I have decided to keep a log of my experience with my wobbly little Weeble. It has helped me to read the threads from other worried poultry parents, and I hope that my two cents will steel someone in their battle to cure their baby!
THE PATIENT:
Weeble, a 3 month old Polish Crested Frizzle that is the palest mix of lavender and milk chocolate
HISTORY:
hatched April24, Easter Day. Difficult hatch; exhibited flopping, twisting, neck crookedness, lack of motor skill for 48 hours. I placed her with the other chicks, resigned to let nature take it's couse. On the morning of day three she was nearly normal with occassional head twitches. Day four she was straight as an arrow. There was no indication of problems after that.
FEED & WATER:
I feed chick starter with antibiotics until I run out of the 5 pounds that I buy, then I do a standard chick feed. Electrolytes in the water. At three months I begin to introduce scratch and grit.
DAY 1:
At this point I did not know there was a problem. It was the first warm (85+ degree) day, I decided to take the kids out for a romp in the yard [I live in the city and yard romps are ONLY done when supervised]. Weeble seemed normal. I kept laughing at her because she would walk away from the others and "fall asleep" with her head in the corner. On that day I had no idea that this was an early symptom.
DAY 2:
I fed the kids in the morning and snuggled Weeble a bit. Twelve hours later, after a blazing 90+ degree day, I get home and she was stuck in a corner twisted up like a pretzel. Unable to stand, she tumbled and flopped her twisted head around. It was late and I decided to make her comfortable for the night while I researched the problem and attack it in the morning. I read a bunch of posts online about wry-neck and figured it was worth a try. Some suggested prednisone, others either could not obtain it or the vet indicated that it destroys the immune system and cautioned against it. I have prednisone on hand for asthma related issues, and I know my immune system tanks while I'm on it......I decided against the prednisone and would save it as a last resort.
DAY 3:
- I bought vitamin E with selenium gel caps from a local health food store. I administer that by cutting the tip off and squirting it into a syringe. The syringe is easier to get in Weeble's mouth and I don't have to touch the E goop....it's ultra sticky and hard to get off. One tablet in the morning and one at night
- B complex, purchased from Meijer because they had it cheaper. One third tablet crushed into powder and administered with the food.
- Weeble is completely without motor control, so I have to force feed her. I chose organic, meat based, infant food. I added a little water with electrolytes and administered it with the syringe. I filled her crop half full three times that day.
- Another 90+ degree day, worse than the previous one. I work outdoors, so I tried to keep her in the shade and breeze. At night I put her in the basement where it was MUCH cooler.
She can't even lay on her belly upright, she flops and writhes. I periodically lay her on her side so that her neck untwists and support her head with a roll of towel. She stays in this position for a while and then has bad spasms and flips uncontrolably. I gently return her to her side so she looks untwisted. I give her a massage through her neck and shoulders periodically.
DAY 4:
- Still force feeding. I don't like the baby food because it doesn't have the proper nutritional balace for birds. There isn't near enough protein. I tried mixing chick starter with water and feeding with the syringe, but it clogs.
- Bought a baby bottle for kittens and cut the tip off. Ground the crumbles into a fine powder with my mortar and pestle. Ground an equal amount of meal worms (something like 50% protein) into a fine oily powder. Ground 1/2 B-Complex tablet and mixed all three ingredients together. Dillute with water and electrolytes. Administered with baby bottle. Still clogs, but not as bad. Need to improve. Used same feeding and E/selenium schedule as before.
- I give neck, back and shoulder massages. Gently straightening and moving her neck to un-kink it.
DAY5:
I am so discouraged at her complete lack of any progress. She looks so pathetic, I consider humane alternatives.....I tried calling Michigan State University Poultry Science and remembered that I can't afford them anyway. In for a penny, in for a pound. I was gonna try baby parrot mash, but I can't really afford that either. My Mom talked to someone that said heat can bring this on, and I happened accross an article from a Polish breeder at Tractor Supply Store that talked about genetic problems that can be inherited that predispose Polish to this.
- Found a product called 'Ornabac' at the big box pet supply store in the parrot department. It is a B-complex formulated for birds, this felt like a better solution that trying to dose my little darling with human size pills of B-complex.
- Blasted the air conditioning on the car ride home. She leans in the corner of her basket, unable to stand. She still rolls, flops, erraticly shakes head. Once in a while though, she gains a little control and attempts to preen her feathers.
DAY 6:
- E/selenium tab, 1 in morn and 1 at night
- Finely ground chick starter & meal worm mix. This time I used the Ornabac instead of the human B-complex tab. No water.
As I started to bottle feed today, using leftovers in the bottle, I noticed that she tried to peck at the bottle and had a reasonable amount of aim. So I tried putting the dish of dry food low where she could see it. She was able to control her head and eat for intervals of 5 or 6 seconds. Then her head would return to the upside-down position. If I lifted it just a bit, she would return to eating the dry food. Her eyes are more alert, she raises her head sideways off the ground and she preens herself with very good muscle control moving her head to both sides and in all directions. While preening she can stand upright without leaning on the side of the basket. If I set her down on open ground, she still has bad balance, but when she begins to roll she is better at getting right way up. Only can walk backwards.
I continued to hold the bowl throughout the day. With more practice she can raise her head 1" off the ground to get food from the bowl. But she has to see it with a particular eye. I start moving the bowl away as she is eating in an attempt to get her to walk forward. At first this causes violent head thrashing when she tries to take a step forward. She chirps angrily and roll around. I massage her when this happens and do it again. I continued this routine for 12 hours today. She has started to take steps to follow the food while eating. She can ONLY move forward while she is pecking at food. But she is more active and alert. She still mostly leans on the side of the basket for support, but she can hold herself on her feet without rolling about all the time. Her poops look normal now....MUCH better than when I was trying to feed her food that made me feel comfortable!!!!!
- Temps are down in the high 60's and low 70's
- Water is still administered with a syringe and contains electrolytes
THE PATIENT:
Weeble, a 3 month old Polish Crested Frizzle that is the palest mix of lavender and milk chocolate
HISTORY:
hatched April24, Easter Day. Difficult hatch; exhibited flopping, twisting, neck crookedness, lack of motor skill for 48 hours. I placed her with the other chicks, resigned to let nature take it's couse. On the morning of day three she was nearly normal with occassional head twitches. Day four she was straight as an arrow. There was no indication of problems after that.
FEED & WATER:
I feed chick starter with antibiotics until I run out of the 5 pounds that I buy, then I do a standard chick feed. Electrolytes in the water. At three months I begin to introduce scratch and grit.
DAY 1:
At this point I did not know there was a problem. It was the first warm (85+ degree) day, I decided to take the kids out for a romp in the yard [I live in the city and yard romps are ONLY done when supervised]. Weeble seemed normal. I kept laughing at her because she would walk away from the others and "fall asleep" with her head in the corner. On that day I had no idea that this was an early symptom.
DAY 2:
I fed the kids in the morning and snuggled Weeble a bit. Twelve hours later, after a blazing 90+ degree day, I get home and she was stuck in a corner twisted up like a pretzel. Unable to stand, she tumbled and flopped her twisted head around. It was late and I decided to make her comfortable for the night while I researched the problem and attack it in the morning. I read a bunch of posts online about wry-neck and figured it was worth a try. Some suggested prednisone, others either could not obtain it or the vet indicated that it destroys the immune system and cautioned against it. I have prednisone on hand for asthma related issues, and I know my immune system tanks while I'm on it......I decided against the prednisone and would save it as a last resort.
DAY 3:
- I bought vitamin E with selenium gel caps from a local health food store. I administer that by cutting the tip off and squirting it into a syringe. The syringe is easier to get in Weeble's mouth and I don't have to touch the E goop....it's ultra sticky and hard to get off. One tablet in the morning and one at night
- B complex, purchased from Meijer because they had it cheaper. One third tablet crushed into powder and administered with the food.
- Weeble is completely without motor control, so I have to force feed her. I chose organic, meat based, infant food. I added a little water with electrolytes and administered it with the syringe. I filled her crop half full three times that day.
- Another 90+ degree day, worse than the previous one. I work outdoors, so I tried to keep her in the shade and breeze. At night I put her in the basement where it was MUCH cooler.
She can't even lay on her belly upright, she flops and writhes. I periodically lay her on her side so that her neck untwists and support her head with a roll of towel. She stays in this position for a while and then has bad spasms and flips uncontrolably. I gently return her to her side so she looks untwisted. I give her a massage through her neck and shoulders periodically.
DAY 4:
- Still force feeding. I don't like the baby food because it doesn't have the proper nutritional balace for birds. There isn't near enough protein. I tried mixing chick starter with water and feeding with the syringe, but it clogs.
- Bought a baby bottle for kittens and cut the tip off. Ground the crumbles into a fine powder with my mortar and pestle. Ground an equal amount of meal worms (something like 50% protein) into a fine oily powder. Ground 1/2 B-Complex tablet and mixed all three ingredients together. Dillute with water and electrolytes. Administered with baby bottle. Still clogs, but not as bad. Need to improve. Used same feeding and E/selenium schedule as before.
- I give neck, back and shoulder massages. Gently straightening and moving her neck to un-kink it.
DAY5:
I am so discouraged at her complete lack of any progress. She looks so pathetic, I consider humane alternatives.....I tried calling Michigan State University Poultry Science and remembered that I can't afford them anyway. In for a penny, in for a pound. I was gonna try baby parrot mash, but I can't really afford that either. My Mom talked to someone that said heat can bring this on, and I happened accross an article from a Polish breeder at Tractor Supply Store that talked about genetic problems that can be inherited that predispose Polish to this.
- Found a product called 'Ornabac' at the big box pet supply store in the parrot department. It is a B-complex formulated for birds, this felt like a better solution that trying to dose my little darling with human size pills of B-complex.
- Blasted the air conditioning on the car ride home. She leans in the corner of her basket, unable to stand. She still rolls, flops, erraticly shakes head. Once in a while though, she gains a little control and attempts to preen her feathers.
DAY 6:
- E/selenium tab, 1 in morn and 1 at night
- Finely ground chick starter & meal worm mix. This time I used the Ornabac instead of the human B-complex tab. No water.
As I started to bottle feed today, using leftovers in the bottle, I noticed that she tried to peck at the bottle and had a reasonable amount of aim. So I tried putting the dish of dry food low where she could see it. She was able to control her head and eat for intervals of 5 or 6 seconds. Then her head would return to the upside-down position. If I lifted it just a bit, she would return to eating the dry food. Her eyes are more alert, she raises her head sideways off the ground and she preens herself with very good muscle control moving her head to both sides and in all directions. While preening she can stand upright without leaning on the side of the basket. If I set her down on open ground, she still has bad balance, but when she begins to roll she is better at getting right way up. Only can walk backwards.
I continued to hold the bowl throughout the day. With more practice she can raise her head 1" off the ground to get food from the bowl. But she has to see it with a particular eye. I start moving the bowl away as she is eating in an attempt to get her to walk forward. At first this causes violent head thrashing when she tries to take a step forward. She chirps angrily and roll around. I massage her when this happens and do it again. I continued this routine for 12 hours today. She has started to take steps to follow the food while eating. She can ONLY move forward while she is pecking at food. But she is more active and alert. She still mostly leans on the side of the basket for support, but she can hold herself on her feet without rolling about all the time. Her poops look normal now....MUCH better than when I was trying to feed her food that made me feel comfortable!!!!!
- Temps are down in the high 60's and low 70's
- Water is still administered with a syringe and contains electrolytes
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