URGENT: Wry neck chicken seizures/spazzing?

[whitkit]

Hello all.

Our 1 year old rhode island hen Piggy was acting strange around two days ago (stargazing, violent head turning), and after researching symptoms, we were certain it is wry neck. We have been treating her with mixable supplements for her water that include many vitamins and have been giving her a small dosage of vitamin e since then. This morning, she was doing better than usual, we have been letting her walk around outside and she seemed to enjoy it more than being in the dogcrate inside our garage with the fan on her. This afternoon in her crate, she began to flap her wings violently and she couldn't seem to stand on her feet. Our instant reaction was to move her inside with the AC and place her in a crate, and when we first put her in there, she was what seemed like having a seizure (flapping her wings, jerking her head, not being able to stand) She actually calmed down and layed down after a few times of going through a spasm, and is still laying down. She is completley relaxed and is sleeping, but we are so confused as to how she is even still fighting through and why this behavior is happening. A vet is being considered but as you probably know, it can get pretty pricey. I hope you all can help me as we hold our chickens dear to heart.

Edit: She also hasn't been sleeping too much, and I know seizures can be tiring, so maybe she is deprived?

 

[Eggcessive]

Welcome to BYC. Hens can suffer from neurological symptoms from a head injury, a brain condition, vitamin E or B1 (thiamine) deficiency, and can be seen in certain diseases including Mareks disease, and others. I would give her some chicken vitamins or B complex vitamins along with 400 IU of vitamin E. Give a small amount of cooked egg or sunflower seed for selenium. Make sure that she gets enough to eat and drink, and feed her some wet mash of chicken feed several times a day if she needs it.

 

[whitkit]

Welcome to BYC. Hens can suffer from neurological symptoms from a head injury, a brain condition, vitamin E or B1 (thiamine) deficiency, and can be seen in certain diseases including Mareks disease, and others. I would give her some chicken vitamins or B complex vitamins along with 400 IU of vitamin E. Give a small amount of cooked egg or sunflower seed for selenium. Make sure that she gets enough to eat and drink, and feed her some wet mash of chicken feed several times a day if she needs it.

we have been doing pretty much exactly that. i just dont understand the sudden seizures and she is fast asleep in our house right now. she has been eating and drinking fine up till this afternoon, which was very strange to us as she has actually gotten better since a few days ago.

 

[Kiki]

Hi and welcome to BYC.

What do you normally feed her on a daily basis...feed name and treat list if any?


Have you brought any new birds home in the last few months?

 

[whitkit]

our chicken feed is dumor poultry 16% layer feed
oh man, our chickens are very spoiled, but we give ours a variety of vegetables and fruit. fruit is usually strawberries and blueberries. vegetables include zucchini and tomato. we have also given them bread, eggs (cooked and raw), mealworms, and bird seed
They of course dont get this on a daily basis, but usually we give them a little something a day that is one of those items
no new birds have been bought home.

 

[Kiki]

our chicken feed is dumor poultry 16% layer feed
oh man, our chickens are very spoiled, but we give ours a variety of vegetables and fruit. fruit is usually strawberries and blueberries. vegetables include zucchini and tomato. we have also given them bread, eggs (cooked and raw), mealworms, and bird seed
They of course dont get this on a daily basis, but usually we give them a little something a day that is one of those items
no new birds have been bought home.

Oh boy....feeding all these treats daily might be the cause of this.
It's not spoiling them by giving them stuff to eat besides the complete balanced feed. They can be filling up on all this other stuff which can cause them to not be getting a complete balanced diet.
I highly recommend stopping giving them anything to eat except the balanced layer feed.

 

[Kiki]

If you feel the need to offer anything besides the complete feed make sure it is not more than a tablespoon per bird per day.
Anything more than that small amount is bad.

 

[whitkit]

Oh boy....feeding all these treats daily might be the cause of this.
It's not spoiling them by giving them stuff to eat besides the complete balanced feed. They can be filling up on all this other stuff which can cause them to not be getting a complete balanced diet.
I highly recommend stopping giving them anything to eat except the balanced layer feed.

as i said, they usually get one or two of these treats a day, but i will take your advice thank you so much. do you have any clue why my chicken is acting the way she is besides that matter?

 

[Kiki]

Can you post a video of how she is acting to YouTube?

 

[whitkit]

i can't post a video, but here is a photo. she isnt making much movement besides breathing and moving her head slightly