Silkie Chicks Head Twitching

[Knucker Hatch Farms]

Hi there!

We have three years of experience raising baby chicks, but we've bumped into a new phenomenon I wanted to run by you all. We have 7 two week old Silkie chicks in the brooder right now from MyPetChicken.com, and every single one of them has been twitching their heads for the last week. Some of it seems to be related to sounds (they all twitch at once) otherwise it seems to be completely random but an occurrence that will happen at least every 10 seconds for each chick. At least two chicks are always twitching at the same time! It's a bizarre scene.

I've noticed somewhere on the boards, that it was mentioned this may be a Silkie thing, and we've only had a couple of Silkie chicks once before, but I don't recall bumping into this. Everyone is on medicated chick feed. Poop looks good. Appetites are terrific. Happy chirping all around. Everything seems fine except the head twitching.

Any thoughts? Should I be alarmed or amused?

Warm Regards,

Mama Knucker Hatch

 

[shelleyb1969]

It could possibly be a Vitamin E deficiency...not unusual in Silkies. If you do a search about it, you can find lots of good info here in BYC. If I remember correctly, somewhere in BYC I read that there's a correlation between medicated feed and Vitamin E absorption in Silkies.

 

[Celiandy]

I've been noticing this with all my silkies and silkie mixes lately. I've done some research (internet and talking to people) and it seems to come up with silkies. I've also had some sneezes going on, so I was suspicious that they might connected. But I'm also wondering if they're just a coincidence. I'll have to look into the vit E. I've also noticed that sometimes it seems like they're all doing it and other times nobody's doing it. This is my first time having silkies.

 

[Bat Cave Silkies]

Perfectly normal for Silkies of all ages to "twitch" their heads.....you'll even see it just hatched chicks. Talk slowly over their brooder....each word you say, you'll see the chicks twitch in unison.

Nothing to worry about, medicate for, or treat

 

[Suzie]

If it is any consolation my Silkie chicks did the same - I thought they had wry neck but they are all perfectly OK despite my concerns - hope yours are OK too!

Suzie