Something strange is happening with my hen… Updates with video’s attached. Any help and suggestions needed!

[CaliforniaMountainChicks]

UPDATE: Posting this before I go to bed for the night… here she is doing the seizure like head twitches while sleeping on the floor. I left the beginning on longer so you can tell she was just sleeping normally before her head started doing the weird movements. So far this is the first time she did this tonight since she went to bed around 7:45. Looks like the only reason she flaps madly is because she falls off of the roost, if she’s just on the floor it’s only her head doing the “seizure” type movements. Currently she’s back to sleeping normally.

 

[Farmgirl283420]

UPDATE: I wanted to post some videos of how Percy acts during the day. As you can see in the videos she walks up and down the ladder without issue, and has no weakness or any balance issues. As of right now I’m going to start the suggested vitamins E and b complex. I’m welcoming any suggestions as to what may be wrong with her in the meantime! I’m also currently still researching other possible causes.

I love those stairs and the way she walks up And down them! If

 

[CaliforniaMountainChicks]

UPDATE: Looks like Percy does the head “seizures” quite a bit at night. She only does it maybe 2-3 times while she’s sleeping. The rest of the times she does it she’s scratching at her head at night, many times while preening. None of the other girls scratch at their ears/head like her at night. I checked her ears and they’re clean I don’t physically see any sign of an infection. She doesn’t have any lice or mites, I thoroughly checked everywhere. Their whole coop was sprayed down with elector psp a month ago for the spring cleaning so that would’ve killed any mites that live in a coop (I spray every single nook and cranny).

@Wyorp Rock @azygous Do you guys have any idea why she may be scratching at her ear a lot at night? Could there be a possible ear infection that I can’t actually see causing some type of equilibrium problem?

 

[azygous]

People believe chickens hide pain, but they almost always let you know when they hurt and where. If the head or ears or eyes hurt, they scratch their heads. If their feet hurt, they peck at their feet. If they hurt in their gut, they stand with their tail down low and flat.

Look into her ears with a strong light. Pull back the tiny fuzzy flap just above the ear lobe. The ear canal is behind that tiny flap. If there's crust inside, it mean infection, and that could be responsible for her strange behavior.

 

[CaliforniaMountainChicks]

People believe chickens hide pain, but they almost always let you know when they hurt and where. If the head or ears or eyes hurt, they scratch their heads. If their feet hurt, they peck at their feet. If they hurt in their gut, they stand with their tail down low and flat.

Look into her ears with a strong light. Pull back the tiny fuzzy flap just above the ear lobe. The ear canal is behind that tiny flap. If there's crust inside, it mean infection, and that could be responsible for her strange behavior.

Just checked and her ear canals are both completely clean and pink inside, I was hoping that might be the cause! So not sure why she was scratching at her head a lot at night, she doesn’t seem to do it much during the day.

Bought the vitamins today though and gave her a full vitamin E and 1/4 of the B complex… she took them very easily! So far this is what I’m doing, and I’m always checking her to see if I notice anything new.

 

[azygous]

Those vitamins are a good idea.

I was thinking if it's not an ear infection, perhaps she has a tumor pressing on her brain. Feel her head to see that it's symmetrical. On the off chance she has an inflammation in her head causing this, try giving her one-quarter of an ibuprofen in the evening before bed.

Continue to monitor her at night to see if the seizures continue or if they might be becoming less frequent.

 

[ChicFil- A]

The reasons why a chicken falls off the perch at night can be many, from very simple to complex.

First, the simple issue of untrimmed toe nails can prevent a chicken from being able to curl its toes around the perch and triggering the "lock" position can be responsible. Check her nails and trim them of they are long and curling.

If her nails aren't the cause, she may be weak for some reason, not eating or sick. Observe her behavior for anything that might be "off".

She may have an injury. Check her legs and feet for recent injury. Bumblefoot can affect roosting if the feet are infected and swollen.

neurological problems… Increase her calcium.
maybe put her in a separate enclosure on the ground… Good Luck

 

[Pipica]

This is a tough one. You've ruled out all the obvious stuff. So we're left with the rare causes. She may have a cardio-pulmonary genetic issue causing seizures at night. About the only way to verify that would be a camera going all night to record it if she seizes up, flaps her wings madly, then goes rigid, falling off onto the floor. There may be symptoms such as comb color changes during the day. Watch for the comb tips to go dark then back to normal from time to time. If this is the cause, there isn't anything you can do about it.

I used to have Solomon Island Eclectus . Funny thing about him was that every couple of days (nights) he would fall off the perch. It always happened during evening/nights and we used to laugh about it, he would just suddenly fall with a thud on the bottom of the cage . In beginning would scare the living daylights out of as but somewhere down the line become normal and we joked that we got the only bird that is not capable of holding to the tree.
Well, one morning he dropped off and screamed his little head off , by the time I got there with a towel (I believed that his leg was stuck and broken and reason for screaming) he was dead. We took his body to the vet(avian) and results come back as severe heart / pulmonary/ something,something … it was more then 15 y ago. However , there is one thing that vet said that is still very vivid. A healthy bird will never ever fall down, they are designed to sleep there and is a sign of a major problem.
I still feel guilty for laughing for over 2 years thinking that I have a clumsy bird while he was slowly dying . Sorry for a long and winding road to … no help , I guess (from me).

 

[CaliforniaMountainChicks]

Those vitamins are a good idea.

I was thinking if it's not an ear infection, perhaps she has a tumor pressing on her brain. Feel her head to see that it's symmetrical. On the off chance she has an inflammation in her head causing this, try giving her one-quarter of an ibuprofen in the evening before bed.

Continue to monitor her at night to see if the seizures continue or if they might be becoming less frequent.

Her head feels symmetrical. I don’t feel any off bumps or anything either. She’s definitely wondering why I’m feeling her all over haha. I can try and give her 1/4 of an ibuprofen before bed and see what she does. Going to try anything I can for her.

 

[azygous]

I had a rooster many years ago that had occasional seizures while on his perch. Once it happened in front of me. I gave him a baby aspirin each day for a few months, and it seemed he wasn't having any more seizures. But a few months after I stopped giving him the daily aspirin, I found him dead under his perch one morning. I concluded he probably had a congenital heart defect.