Possible neurological issue?

[whitwhit127]

Hi all,

We have had chickens off and on my entire life; however, one of my newer girls is exhibiting some odd behavior. I’ve checked her for mites and lice, she’s on the same feed as the others her age (11 weeks so a growing ration) but none of them are exhibiting any of her symptoms, and she is eating and drinking normally.
I’m considering taking her to the vet tomorrow but wanted to see if anyone had ever seen this behavior. I’ve linked a video below but to describe it:
She will look up and it seems as though she cannot move her head back into a normal position so she then smashes her head and neck as far back as she can against her back and feathers and shakes her head back and forth. While she does this, she will back up and if there’s nothing to stop her, she umbles over and then jumps up and that seems to fix everything.

She never had this issue before and has been healthy and happy up until about two days ago.

Thank you all in advance for your help and advice.

 

[Eggcessive]

That is called opisthonotos, a neurological issue, and a type of wry neck (torticolis.) This type can be due to a thiamine deficiency, but I wouldmprobably go ahead and treat with both 400 IU of vitamin E as well as giving some B1 thiamine. Humannvitamins are fine to use. Wry neck is a symptom that can be a result of a head injury, vitamin B1 or E deficiency, and is seen in certain infectious diseases, such as Mareks, Newcastles, avian influenza, and others.

She may need hand feeding or even tube feeding if she cannot position her neck normally. A vet could get you the tube feeding equipment for that, and is good to keep for sick chickens in the future. Usually feeding some very watery chicken feed, scrambled egg, canned tuna or cat food, and water is good to mix in for extra fluids.

 

[Eggcessive]

All types of wry neck can be signs of Mareks and other neurological diseases, and here is a similar picture of Mareks fro m Cornell Vet School:

 

[whitwhit127]

All types of wry neck can be signs of Mareks and other neurological diseases, and here is a similar picture of Mareks fro m Cornell Vet School:

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Thank you so much for the information! This is incredibly helpful. We've always had chickens vaccinated for Marek's and so I was wondering also why she wasn't showing signs or symptoms of the other common issues. My vet unfortunately got called out on a pretty nasty emergency and so has paused all non-emergency visits today (which they stated it didn't sound like an emergency since she was still eating, drinking, and defecating). I'm going to pick up the vitamins you suggested after work. I was reading that Thiamin is best absorbed by chickens through Brewers Yeast (which they actually have at our small walmart). Have you tried this or would you suggest straight Thiamin?

Thank you again!