Possible wry neck ?

[sierrabrady]

I could really use some advice! We had a raccoon attack our flock 10 days ago and lost one hen and found two more injured. One of them had a small cut on the red outer part of her eye and that eye was swollen shut for a day or two after the attack but the eye itself looks fine. She was clearly in shock, not eating (still hasnt eaten) and seemed kind of shut down. I isolated her with the other injured hen and gave them both antibiotics in water and applied topical antibiotics to the wounds. After about a week, the one with the injured eye slowly developed a twitch (not sure if that’s the right word to use) in her neck. She was basically slowly nodding her head non stop. The next day it got worse with her head turning upside down and throwing her neck back, knocking her off her feet so I brought her inside in a carrier. After reading about wry neck I took her off antibiotics and started her on Vitamin E and selenium and put hydro-hen in her water. Noticed a slight improvement overnight after starting the vitamins and maybe a little more of an improvement over the next day.

I’m wondering if this could be something neurological from head trauma during the attack but not sure if that would show a week later? If this is wry neck, how long does it typically take to improve? I’m not sure if it was caused by her not eating, her eye injury, or even if the other hen she was isolated with could have been pecking at her. I wish I would have kept them separate from the beginning but I thought if she was in shock she might find comfort in having one of her buddies with her. At what point do I consider having to put her out of her misery? She has bright eyes, she tries to walk around, she's vocal sometimes when I’m sitting with her and she’s drinking well out of a cup with some assistance but I don’t want her to be in pain and I don’t want to be keeping her around selfishly. If anyone has any suggestions on how to make her more comfortable or anything that might help her neck issue I would really appreciate it.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I'm sorry about your hen.

Do you have photos of her injuries?

Is her eye open now and can she see out of it?

What antibiotics did you give in the water?

If you have a video of her actions, that may be helpful.

It does sound like the Symptom Wry Neck which is a Neurological Symptom - common causes are Trauma to the head/neck, disease, nutritional and a few other things.

Since she suffered head trauma, then I'd treat her with 400IU Vitamin E and 1/4 tablet B-Complex daily. Give her bits of egg to help with the uptake of E. The Egg has plenty of Selenium so I would not give any "extra" Selenium.

Work on hydration and offer her some wet soupy food. She may not be able to focus on picking up small pieces of pelleted or crumbled food at this time.

 

[Tumbleweedlynn]

I could really use some advice! We had a raccoon attack our flock 10 days ago and lost one hen and found two more injured. One of them had a small cut on the red outer part of her eye and that eye was swollen shut for a day or two after the attack but the eye itself looks fine. She was clearly in shock, not eating (still hasnt eaten) and seemed kind of shut down. I isolated her with the other injured hen and gave them both antibiotics in water and applied topical antibiotics to the wounds. After about a week, the one with the injured eye slowly developed a twitch (not sure if that’s the right word to use) in her neck. She was basically slowly nodding her head non stop. The next day it got worse with her head turning upside down and throwing her neck back, knocking her off her feet so I brought her inside in a carrier. After reading about wry neck I took her off antibiotics and started her on Vitamin E and selenium and put hydro-hen in her water. Noticed a slight improvement overnight after starting the vitamins and maybe a little more of an improvement over the next day.

I’m wondering if this could be something neurological from head trauma during the attack but not sure if that would show a week later? If this is wry neck, how long does it typically take to improve? I’m not sure if it was caused by her not eating, her eye injury, or even if the other hen she was isolated with could have been pecking at her. I wish I would have kept them separate from the beginning but I thought if she was in shock she might find comfort in having one of her buddies with her. At what point do I consider having to put her out of her misery? She has bright eyes, she tries to walk around, she's vocal sometimes when I’m sitting with her and she’s drinking well out of a cup with some assistance but I don’t want her to be in pain and I don’t want to be keeping her around selfishly. If anyone has any suggestions on how to make her more comfortable or anything that might help her neck issue I would really appreciate it.

Hi there!

I’m so sorry to hear about the trauma to your flock, and to your injured chickens, in particular.

In my experience, chickens all respond differently when confronted with wry neck, and I’ve never lost any to it. I had one chick about 6 wks develop it out of the blue. Came here, got the advice of vitamin e and scrambled eggs, literally only gave once, and she was fine the next day and was never affected with it again.

I’ve had another one develop it after about a year. She’s been treated with all the vitamins, slowly gets better (+/- month); then I have one now who has responded to nothing, and who I thought was a goner many times over the last couple of months. But she has powered through, and I think her neck is starting to look better.

I would just make sure she’s eating/drinking, has color in her comb and wattles, and isn’t losing weight. Watch her poop, too. I hope she pulls out of it