# Silkie flipping over?



## will (Apr 14, 2013)

I have a roo had him for bout a month or so I not sure how old he is but he's pretty young. I went out the other night and he had his head between his legs. I thought he was just sleep. I picked him up he push his head under and keep it there. I saw him put his head under there so far that he flipped over. Any suggestions? He's chasing a bug as I type this he's eating good seems fine otherwise


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Its really unusual for the males to do that. Its possible he's suffered a head injury but for now, start him on vitamin E with selenium. 

The E with selenium can be purchased in any pharmacy aisle. You can either poke a hole in the capsule and put it directly in his mouth or mix it in a moist treat. Give him one a day. He should begin to straighten up within a week. 

If he seems to be getting worse instead of better then I would lean more towards head injury and if you have a vet that will work with you ask for prednisone. If they can compound it in to a molasses flavored suspension that will make dosing very easy.


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## Fiere (Feb 26, 2014)

Wry neck? Sounds like the hokey pokey my wry neck chick did this year. Does it look like this?


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Yep. My head injury bird did/does the same thing. Since she stopped laying she hasn't had an issue in years. 

But I know mine was head injury since I was standing there when she got nailed in the head by a juvenile Guinea keet when she was less than six months old. Her reaction was almost immediate.


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## will (Apr 14, 2013)

Yes it looks like that.


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## Fiere (Feb 26, 2014)

"Special" as I call this one, perked right up and stopped doing this nonsense after two weeks of dosing her with polyvit infant vitamins twice a day. Not the stuff with iron in it. 

She started out tilting her head down a bit when she walked, then two days later it turned into this when you spooked her; so she would be fine if she was minding her own but if you picked her up, made a loud noise, or if the others plowed her over, she would go into this tuck and scoot backwards till she fell. She is totally fine now and has no adverse signs. 

I know she didn't get hit in the head as she had nothing to hit her head on. I would expect a crack to the noggin would display very similar symptoms, as this definitely looks neurological.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Silkies are more prone to head injury because of an anomalous skull. There are spaces there that allows for direct connection to the brain. Polish are the same way. That's why when Silkie breeders hear about this posturing, head injury is always a consideration. 

And I don't know where this came from but its been understood for a very long time that sometimes Silkies do not get the E necessary or utilize what they get in their diets to keep these neuro problems from showing up. This should be a temporary thing and the bird should grow out of it. But for now, it will need to be dosed until it straightens back up.


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## Fiere (Feb 26, 2014)

I heard this was more common in silkies but didn't know why, thanks for the explanation!


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## kaufranc (Oct 3, 2012)

Yup, wry neck. My blue Silkie rooster had it too. Kept him inside for about a week. Feed him scrambled eggs, heard that was the cure. It worked! He is back out with the girls and fine. I also stopped giving him cracked corn. Heard silkies can have a hard time with too much of that.



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