often seems to be in pain around her neck. She resists head movement, becomes defensive if touched in that area, and frequently tilts her head to the right. She also displays signs of head tremors or involuntary turning of the head, which look similar to horizontal nystagmus, but involving the entire head, not the eyes. These movements worsen with sound or stress.
Her walking has always been uncoordinated, and she’s never truly been “well,” even before the seizures started. Given her unusual condition and after ruling out infections and parasites (she’s completely isolated from other birds), we started suspecting nutritional deficiencies.
So about a week ago, I began supplementing her with Vitamin E + Selenium, Vitamin B1, and improved her diet by adding boiled egg, tuna, and high-quality pigeon seed mix. Specialized feed is very hard to come by in Spain unless you own a large farm, and most commercial feeds are made for laying hens only.
A few other things worth mentioning:
• She tends to overreact to sound stimuli, shaking her head rapidly as if she’s disturbed by noise.
• During one crisis, I used a stethoscope to monitor her heart rate and found it accelerated but stable, while her breathing became labored. She opened her mouth wide, tongue to the side, and I had to gently extend her neck to help her breathe more freely.
• She shows clear improvement when on anti-inflammatory medications like Meloxicam, leading us to suspect possible muscle or cervical inflammation.
• She has phases of being “okay” and phases of being very weak and lethargic, but she’s never truly 100% normal.
• Recently, we’ve also seen mild signs of difficulty focusing her gaze and mild neurological instability, although X-rays showed no cervical trauma or bone damage.
• We haven’t done bloodwork yet, since we’re afraid sedation might be too risky in her condition.
At the moment, I’m giving her recovery formula (like Harrison’s or Psittacus Recovery), which she tolerates well during bad episodes. Luckily, she’s now eating independently again.
I’ll be sharing some videos soon, hoping someone here might be able to offer insight or experience with similar cases. My current suspicion is that something might be going wrong with her cerebellum or cervical spinal cord. There’s no sign of infection or intoxication. No external parasites, no signs in feces, ears, or skin. Her environment is stable and clean.
Thank you so much in advance for any advice or guidance. Mochi is a very special little bird to us.
Warm regards,
Dani
