Unbalanced chicken

Ksimone

In the Brooder
Mar 30, 2025
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Hi guys! We moved my polish chicken outside (10 weeks) she has since been acting super strange, almost ataxic? Wobbly on her feet head droopy seems withdrawn. I have been giving her poultry cell a few times a day for a few days and it doesn’t seem to be helping- she has been getting picked on that I can see so I don’t know if she’s withdrawn or if something is going on. When I pick her up to syringe her the meds she has an open beak I have some pictures. She is also sitting with her legs in front of her
 

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you said she is getting picked on and I know that birds like polish and silkie because they have a large topknot of feathers they have a vaulted skull. a vaulted skull leaves a very thin piece of bone over the brain so if the others are pecking at her because of the vaulted skull her head is not protected very well
 
ChickQueen77 is right, they have a thinner skull/bone piece above their head. Taking from my experience with neurologic horses, this sounds like she is neurologic herself. She must've gotten a good peck on the top of her head. You have two options, separate her and keep her in a cool dark place to see if she may recover or cull her as she clearly has something going on with her brain. Either way she needs to be separated for the time being.
 
How many days have you noticed these symptoms? How does she look when she walks? I had a turkey poult who had started off with a forward leaning walk, almost like it's front half was too heavy for it and it continued until it could not longer even sit upright. I read through multiple reddit and BYC forums until I saw another post of a guy who's bird was acting similarly and the general consensus was a vitamin deficiency (niacin was the majority vote) and after 7 days of 1ml of Poultry Nutri-Drench daily, higher protein feed, and multivitamin/probiotic/electrolyte water additive, the bird started walking again.

Is there any chance you could upload a video of your Polish sitting and/or walking?
 

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