3yo araucana - I guess "sour crop" sounds right???

[aliris]

((( Joanie )))

 

[aliris]

Oh. Freaking. No.

This may not be over.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/hen-walking-in-circles.944470/

The bird that was closest to the one who just died -- I realize now she's walking in tight circles. Her neck is twisted. And it has been for at least a few days. When they were roosting together I noticed her neck to the side. Plus a couple days back she would fail to walk into her coop and I just thought she was spazzing. Today she got caught up in some mesh netting that shouldn't have done this. And I've confirmed she's definitely got a twisty neck.

@Eggcessive - this bird is eating OK, just gave her mealworms and she scarfed them. I saw her eating food earlier today. Is it urgent that I get vitamins in her? dh wants to just crush up a human vitamin pill but I'm wondering if there's special avian formulation that's important? Is this urgent? Can it wait/should it wait to buy the special formulation? If the chicken is eating OK on their own should I not worry? Should I isolate the affected chicken? I'm thinking they may all have been infected with something. One of my four has been thinner than normal for at least a couple weeks, not laying but today she did lay and perhaps yesterday too (a little hard to distinguish her egg from the others). Egg production among all of them is poor (usually avg of 3.4 or so for 4 birds but way way down). Also, *I* had an eye infection starting 11 days prior.... @azygous -- thoughts anyone on the wry neck, urgency, treatment, need for isolation?

Thank you all!!

 

[azygous]

No need to isolate her unless she's being picked on, which can happen when the others notice a vulnerability. It's not contagious, though.

There is no difference between vitamins with a chicken on the label and vitamins with a human on the label. What you want is a vitamin E capsule and push the entire thing into her beak.

Often, with wry neck, one capsule will do the trick, and it usually works fast. But do one capsule per day for a few days regardless, longer if she is slow to improve.

It's great she can eat. Often wry neck makes it impossible for the chicken to eat. I had one who tried to eat, but her head would turn upside down. I had to feed her until the E took effect.

Give her egg with the E for maximum absorption.

 

[aliris]

Thank you @azygous!!! It's dusk here -- should I stuff it in her now or wait til the morning do you think?

Actually I am mistaken about having vit E here anyway, so I'd have to wait til the morning to do it. Unless time is of the essence in which case I could find an all-night pharmacy, presuming it's not horrible to force this down a chicken gullet in the middle of the night.... smh. Seems like this is unlikely a coincidence?! Viral?

 

[azygous]

Torticollis is not life threatening in itself. You may safely wait until morning and the pharmacy opens.

 

[azygous]

Wry neck has several causes, and it can come on suddenly for no apparent reason. Usual causes are head injury, vitamin E deficiency, genetics, stress. A hen of mine had a tumor on her head that eventually put pressure on her brain and caused torticollis. And sometimes you will never know what caused it, and it can often be cured just as quickly as it came on.

 

[aliris]

Torticollis is not life threatening in itself. You may safely wait until morning and the pharmacy opens.

Thank you! How do you-all know so much about this???

I maybe did a dumb thing just now... dh reported the bird isn't on her perch and I thought she might like to be so I stuck her up there. I presume her sense of depth is funny so she cannot get up there. But.... maybe that's just a evolutionary-safety thing and since they're in a safe coop there's no need to add that additional difficulty and stress? She's probably just fine spending the night on the floor. She wasn't there last night, BTW. So whatever this is is progressing quickly and while in retrospect was there previously, is worse now than yesterday, etc.

 

[aliris]

Wry neck has several causes, and it can come on suddenly for no apparent reason. Usual causes are head injury, vitamin E deficiency, genetics, stress. A hen of mine had a tumor on her head that eventually put pressure on her brain and caused torticollis. And sometimes you will never know what caused it, and it can often be cured just as quickly as it came on.

OK, you say stress ... she was very close with the hen that just died.... this is definitely anthropomorphizing territory, but is there any possibility a hen could feel such stress due to her BFF being sick??? Tell me that's just silly.....

 

[azygous]

Of course it's not silly. Chickens suffer loss and even depression. The entire flock is affected by the loss of a member. They may not show it in ways we humans would notice, but the flock dynamics will adjust for the loss, and this affects every chicken.

The only risk with placing her on a perch is if she isn't able to maintain her balance. But usually, once a chicken settles onto the perch, the legs lock into place so she isn't too likely to fall during the night. I would check in her in a bit, though, to be sure she's okay.

I know about wry neck because I've had several cases in my flock, and when any health issue crops up, I have a deadly serious curiosity that demands I research it.

 

[aliris]

Of course it's not silly. Chickens suffer loss and even depression. The entire flock is affected by the loss of a member. They may not show it in ways we humans would notice, but the flock dynamics will adjust for the loss, and this affects every chicken.

The only risk with placing her on a perch is if she isn't able to maintain her balance. But usually, once a chicken settles onto the perch, the legs lock into place so she isn't too likely to fall during the night. I would check in her in a bit, though, to be sure she's okay.

I know about wry neck because I've had several cases in my flock, and when any health issue crops up, I have a deadly serious curiosity that demands I research it.

Thank you - still on perch. And hunkered down and locked in, lol.

Well - interesting you say so assertively it's not silly. It _feels_ absolutely true to me, but I cannot defend it because... it sounds silly. But it feels true. I feel like they were all telling me yesterday morning the sick one was very sick. There's a difference between their general squawking and noise-making and this asserted effort to get in my face and *tell* me something. They were so directive. And this morning I picked each up to feel their crop (instructions from my friend the vet) and they just weren't at all behaving like usual. Under the best of circumstances they none of them much like to be picked up. But their heart wasn't just beating fast it was "blipping". They were just so skittish and... upset. smh.