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

[CaliforniaMountainChicks]

UPDATE: This happened at 8:25 tonight, she went to bed around 7:45. I did leave her on the roost just for tonight so I can get one last look to see exactly how the seizure happened on the roost, she was in a really good place on the camera to catch the super weird head jerk right before it happens. I hated leaving her on the roost tonight but I just had to in order to catch the perfect angle to see what’s happening. I also attached a video of her having a second one just a couple minutes later.

 

[azygous]

That was frightening to see. I would guess she has something neurological going on. It would be hard enough trying to diagnose in a human let alone a chicken. But some seizures in poultry are caused by vitamin deficiencies, so that's definitely something you can do something about.

I would continue with the vitamin E and give it with a sliver of selenium for maximum absorption. Try giving it right before she goes to roost for the night so it's at its maximum strength in her system when she can be expected to have a seizure.

Continue with the B-complex. Deficiencies in some B-vitamins can cause seizures. Also, start giving a calcium supplement with magnesium. Deficiencies in those can cause seizures.

Ideally, we would only treat with one vitamin at a time so we would know which one worked should the seizures stop, but if it was my hen going through this ordeal, I would do all of the vitamins just on the chance one will work.

If the vitamins do work, after a couple of weeks, you could decide to withdraw them one at a time to see if the seizures start up again. Then you might know which vitamin was responsible and continue with that one.

 

[CaliforniaMountainChicks]

That was frightening to see. I would guess she has something neurological going on. It would be hard enough trying to diagnose in a human let alone a chicken. But some seizures in poultry are caused by vitamin deficiencies, so that's definitely something you can do something about.

I would continue with the vitamin E and give it with a sliver of selenium for maximum absorption. Try giving it right before she goes to roost for the night so it's at its maximum strength in her system when she can be expected to have a seizure.

Continue with the B-complex. Deficiencies in some B-vitamins can cause seizures. Also, start giving a calcium supplement with magnesium. Deficiencies in those can cause seizures.

Ideally, we would only treat with one vitamin at a time so we would know which one worked should the seizures stop, but if it was my hen going through this ordeal, I would do all of the vitamins just on the chance one will work.

If the vitamins do work, after a couple of weeks, you could decide to withdraw them one at a time to see if the seizures start up again. Then you might know which vitamin was responsible and continue with that one.

I know, it’s terrible to see her going through that, especially when she’s acting perfectly normal throughout the day. She’s been scratching around all morning and now she’s complaining about having to lay her egg and someone’s in her favorite nest box.
Definitely continuing with the daily vitamins, and I’ll give them to her before roost time. Hopefully these will help because besides that then I don’t think there’s much else I could do for something neurological like this, other than some expensive vet visits that may not even do any good anyways. If I do happen to notice improvement with the vitamins do I continue giving them to her for the rest of her life or maybe just a few months? I mean it only takes a few seconds to give her one so it’s not a huge deal.
This doesn’t seem anything like Mareks right? I feel like she’d be bad during the day if it was something serious like that though. I have never noticed any symptoms like it in my flock, they’re a mix of vaccinated and unvaccinated, Percy is unvaccinated. Last time I introduced 2 6 month pullets was 1.5 years ago. Last spring was day old chicks from Meyers, and a month ago was chicks from a local npip place.

 

[azygous]

Give her all of the vitamins I suggested for the next two weeks for certain, including that calcium plus magnesium. Continue to monitor her at night with the camera.

That the seizures only happen at night may contain a clue to what's causing them. Perhaps she's ingesting enough of these vitamins during the day to keep the seizures at bay. That's the only connection I can see at the moment. So give all the vitamins at the end of the day instead of in the morning.

We'll keep trying to puzzle this out. It's a very good sign that she is weathering the seizures and hasn't died from them. That also contains a clue if we can connect it to anything.

 

[CaliforniaMountainChicks]

Give her all of the vitamins I suggested for the next two weeks for certain, including that calcium plus magnesium. Continue to monitor her at night with the camera.

That the seizures only happen at night may contain a clue to what's causing them. Perhaps she's ingesting enough of these vitamins during the day to keep the seizures at bay. That's the only connection I can see at the moment. So give all the vitamins at the end of the day instead of in the morning.

We'll keep trying to puzzle this out. It's a very good sign that she is weathering the seizures and hasn't died from them. That also contains a clue if we can connect it to anything.

Ok, it might be a week or so until I can get the calcium but for now I’m giving her the others! During the day she’ll only do the seizure like head movements after she scratches her head and they last anywhere from 2-10 seconds, it also doesn’t happen every time. Shes standing up fine while they happen. Nothing else is off during the day. I double checked her ears again just in case and nothing. Today she laid a perfect egg and is behaving like a normal chicken.

During the day her head movements can be almost unnoticeable like this:

Or more noticeable like this:

 

[azygous]

That movement looks a lot like a form of wry neck. If the seizures are related to wry neck, the vitamin E should soon cause improvement.

 

[CaliforniaMountainChicks]

That movement looks a lot like a form of wry neck. If the seizures are related to wry neck, the vitamin E should soon cause improvement.

Great! Hopefully I’ll see some progress in a few weeks if that is the cause. She’s her completely normal and perky self today again. The “seizures” happen often throughout the night and then they seem to come to a stop once sunrise comes, I can start to see light around 5:20am. Once it’s light she only does the mild head tilts like she does during the day. I wonder if the darkness at night disorients her and she can’t gain focus as quickly and easily as during the day? The only time she ever flaps is when she falls off of the roost but I’m not letting her sleep on the roost, she’s not too happy about that but it’s for the best.

 

[azygous]

Excellent observation! Most seizures do occur during the night, more specifically, while asleep. https://www.healthline.com/health/epilepsy/nocturnal-seizures This lends more weight to this being a form of wry neck.

 

[CaliforniaMountainChicks]

Excellent observation! Most seizures do occur during the night, more specifically, while asleep. https://www.healthline.com/health/epilepsy/nocturnal-seizures This lends more weight to this being a form of wry neck.

Wry neck seems like a best case scenario for me since it’s easily treatable! Today I noticed that she also tilts her head a bit when she does a full body shake after a dust bath or preen session.

 

[Shanoonatook]

Wry neck seems like a best case scenario for me since it’s easily treatable! Today I noticed that she also tilts her head a bit when she does a full body shake after a dust bath or preen session.

Any updates on your hen?