Silkie head twitching/swaying off and on since a chick

[Mjismom]

I see it better now. It is a little strange. My silkies sometimes shake their heads a bit, I assume to get feathers out of their eyes, etc. but what your boy did afterwards was a little strange, bobbing his head. To me it looks kind of neurological but I can’t tell if it is anything dangerous.

Thank you! Yes I can’t tell if it’s a neurological tick or caused by a vitamin deficiency or something. I will do the vitamins for another 10 days and if there’s no change (that would be 3 weeks of those vitamins) should I assume it’s neurological and not harmful?

 

[Slothinc]

Thank you! Yes I can’t tell if it’s a neurological tick or caused by a vitamin deficiency or something. I will do the vitamins for another 10 days and if there’s no change (that would be 3 weeks of those vitamins) should I assume it’s neurological and not harmful?

I haven’t dealt with this so I don’t know for sure, but hopefully someone who knows more will be able to comment on it!

 

[Mjismom]

So it has been three weeks of Vitamin E and B Complex with occasional eggs and collards for selenium. And no change. Still not sure what this nervous tick is.

 

[Mjismom]

Update - he’s still got the tick but he’s doing fine! Some hens are sitting on some of his eggs right now and I’m curious to see if any of his progeny ends up with this strange tick! We just call him our “funky chicken”.

 

[Slothinc]

Update - he’s still got the tick but he’s doing fine! Some hens are sitting on some of his eggs right now and I’m curious to see if any of his progeny ends up with this strange tick! We just call him our “funky chicken”.

Keep us posted!!! So exciting for you to have eggs getting ready to hatch!

 

[Debbie292d]

Glad to hear he's doing better!

I've had this happen to a couple, the worst, a hen. I really wonder about the vitamin deficiency thing though as these get more than their feed (Kalmbach's Flock Maker crumbles) daily and their "scratch" is Kalmbach's Henhouse Reserve. There's a small dose of Rooster Booster Granules mixed in their feed. For chicks, I have to alternate it with plain crumbles, or they get diarrhea from it.

This hen I did the Vit E and scrambled eggs for a few weeks, which did cut it down tremendously, but she's 3 now, and still has somewhat of a tick. I didn't figure I should have to do it for life, but somewhere between chick and now, I did another two weeks of E and eggs. It didn't seem to improve her, so I just ignore it now.

I too regularly cut their eyes, but with a cordless razor. That's the safest and slickest way to do it I've found. I'll attach a video we did of it when someone here somewhere asked me to show them how it's done. Usually, they fall asleep.