Please help. There is something wrong with my SL Orphington chick.

[dannyjennings]

I woke up this morning to feed and water my babies and noticed one of my SL Orphs acting very strange. At first, I though she was just preening her chest/abdomen but continued to watch her and she won't stop. I picked her up to see if there was anything there that could be bothering her and found nothing but she kept her head tucked the whole time trying to scratch/preen. She keeps her head bent under her breast and acts as if she is preening or scratching her abdomen at all times. Her balance is good and nothing wrong with her legs, eyes or anything else for that matter. She hasn't taken any falls or spills that I know of. It seems neurological but I am far FAR from being and expert at this kind of thing and I am fairly new at all of this. I have never seen this happen before and was wondering if anyone had any clues as to what could be happening? The chick is about 17-18 days old and the other SL chicks, that hatched with her, are doing just fine. Please help if you can. I love these babies and it would be terrible if I lost one. Thanks in advance.

 

[dannyjennings]

This is what she does at all times.

 

[ShannonR]

Hmmmm. Do a search for 'wry neck'. I honestly don't know if this is it or not but maybe that will help lead you to an answer.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

It's possible it could be Wry Neck which can be from a Vitamin E deficiency. Give her vitamin E and the mineral selenium daily. Poultry Nutri-Drench contains both of those, and give the chick 1/2 ml by mouth daily, and dip her beak into water as much as possible.
Encourage her to eat chick starter as well, if she won't eat it dry you can try wetting it with the vitamin water to make it into a mash.

First link shows very young chick with wry neck, very helpful info on treatment:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1098818/very-odd-situation-with-1-week-old-chick#post_16893915

More information about wry neck:
http://www.raising-happy-chickens.com/wry-neck.html
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/97121/lets-talk-wry-neck-crook-neck

Vitamin/mineral information:
http://www.tillysnest.com/2014/03/vitamin-deficiencies-in-backyard-chicks-html/
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/articles/3508/importance-of-vitamins-in-poultry-production/