- Apr 4, 2018
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As a hatchling I noticed some very disturbing behavior...one of the chicks was letting out this loud screech...I would run to see what was happening and one of the chicks looked like it was having some type of seizure....So I picked it up and it would snap out of it. I started observing the chick to see what was happening...
It would appear normal...maybe eating or something...then all the sudden the chick would flip on its back...I started to notice that it seemed to be brought on by an itch to its head...It would scratch so hard that it would keep going until it flipped over. It wasn't until I put some vitamin e oil on its head that I noticed a strange lump pictured in the above 2 pictures...
But as the chick got older its "spasms" or itching became less drastic and less frequent. The first couple weeks of it hatching the episodes were so bad that I was shocked it lived...often finding it on its back or on its side with its eyes closed or looking "glazed over or rolled back". But then it just almost went away. At the same time my poultry business had taken off and I was crazy busy with shipments, orders, hatches, deliveries, etc. So I spent less and less time with him. He is a beautiful chocolate and red frizzled serama so "his ailment" also gave me an excuse to keep him 
Fast forward and....
I have a beautiful healthy frizzled rooster. Although I started to notice his feathering was sparce and thin compared to any seramas I had...frizzled, silkied...standard, etc. In particular his head...Since I was under the assumption he grew out of whatever he had going on as a chick...I decided to catch him to treat his baldness. It had been a while since I held him so he became mildly distressed catching him. But then I picked him up and his eyes kinda rolled back and he started gasping for air. This totally alarmed me as the stress of catching and holding him looked like it was causing severe distress on a physical level.
Then I started to keep an even closer eye on him......
At a far lesser degree and at less frequent occurrences...the same activity was still occurring. Normal activity would be taking place..then "an itch" that always stopped whatever he was doing...eating, approaching a female...he would stop and feverishly scratch sometimes tipping over and catching himself. The episodes were very quick which also explains why I missed them.
3 MONTHS AFTER THE LAST PICTURE ABOVE.....
His feathers have grown in and he is fluffed out(sorry no pictures!)and fully feathered like the rest of my chickens, even most of his head feathers- thinner but grown in. But thats NOT the craziest part!! He is the dominant rooster now. I tried reintroducing his father the previous dominant rooster and he almost killed him!! I watched them fight assuming a surrender would happen...and I noticed throughout his fiģhting he would stop and scratch his head for a few seconds. Even as he was looking the other rooster in the eyes. It was like a sneeze...when it came he stopped no matter what. So..WHAT ON EARTH COULD THIS BE!?!? ideas, links, discussions, thank you....
THIS WHOLE THINGS IS CRAZY TO ME!! What in the world is wrong with him?????
It would appear normal...maybe eating or something...then all the sudden the chick would flip on its back...I started to notice that it seemed to be brought on by an itch to its head...It would scratch so hard that it would keep going until it flipped over. It wasn't until I put some vitamin e oil on its head that I noticed a strange lump pictured in the above 2 pictures...
Fast forward and....I have a beautiful healthy frizzled rooster. Although I started to notice his feathering was sparce and thin compared to any seramas I had...frizzled, silkied...standard, etc. In particular his head...Since I was under the assumption he grew out of whatever he had going on as a chick...I decided to catch him to treat his baldness. It had been a while since I held him so he became mildly distressed catching him. But then I picked him up and his eyes kinda rolled back and he started gasping for air. This totally alarmed me as the stress of catching and holding him looked like it was causing severe distress on a physical level.
Then I started to keep an even closer eye on him......
At a far lesser degree and at less frequent occurrences...the same activity was still occurring. Normal activity would be taking place..then "an itch" that always stopped whatever he was doing...eating, approaching a female...he would stop and feverishly scratch sometimes tipping over and catching himself. The episodes were very quick which also explains why I missed them.
3 MONTHS AFTER THE LAST PICTURE ABOVE.....
His feathers have grown in and he is fluffed out(sorry no pictures!)and fully feathered like the rest of my chickens, even most of his head feathers- thinner but grown in. But thats NOT the craziest part!! He is the dominant rooster now. I tried reintroducing his father the previous dominant rooster and he almost killed him!! I watched them fight assuming a surrender would happen...and I noticed throughout his fiģhting he would stop and scratch his head for a few seconds. Even as he was looking the other rooster in the eyes. It was like a sneeze...when it came he stopped no matter what. So..WHAT ON EARTH COULD THIS BE!?!? ideas, links, discussions, thank you....
THIS WHOLE THINGS IS CRAZY TO ME!! What in the world is wrong with him?????
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