Shaking heads and death

[Tarynj]

Ugh help! About a week ago we had a chickens attacked by a fox. She was saved and doing fine but until we catch the fox we have them locked in their runs instead of free roaming. Sometime in the week they started shanking their heads like something was bothering them! I though perhaps they have mites, or lice that I didn’t notice so treated them to be safe and cleaned the whole coop. I let them out yesterday while we were all outside and no one was shaking their heads while free roaming! Everyone seemed fine, eating and drinking and all 15 laid eggs. When I put them in the run everyone started shaking their heads again…

This morning I came out and one of our birds just turns a year yesterday was dead in the middle of the coop. I’m at a loss… I clean the coop very often, they eat a later feed, treats of fruits and veggies but mostly forage for bugs, even in their run they have a wide area that is filled with caterpillars right now as our trees are invaded with them… no obvious signs of sickness such as being lethargic, pale, no unusual stool, no coughing or sneezing, just the head shaking… any suggestions on what happened or what I should do to help the others incase??

 

[coach723]

Can you get a video of the head shaking? You will need to upload it to another host, like youtube, and put the link here so it can be seen.
Do you know what kind of caterpillars you have? Most birds will avoid the toxic ones, but there have been cases where they've been eaten and it caused problems. There are some stinging caterpillars that can cause neurological problems if they eat them. Can't say if the death was related to the head shaking or not, could have been coincidence.

 

[Tarynj]

Can you get a video of the head shaking? You will need to upload it to another host, like youtube, and put the link here so it can be seen.
Do you know what kind of caterpillars you have? Most birds will avoid the toxic ones, but there have been cases where they've been eaten and it caused problems. There are some stinging caterpillars that can cause neurological problems if they eat them. Can't say if the death was related to the head shaking or not, could have been coincidence.

I will try and get a video today when I get home . They are gypsy moth caterpillars or now called spongy moth caterpillars (they just changed the name) they are all over and eat them up very quickly so sadly no way to avoid them as they fall from the trees.

She was literally fine yesterday running around, playing happily, so it was very surprising to open the coop this morning and find her…

 

[coach723]

The gypsy moth caterpillar hairs can cause irritation and respiratory infection in some people, so seems reasonable to assume that could be true for some birds. Maybe because your numbers are high and they've eaten more than they usually would. I know that my birds won't eat any caterpillars that are fuzzy at all, they seem to know. I've no idea if that's what's going on or not, just putting it out there.
Here's a couple of links:
https://bestlifeonline.com/states-gypsy-moth-caterpillar-news/
https://chickenandchicksinfo.com/do-chickens-eat-caterpillars/
There was a post here, probably about a year ago, where someone lost a couple of chicks that ate buckmoth caterpillars (if memory serves me this morning).

 

[Tarynj]

The gypsy moth caterpillar hairs can cause irritation and respiratory infection in some people, so seems reasonable to assume that could be true for some birds. Maybe because your numbers are high and they've eaten more than they usually would. I know that my birds won't eat any caterpillars that are fuzzy at all, they seem to know. I've no idea if that's what's going on or not, just putting it out there.
Here's a couple of links:
https://bestlifeonline.com/states-gypsy-moth-caterpillar-news/
https://chickenandchicksinfo.com/do-chickens-eat-caterpillars/
There was a post here, probably about a year ago, where someone lost a couple of chicks that ate buckmoth caterpillars (if memory serves me this morning).

Thanks! When I found her this morning she was flat out on her back one wing spread with her legs straight out. I suspected sudden death based off of the position but just so unexpected!

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

I wouldn't assume the head shaking and the death are related unless you lose another bird. I can't tell from your post but is the chicken that died the same one that was attacked by the fox?

 

[Tarynj]

I wouldn't assume the head shaking and the death are related unless you lose another bird. I can't tell from your post but is the chicken that died the same one that was attacked by the fox?

I’m sorry!! No she wasn’t the one that was attacked but they were all chased!

 

[coach723]

Stress (from an attack or near attack) can cause it's own problems. Any underlying health condition can be greatly magnified by stress, and enough stress in and of itself can kill.
So, with what we currently know, there is no way to know if any of what's going on is related to anything else, or not. If you still have the body of the bird that died, you can refrigerate it (don't freeze it) and send it off for necropsy to find out what happened. Or you can attempt an informal necropsy yourself (people here will help with pictures of organs based on their own experience) to see if anything obvious shows up. Birds hide symptoms really well, so what may seem like a 'sudden death' could actually be something that's been going on for awhile. Without a necropsy, there is no real way to know.

 

[Tarynj]

Can you get a video of the head shaking? You will need to upload it to another host, like youtube, and put the link here so it can be seen.
Do you know what kind of caterpillars you have? Most birds will avoid the toxic ones, but there have been cases where they've been eaten and it caused problems. There are some stinging caterpillars that can cause neurological problems if they eat them. Can't say if the death was related to the head shaking or not, could have been coincidence.

Not sure if that will work?

 

[coach723]

I don't see anything obvious. Do you have gnats or other small flying insects that may be bothering them? Mine do that when the gnats are out. Otherwise they look pretty normal.