Please HELP !! Bantam Easter Egger head is twisted back and to one side - Is this Crookneck ???

Our little bantam Easter Egger seems to be very sick, and is getting worse.

Her eyes were closed for a few days a week or so ago but we bathed them and they seemed ok.

Now for the last few days her head is constantly twisted backward and to one side, she is not able to walk properly and tends to circle (because of the head tilted backwards and to one side), and has hardly any balance, and is falling over a lot because of this. She's lethargic and seems to want to sleep a lot. She manages to eat and drink a little (with a bit of help). She's moulting and has lost all tail feathers.

I’ve done some research and am wondering if this is “crookneck” or wry neck (but I thought that is more to do with the head going forward). Does anyone have any ideas what it is and how to treat it ???

Or my other thought is she may have a respiratory or ear infection which is causing all this...

I'd appreciate any help or suggestions anyone can offer. She seems to be getting much worse today and is going downhill rapidly. She's hardly eating now and falling over and not able to get up. She is separated and we are keeping her comfortable in a box in the laundry, but she doesnt look good...

Here are a few pictures of her yesterday. Can anyone help us - we can't stand to see her like this...

I'm not sure if I can help but, we hade a blue wynadotte chick with the same problem. It looks like crookneck to me. We gave her sav-a-chik in her water for a couple weeks and she did get better. Fast forward 1 year and she's still here with no signs she had a problem. While I can't say for sure it will work, it's worth a try. Good luck

Try vitamin e capsules I hear they work wonders on loads of chicken illnesses.

Haunted and Seminolewind might be of help. It could be Mareks Looks like it could be.

this looks like wry neck. Its a deficency of vitamins. If it is wry neck do this: Liquid baby vitamins in the mouth NOW, plus 2x a day for a week.

Before the "M" word is even brought up, let's try the easy things first. I'd like to know what her normal feed is, any meds or vitamins or any supplements you may have given her up to now.

First thing, get her on a poultry vitamin as soon as possible, doesn't matter what's wrong, this will only help. Depending on your answers for the questions raised it can be figured from there.

jus1morehatcher said:

this looks like wry neck. Its a deficency of vitamins. If it is wry neck do this: Liquid baby vitamins in the mouth NOW, plus 2x a day for a week.

Click to expand...

I too think this may be a Wry Neck but one word of caution. Vitamin E is safe enough and so is giving the poly vi sol once a day. More than that and you could be asking for trouble. Some vitamins are water soluable and therfore leave the body rapidly. Others are fat soluable and tend to build up in the system if given too often or higher doses than the body needs. Vitamnin A is a real baddie as it can actually cause paralysis. The B vitamins are very hard to overdose, but again, caution must be used.

Not knowing the age of this bird, feed, or if any meds have been given, I can't recommend much of anything other than what I already have. Some medications and even suppliments can cause these symptoms and need to be looked at so as not to make a bad situation worse.

Thanks everyone for your replies. We did start her on treatment for crookneck - vitamins (E & B) and whatever we thought may help her as we didn't think it could hurt as she was deteriorating rapidly and we had to do something.

However she passed away overnight in her new box home we had made for her only a couple of days after I posted. So, I've been offline for a while. However I am still interested to know what this was and what we could have done to save her.

So to answer some of your questions. We have had her for maybe 2 years (so I guess she wasn't young or old), her feed was Layer Mash from the local chicken stockfeed store which includes vitamins etc, our veggie scraps, chicken weed and other weeds and greens that they love, and a bit of freeranging. She was in reasonably good health before this happened out of the blue. I had been putting Apple Cider Vinegar in their water occasionally to help with strengthening the immune system (I think) as I think these chickens are suseptible to illness more than other 'hardier' chickens that you keep for layers.

I looked up Mareks and Newcastle disease - and neither of these looked good (and I don't think there was any treatment) - and how do they get those diseases???

It would be most appreciated if you could keep the replies coming as I'd like to know what this mystery illness could have been and what to do to treat it - also in case our other chickens suddenly become sick because it just came on so hard and fast.

I'd just like to know what we could have done....

I don't think it was Marek's nor do I think it was Newcastle disease. I think you were/are dealing with either a vitamin deficient feed or an aflatoxin poisoning, again from the feed or something else she ingested.

Not knowing if your hen was vaccinated for Marek's, I would still say that it's really not a big probability because of her age. In rare cases it could hallen but if none of your other birds are showing symptoms, and they would be for something to hit one this quickly, I would say it can be pretty much ruled out. The Newcastle disease, while it can affect birds of all ages, doesn't really ring true either. You mention paralysis but nothing else that would make me think this is what she had. Paralysis can be caused by a lot of different things, including a few of the respiratory illnesses, but no symptoms like that were mentioned so I am assuming, they were not there.

My advice is check your feed and maybe even get a different brand. If you see any lumps, or find it has an 'off' smell, don't use it and return it to the store you bought it from. Check the area they are ranging in for mushrooms and any other plants that may not be good for them. Fertilizers, anything like that they shouldn't be getting into, but will if they can. I would make this suggestion to you and anyone else who may read this, go to the pharmacy and get a package of activated charcoal tablets or capsules. If you keep these on hand, you can use them if your birds get into something they shouldn't. Crush the pills and mix with a small bit of water and using a syringe, get it into the bird as soon as possible. You may have to do this drop by drop but it's better than chancing poisoning or the mix getting into the lungs.

Without sending your bird for a necropsy, you will never know for sure. It's all guess work. I am very sorry you lost her, she was a beautiful little girl.

Thank you for replying - I really appreciate your time, letting me know what you think, and helping with this.

I didn't think it was related to our Bantams condition as it was so different, but our other Easter Egger has had CRD and had been separated from the others when not well, and has been extremely "high maintance" and unproductive, but is a pet - so we have put a lot of time and effort into trying to keep it well (and alive). These two chickens were from the same breeder purchased by a neighbour who also kept 3.

Here is a link to our other chicken problem posted by a friend - but be warned it is not pretty -
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/777488/serious-trouble-with-hens-eye
This chicken is still alive and has recovered from this (the 'scab' has fallen off, but it has lost sight in it's eye)
Do you have any idea what this is???

Just as this one got better our little bantam got sick. I was told that their immune systems were not as good as other chickens.


I am really hoping these two cases are unrelated, as I will feel so guilty to have saved one at the cost of the other.

I am also thinking that we really have had no luck and may not have been meant to have these Easter Eggers - with the problems we have had.

We have 2 other 'normal' red Chickens (Isa Browns) which throughout all the problems the grey chickens have had, have shown no signs of anything being wrong with them at all.

I've just had another thought - do you think the Isa Brown's eggs are safe to eat ???