Wry Neck seemed to respond to meds but now worse. What's going on?

[dustbath]

One of my Buff Orp hens has what looks like wry neck. I've never dealt with this but have read lots of posts and info about it here and elsewhere. I tried vitamin therapy which didn't seem to help. It gradually got worse until a few days ago she really couldn't lift her head at all and was just slumped in a corner.

On the chance that it might be an ear infection, I gave her a dose of baytril, which worked very well on an ear infection on a rooster and I have some left over. The first day I tried dissolving the pill in water and feeding it to her with a feeding syringe on my own and lost some of the dose. I don't know how much she got. I also have her some water down her throat. I gave her some oatmeal and egg mixture with sugar in it for energy but I don't know if she ate any.

The second day I had help and it all got down her throat. I gave her some water with sugar in it this time. Later that day she seemed to have a miraculous recovery. She was up, her neck was more or less erect, and she was even eating. Hooray! I thought. Cured!

But this morning, she was worse again. Head twisted around, barely standing. When I held her head up, she did eat, though, and actually ate the pill herself. She drank some sugar water. But she didn't walk around and her head was much more twisted than the day before.

Background: she's in a small flock of 6 hens. I was given them a couple of years ago by someone who got them from someone else. I think she's about 3 or 4 years old but not sure. We also have a completely separate flock of mainly roosters. The hens got out a week or so before the symptoms started and I had to rescue either this hen or her identical sister from the roosters. So she may have been injured.

Any ideas what's going on? Why the recovery and relapse? Is this an infection that responded to the antibiotic or is that just a coincidence?

Any feedback would be appreciated.

.Thanks!

 

[Aberdeenannie]

Hi

Ours had wry neck she got medicine from vet and seemed to perk up. Next day bad again. I gave her turmeric tea (Google the recipe). No problems since . It's a natural inflammatory and pain relief. Hopefully it will help

Anne

 

[dustbath]

Thanks! I'll try focusing on anti-inflammatory treatments. Maybe force-feeding her has been making it worse by hurting her neck?

 

[Aberdeenannie]

Hi I put it in a shallow bowl and as flower will do anything for sweet corn, put sweet corn at the bottom! To get the sweet corn she had to drink the Tumeric Tea I couldn't get over the difference in her in 3 days we seriously thought we would have to put her down on the Monday !!!

 

[dustbath]

I'll give this a try! I tried some metacam I have lying around but it doesn't seem to have made any difference.

 

[Aberdeenannie]

How is she getting on ?

 

[dustbath]

I started giving her turmeric tea on Saturday, when I was able to get to the store. She had been getting worse: increasingly contorted neck, not holding it up at all, and seemed to be getting weaker. Yesterday she seemed stronger, although still couldn't hold her neck straight. I also started giving her more water with sugar in it, so that may have helped. But she ate much more than the day before and was more successful in getting the food into her beak. Only when I held her, though, and supported her neck.

This morning she was standing up in her pen for the first time and when I got her attention, she actually held her head more or less straight for a few moments (not sure how long). She ate more and was able to hold her head steady by herself. She still flops her head over when I put her down though.

So, I'm cautiously optimistic that the turmeric may really be helping.

THANK YOU!!