Silkie falls over easily

[Tiffy316]

I've got a black silkie that's less than a year old who seems to be having some balancing issues. She falls over easily, but can usually get up by herself shortly afterwards. It usually happens when she's running and trips, but I've also seen her do it when she lands from a favorite perching spot.

I've heard that it could be caused by any number of things, including a head injury, vitamin deficiency, or mareks. I don't think it's mareks, and a head injury seems unlikely, but I wanted to get a second opinion on this. She's not lethargic, has a good appetite, and she can run quite fast when she wants to. I don't see any injuries on her feet, and she doesn't seem to have a limp. She just falls over easily, and lays on her side for a few seconds afterwards. Sometimes she trips while running around, but doesn't fall down. But she's been falling over a lot lately. What do you guys think?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I've got a black silkie that's less than a year old who seems to be having some balancing issues. She falls over easily, but can usually get up by herself shortly afterwards. It usually happens when she's running and trips, but I've also seen her do it when she lands from a favorite perching spot.

I've heard that it could be caused by any number of things, including a head injury, vitamin deficiency, or mareks. I don't think it's mareks, and a head injury seems unlikely, but I wanted to get a second opinion on this. She's not lethargic, has a good appetite, and she can run quite fast when she wants to. I don't see any injuries on her feet, and she doesn't seem to have a limp. She just falls over easily, and lays on her side for a few seconds afterwards. Sometimes she trips while running around, but doesn't fall down. But she's been falling over a lot lately. What do you guys think?

Do you have photos of her?

First of all, is it possible she's tripping over the feathers on her feet?

Can she see well - does she need feathers trimmed from around the eyes?

What do you feed?

You're right, there's many things that can cause tripping, an unsteady gate, falling, etc.

Since this happens mainly when she's running, I'm just not sure, perhaps she's a bit over zealous and doesn't pay attention to where she's going or just clumsy. But you could start her on vitamin therapy to see if it helps improve her balance. 400IU Vitamin E along with 1/4 tablet B-Complex is the standard. Give her a little treat of egg daily to help with the uptake of E.

If you have video of her you wish to share that may be helpful. Upload video to youtube and provide a link.