Hunchback of the Chicken Coop.

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TinasTribe

TinasTribe

Hatching
5 Years
May 4, 2014
5
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7
We have chicks that are approximately 10 weeks old. We recently noticed one was unable to hold its head up and always seemed to be hunched over. We realized today that she has a lump under one of her wings, which is causing her to slump forward and stop her from raising her head high. I do have photos of her. I really do not want to end her life, we are new to chickens and I am not sure I could bring myself to do that or not flip on my husband for doing it lol. She is eating, drinking, and its not hot to touch or anything.





 
Welcome to BYC. I'm not at all sure what is going on with her, but her posture looks like huddling or puffing up which can be a sign of coccidiosis. I can't tell where the lump is in the picture. Could it be her crop which is normally under the neck on the right side of the chest? Does the lump go down after she has been sleeping, and not eating? Is it full of air or liquid, or is is firm? Here is a link about coccidiosis in case you think it fits. http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2012/12/coccidiosis-what-backyard-chicken.html
 
Last edited:
She has no other symptoms. She is eating fine, drinking fine, her stools are fine. The lump is hard and is towards the front of her body, near her neck. I'll try to get better pics today.
 
This is puzzling. Boy it sure looks like she may have a wry neck issue as well as the lump. If I were you I would add some vitamins either in the form of poultry vitamins in the water, PolyVisol without iron infant vitamins 3 drops daily by mouth, or something sprinkled on the food in case of wry neck. Just for your reading, here is a link about Mareks disease and one about wry neck:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/the-great-big-giant-mareks-disease-faq
http://oureggbasket.blogspot.com/2013/04/wry-neck-or-crook-neck-understanding-it.html
 
poor baby! she's so pretty. I have mareks in my flock and to me, I wouldn't say it's Mareks. My mareks birds all but one, have had limping and paralysis of legs. One did have a neck issue that I hoped was wry, but I don't think it was. She didn't make it and I'm sure it was Mareks. I have never been able to see a tumor, but I suppose it's possible for them to protrude depending on the location.

Vitamin E and very small doses of selenium is good for wry neck. You can google it and find websites that say how much and how often.

I hope she improves. What kind is she?
 
She is an Ameraucana, at least that is what I ordered but from what everyone tells me they are next to impossible to get a real one. They are such a beautiful bunch! The patterns in their feathers are just amazing. I will look up all this information. So far her sisters have been kind to her and she is eating well. That makes me happy.
 
Dawg that is a new one for me--thanks for mentioning that. I have a rooster with wry tail, but I haven't seen roach back before. I did read where chickens can get a dislocated wing by flying into something and injuring it. TinasTribe, your little pullet is a beautiful easter egger which many hatcheries will label as americana or aracana, which are misspellings of ameraucana or araucana, but they are not pure. I have both EE and ameraucanas, and that feather pattern is always an EE. To get the full blooded ones, you usually need to buy from a breeder, but my EE's lay just as pretty an egg, and they can be mint green to olive shades to blue.
 
Thanks everyone for the insight... we will just keep an eye on her and hope it all works out for the best! I really do not care what breed they are. They are so pretty. They remind me of hawks!
 

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