oops, dead meat.........or maybe not

[chixrus]

the weirdest thing happened today. i've been keeping the chickens locked up cuz of hawks and i finally let them out today. they hadn't been out for more than five minutes when one of my ameracaunas suddenly made a noise and did almost a flip, landed on her back, twitched once, then stopped. i thought she was a goner for sure. i ran over picked her up, noticed that she was still breathing, her heart was going really fast, and that her mouth was open and immediately got her water. within minutes, she was back to normal.

i just don't under stand what happened so that i can keep it from happening again if possible.

the funny thing is that just minutes before, we found a chicken outside that had been wandering around since friday and we all thought a hawk got her.

so, two close calls in one day.

 

[Judy]

I don't know either; I was hoping someone would come along. I can see how it could be related to her heart, but it could also be something neurological, I suspect, perhaps a seizure. So I thought I'd jump in, give you a bump, and a link to a good thread on vitamins for neuro problems. Might be worth a try. Evidently some chickens just need more vitamins than others.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=216914

 

[LarryPQ]

This sounds really dumb, but my old roomie had a cockatiel that would do that regularly. She would have little seizures, fall off her perch, seem stunned for a minute, then get back up.

She was never quite "right" but when my roomie moved away and gave the bird to my mother, she had fewer episodes. I suspect my mother fed her a better variety of food and got her more direct light. Vitamin deficiency perhaps?