Spinning Chick - 5 days old

[ChickenMamaSarah]

I have 8 bantam cochin and Porcelain D'Uccle chicks that I hatched under a broody hen five days ago. Everybody has been doing fine until this afternoon when I noticed that one of the cochins was cheeping excessively and turning in circles. She turns about five or six times then stops and her head turns left to right a few times and she stops. Then the whole thing starts all over again. I picked her up and carried her around with me for an hour or so and she seemed totally normal and snuggled into my hands and settled down. I have the momma hen and the chicks in a separate coop from my other hens with pine shavings as bedding. They are eating a starter crumble and have constant access to clean water.
Does anyone have any idea what might be wrong? I have a bunch of other chicks of various ages and laying hens and nobody else had exhibited any problems or any behavior similar to this. I read something about a nutrient deficiency in selenium and vitamin E or possibly an allergy to the bedding. Please help! I'm so scared I'm going to lose this little one!
By the way, she/he is the chick darker chick with the medium gold head in the pics.

 

[Gilded Feather]

It does sound suspiciously like wry neck and you are correct that vitamin e and selenium are needed in order to fix the problem. Here are some links for further reading. I hope they help you and your little one.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/wry-neck-causes-treatment-and-prevention.67732/

https://www.raising-happy-chickens.com/wry-neck.html

 

[Lady of McCamley]

I agree. It is called "Crazy Chick Syndrome" as is due to a Vitamin E deficiency.

Add straight Vitamin E drops to the drinking water. You could also add Chick Saver double dose.

 

[ChickenMamaSarah]

Could it still be wry neck is her neck isn't twisted or looking up? When she's not turning in circles she looks completely normal. She has moments where she looks like all the other chicks then she starts turning again.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Same thing...wry neck and "crazy chick syndrome" are all from the same cause..Vitamin E deficiency. The difference is whether it manifests itself as muscular contortion or neural imbalance.
LofMc

 

[ChickenMamaSarah]

Chick saver, like the electrolyte supplement? I have a bunch of that. Is there vitamin E in that? What is the dose of vitamin E and Selenium? I'm searching or that now but just curious if you might know.

 

[Gilded Feather]

Could it still be wry neck is her neck isn't twisted or looking up? When she's not turning in circles she looks completely normal. She has moments where she looks like all the other chicks then she starts turning again.

Wry neck or crazy chick disease. It could very much be either one but both have the same treatment in order to fix the problem. So there’s no worries on mistreating her with the vitamins.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Yes...Chick Saver as in the vitamin supplement.

Here's a chart:
http://www.poultrydvm.com/condition/encephalomalacia

Compare to see if enough is in the Chick Saver. I've doubled the dose for a few days for loading dose (with a Vitamin B deficiency) then gave it a bit stronger than normal for about a week. You can get Vitamin E drops for the water pretty cheap. Even Vitamin E capsuals...just match the dosage.

 

[ChickenMamaSarah]

It definitely appears to be a neurological issue. Would you say it's safe to say that my feed is bad quality? It's the brand that my local feed store sells and is definitely a chick starter/crumble feed. I'm freaking out because all my flock is eating it right now because most of them are running together and are various ages.
I feel that I should add that I got these eggs from the same person that I got my last batch of eggs from and one of those definitely hatched with wry neck but it was a different breed.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

I just looked at a label of common Chick Saver packets...it says 960IU in the packet, to be diluted in 1 gallon, which should translate just fine for the dosage for the chick...I'd again make it stronger than the packet suggests for a few days, then normal dosage for a week to two weeks.

If that doesn't help in two days, get the vitamin e drops.