One of our 4 silkie babies moves it's head in a jerking motion, is this normal?

[mishnwade]

Hi all, we are 1st time chicken owners & have 4 silkies who are almost 2 months old, 2 Ameraucanas (sp?) who are 2 months old & 2 Buff Orphingtons who are 2 months old.

One of our silkies, the buff one named Cutie, acts normal all the rest of the time but last month we noticed she (or he) would move their neck in a jerking, rolling, then shaking motion almost like humans do when we have water in our ear. Of course this happens a number of times throughout the day, then Cutie acts normal like all the other hopefully hens.

Cutie eats well, on medicated feed but has had time outside to eat dirt, bugs, weeds, & flowers. Has a ton of energy, sleeps in a heap of chickens when they take naps or sleep for the night. But still has this weird motion of her head & no one else is doing it.

Any help or advice will be welcome!

Thank you,
Mishelle

 

[Silkiesandco]

You might want to post this in the Emergencies/ Diseases/ Injuries and Cures forum. It might be wry neck. Wry neck is very common for Silkies. To me it sounds exactly how my Silkie roo acted (totally normal other than the head jerking). I wish you the best of luck, keep me updated on how she is doing if you want.

 

[mishnwade]

Thank you for your reply. I looked up wry neck & it looks different than what Cutie is doing. Her/His neck is always straight up like the others & she acts normal & looks normal. Then the "head bob" would happen like there is water in her ear or the inside of her ear is itchy.

So hard to explain, I'm sorry.

I wonder if Cutie has a vitamin deficiency or she was pecked at before her comb grew in?

Cutie's neck seems nice & strong & she can hold it up really well. Does that help any?

Here is a picture of our Cutie about a month ago :




Cutie still looks & stands like this when the "head bob" is not going on. Just way more fluffy

Thank you for your time!
Mishelle

 

[mishnwade]

Here are pictures I took today of Cutie with our other spoiled chickens. We are praying they are all hens because we cannot have a rooster where we live...unless they have a tiny crow

Their hen house is completed but the run won't be finished until later this week. So we bring them inside to the brooder in my office at dinner time. Too easy for a cat or raccoon to put their hand through one of the squares. It's going to give these ladies 8'x8' to run around in other than when they can free range our entire yard. Yippie!










So Cutie looks like all our other babies except the weird head movements.

If anyone has an idea of what causes it...does not look like wry neck to me or crook neck either. I feel so sad for Cutie & want to stop it if I can.

Thank you!
Mishelle