Vitamin Deficiency?

[Junipere]

Any thoughts on what might be wrong with my 6 month old hen are appreciated. This morning she was keeping away from the other birds and not being very active. When she walks she moves slowly. I’ve also notice she has an on/off head twitch (a quick twitch that happens repeatedly around 5-10 times then stops) all day. She mostly stands in place with her neck tucked in and her eyes closed often. She’s never done this before.

I checked her vent for mites and lice, but she looks perfectly clean. She is eating and drinking. When I went to pick her up she didn’t run away or struggle to get away from me when I held her (normal she would run away and try to get away from me when holding her).

I’ve separated her, put electrolytes in her water and given her some vitamin E and B. She’s only pooped once in the last 5 hours…which seems unusual…but her poop looked completely normal (brown with a little white and had a defined form).

Any thoughts on what may be happening with her or what else I could do to help get her better would be helpful.

Also, do you think she’ll be ok overnight in a large covered storage bin (white ventilation wholes) on my screened in porch with temperatures dropping to low 40s overnight? Normal she can huddle with her girls to keep warm so I wasn’t sure if she’d be ok alone.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Can you post some photos of her and her poop?

Check to make sure her crop is emptying. The head twitch is interesting - can you get a video of that? Upload video to youtube and provide a link.

Has she started laying eggs yet?

How long have you had her?

She will probably be ok in the bin if she's got some bedding to snuggle down into. I usually leave birds with the flock unless they are getting picked at.

Giving the vitamins is a good idea. Hopefully she'll perk up.

 

[Eggcessive]

Has she been molting recently? That is a stressful time in which strange things occur.

 

[Junipere]

Can you post some photos of her and her poop?

Check to make sure her crop is emptying. The head twitch is interesting - can you get a video of that? Upload video to youtube and provide a link.

Has she started laying eggs yet?

How long have you had her?

She will probably be ok in the bin if she's got some bedding to snuggle down into. I usually leave birds with the flock unless they are getting picked at.

Giving the vitamins is a good idea. Hopefully she'll perk up.

Thanks for your response. I’m posting a link to the youtube video and a picture of her poop (sorry the lighting isn’t great).

My girl is definitely not twitching her head as much as yesterday. Yesterday, she would twitcher her head 5-10 times in a row then it would stop and then a little while later it would start up again. Hopefully, since the twitching has decreased, it’s a good sign that the vitamins are helping.

I did also check her feet for mites or bumble foot and I checked her ears. All look good.

Wondering if I should keep her separated or let her go back with her girls?

 

[Junipere]

Thanks for your response. I’m posting a link to the youtube video and a picture of her poop (sorry the lighting isn’t great).

My girl is definitely not twitching her head as much as yesterday. Yesterday, she would twitcher her head 5-10 times in a row then it would stop and then a little while later it would start up again. Hopefully, since the twitching has decreased, it’s a good sign that the vitamins are helping.

I did also check her feet for mites or bumble foot and I checked her ears. All look good.

Wondering if I should keep her separated or let her go back with her girls?

Also to answer a couple of your questions I’ve had her for about 6 months. We have 9 hens total. This girl came with her 4 sisters (as 1wko chicks) and the other 4 other chickens are a little older (and a different breed). The 4 older hens we’re the only layers until about 3-4 weeks ago when we started getting 2 new layers. I haven’t been sure which of the 5 younger hens were my two new layers.

 

[Kiki]

There is absolutely no reason to separate your birds unless this one is being picked on badly.
Separating the birds can make them more stressed which can make things worse.


What exactly do you feed?

 

[Junipere]

Has she been molting recently? That is a stressful time in which strange things occur.

So she doesn’t seem to be molting. But this is my first time having a flock of chickens and this is their first fall/winter coming up (we got them all last spring). To be honest, none of them seem to be molting but the weather has been unseasonably warmer than usual (not sure if that would slow down the molting process).

Also, I thought I ready somewhere that chickens don’t molt there first year, not sure how accurate that is.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Does she only flick her head when you talk to her or if there's noise?

I would put her back with the flock and monitor her.

If possible, take a poop sample to your vet to check for worms/coccidiosis. The droppings I see look pretty normal to me.

Watch/observe flock behavior to see if she's getting picked at.

 

[Junipere]

There is absolutely no reason to separate your birds unless this one is being picked on badly.
Separating the birds can make them more stressed which can make things worse.


What exactly do you feed?

Thanks for your advice. Initially I wasn’t sure if my girl had a parasite or disease that could easily be spread to the rest of the flock so I was cautious and separated her. They are just finishing up the last bag of purina flock feed (I had layers and non layers).

 

[Kiki]

Thanks for your advice. Initially I wasn’t sure if my girl had a parasite or disease that could easily be spread to the rest of the flock so I was cautious and separated her. They are just finishing up the last bag of purina flock feed (I had layers and non layers).

If she had an illness or a disease your other birds have already been exposed and it would do no good to separate her either.

Do you feed treats, scratch or table scraps?
Anything else besides Purina flock feed?
Are all of the birds now laying age?
If so I highly recommend switching to a layer type feed.