Silkie roo with a strange bobbing head! Help!!

[jkzimm04]

I just got two silkies. I am guessing they are between 8-10 weeks old. One I believe is a roo and the other a hen. Anyway, I have had them for 3 days now and the roo started doing this strange bobbing head thing today. He didn't do it at all before and I noticed it this morning. He looks as though he is trying to swallow something. He doesn't do it all of the time, but goes in spells where his head just keeps bobbing. At first he was eating grass, and I thought maybe he wasn't used to grass and couldn't swallow it right but he keeps doing it. I hope he is okay, he is a beauty. Any ideas as to what it could be. Are there any diseases associated with head bobbing??

 

[jkzimm04]

I also wanted to add that I treated him for lice the other day with sevin powder. Could that have caused it?

 

[SuttonHeritageFarm]

Is there any nasal discharge or swollen eyes? Sounds like it could be a upper respitory problem. Put him away from your other birds since he will be contageous.

 

[TinyTotsSeramas]

when you say it looks like he's trying to swallow something, is it kind of like a "yawn" look or does he put his head now an strain his neck?

 

[Eggcessive]

Silkies are prone to wry neck and there is something called gapeworm that will cause unusual neck movement. People also cut their grass short in the summer due to chickens that eat long strands of grass can get impacted crop. Grit is helpful to digest foods other than chicken crumbles, but if they are on grass they should get grit from the soil. Hope you can figure out what is wrong.

 

[jkzimm04]

No nasal discharge at all. He doesn't seem to have an infection at all that I can see. I have been watching him today, and he doesn't seem to be doing it, but was for a while yesterday....what is gapeworm btw??