1 Year Old Wyandotte Can't Hold her head up suddenly- UPDATED with happy ending šŸ˜

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mrskenmore

Crowing
Premium Feather Member
9 Years
Apr 21, 2014
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Long Island, NY
Hi All-

Looking for some help this morning- my 1 year old blue laced red wyandotte hen Penny Marshall was found in the nesting box last night upon coop inspection. I put her on the roost and quickly realized something was off. She was not able to hold her head up at all, which was odd because I was sitting with her the day before and saw her in the coop that day. I do not know of any trauma or injury that may have caused this and no other hens (flock of 9) have this currently. She was vaccinated for mereks and is pretty healthy otherwise. I brought her in to a crate- she had some food and hard boiled egg with some rooster booster poultry cell mixed in. This morning she is the same- I just gave her 1 ML of nutridrench should it be a vitamin deficiency. Please let me know what I can do to help her get better and what it may be.

Thank you in advance for your help

@Wyorp Rock @azygous @Allsfairinloveandbugs

1) What type of bird , age and weight (does the chicken seem or feel lighter or thinner than the others.)
1 year old blue laced red wyandotte hen- 5 lbs

2) What is the behavior, exactly.
cannot hold her neck up, seems weak

3) How long has the bird been exhibiting symptoms?
12 hours

4) Are other birds exhibiting the same symptoms?
no

5) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma.
no

6) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation.
nothing that I know of led to this

7) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all.
she has been eating her layer pellets and water

8) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc.
normal

9) What has been the treatment you have administered so far?
1 ML of nutridrench this morning

10 ) What is your intent as far as treatment? For example, do you want to treat completely yourself, or do you need help in stabilizing the bird til you can get to a vet? I want to treat her- I do have access to a vet if this gets worse

11) If you have a picture of the wound or condition, please post it. It may help.
video below

12) Describe the housing/bedding in use
sand and sweet pdz in coop and run, dirt in outdoor fenced in area

 
I just started her on 400 IU of vitamin e and B complex should it be nutrition related/wry neck. She is very weak now and her toes are curling under. Any thoughts as to what this could be? She didn't want to eat the scrambled egg I just made for her and has no interest in water. I fear she is going downhill fast- thanks for any help.
 
I just started her on 400 IU of vitamin e and B complex should it be nutrition related/wry neck. She is very weak now and her toes are curling under. Any thoughts as to what this could be? She didn't want to eat the scrambled egg I just made for her and has no interest in water. I fear she is going downhill fast- thanks for any help.
Its looks to me like botulism. I had a rooster doing that exact same thing and he did get better after weeks of hand feeding and watering. I cant remember what I gave him but I'm pretty sure I just kept him fed until he got better on his own.
 
How is Penny now? I'm keeping her (and you) in my prayers, and thank you for tagging me so I can follow along. Hopefully it is "only" wry neck, you have the treatment covered, and she will begin to get better. Botulism usually causes a victim to be unable to hold their eyelids open due to flaccid paralysis. In your first video, Penny's eyes are open. Is this still true? If so, that hopefully rules out botulism toxicity.

You may have already looked up Botulism symptoms, but if not, the article below includes most everything you never wanted to know. Under the Diagnosis section, the article mentions other issues that cause similiar symptoms, which you may find helpful. The article also mentions that antibiotics effective against Clostridium, such as Penicillin, may be effective against botulism.
https://www.merckvetmanual.com/poultry/botulism/botulism-in-poultry
 

How is Penny now? I'm keeping her (and you) in my prayers, and thank you for tagging me so I can follow along. Hopefully it is "only" wry neck, you have the treatment covered, and she will begin to get better. Botulism usually causes a victim to be unable to hold their eyelids open due to flaccid paralysis. In your first video, Penny's eyes are open. Is this still true? If so, that hopefully rules out botulism toxicity.

You may have already looked up Botulism symptoms, but if not, the article below includes most everything you never wanted to know. Under the Diagnosis section, the article mentions other issues that cause similiar symptoms, which you may find helpful. The article also mentions that antibiotics effective against Clostridium, such as Penicillin, may be effective against botulism.
https://www.merckvetmanual.com/poultry/botulism/botulism-in-poultry
It's funny you say that, her eyes were always oddly open. I am hoping that's a good thing. Her poops are also perfect. The flock remains healthy, so leaning more towards wry neck.. there was a daffodil leaf in the coop, although uneaten. I cleaned the heck out of everything in the coop today. I also was wondering why it would come about so instantly... any thoughts on that?
 
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It's funny you say that, her eyes were always oddly open. I am hoping that's a good thing. Her poops are also perfect. The flock remains healthy, so leaning more towards wry neck.. there was a daffodil leaf in the coop, although uneaten. I cleaned the heck out of everything in the coop today. I also was wondering why ot would come about so instantly... any thoughts on that?
I think the fact that her eyes have remained open is a very positive sign to rule out botulism. Why Penny's symptoms would come on so suddenly is a question that @azygous and @Wyorp Rock are better qualified to answer, but the other reasons I can think of are if she ate a toxic plant or plants sprayed with an insecticide. You said there was a daffodil leaf in her coop, but uneaten. Your comment makes me wonder how the leaf got into her coop, and where is the rest of the daffodil?
 

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