5 week old chick with neck off center

[evekelly]

My 5 week old wyandotte, Dottie, looks like her neck is off center and the opposite side of her breast is puffy or sticking out. It is not super obvious when she is sitting or standing but when she walks it is obvious. Could this be wry neck or could she have gotten injured by the other chicks? I have 4 total, 2 wyandottes and 2 Eater Eggers which are bigger and live to jump on each other.
I'm attaching a pucture but could put a video.

They are still eating chick starter and snacks of yogurt, oats, and egg. and were vaccinated for Mareks.

 

[evekelly]

Not sure if Im supposed to reply to my own thread, but since there didn't seem to be much feedback, probably due to the uncommon nature of this problem, I thought I'd post what I've found out.
I took Dottie to the vet, because I was worried about an impacted crop. However, she didn't seem to have any other symptoms of impacted crop and the bulge in her neck was off to her left side rather than the right side.
The vet said that the crop is typically in the middle, so he quickly ruled out an impacted crop, in addition to her being fine otherwise. He said it could have been an injury, but his gut feeling was that it is a congenital defect rather than wry neck or a vitamin defieciency.
he said that as long as she is eating and drinking and doesn't look to be in pain, which she doesn't, then he saw no reason to do anything to her except just watch her. We could have done x-rays to determine whether it was an injury or something else, but because the outcome would be the same, I decided against spending $169 for the x-rays.
The visit was helpful and it helped to give me confidence in my ability to assess how critical she was. I have done a little bit of research and it appears that scoliosis is a possible chicken congenital defect that doesn't always manifest itself until about 5 to 6 weeks, which is when Dottie began to show the neck problem.
Still, if anybody has seen this, please let me know how things turned out. I am worried that it will progress to the point that she is in pain and can't eat or drink. Don't want her to suffer. Hope this helps someone.

 

[Eggcessive]

If it has suddenly occurred I would suspect wry neck, but skeletal deformities can take place over time. Scoliosis and roach back are 2 different spinal deformities. that may be a result of vitamin or mineral deficiency. Either way, I would give this chicken poultry vitamins with minerals. One to use in the feed is Poultry Booster by Rooster Booster, and there are 2 liquid versions--Poultry Nutri-Drench or Poultry Cell vitamins and dosage is 1-3 ml daily by mouth. If you are outside the US, there will be other brands. Here are some threads you may want to have a look at:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/933617/is-injury-or-illness
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/612300/humpback-chicken
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...es-and-a-hunch-back-want-your-opinions-advice

 

[evekelly]

OH, thank you for the info, Eggcessive. I am doing vitamin E and selenium , but had kind of resigned the problem to genetics. It did come on suddenly. One day she was fine the next day, her neck was crooked. I will try the poultry vitamins with minerals. Thank you so much!! I will update for future references of others who may be experiencing the same problem.

 

[Eggcessive]

I can't post links on my tablet now, but if you Google "crook neck chicken," you will see a link for brown egg blue egg that contains some info on wry neck.

 

[CockadoodleMimi]

Im so glad to find this post because my Roo has something like what you're describing. He eats, drinks, runs around with the girls, tries to put one of my older hens in place, he seems to be just fine other than that bulge on his right shoulder. The skin underneath isn't scaley or red and doesn't seem to hurt when I touch it. Is this common and what could this be? Is there something I can do for him?

 

[Eggcessive]

CockadoodleMimi, how long has your rooster been that way? Wry neck appears suddenly, and sometimes the chicken may relax and look normal, while a spinal deformity has always been there, progressively getting worse. Poultry vitamins and minerals would be what I would use to treat it. For wry neck (also called torticolis) vitamin E, B1 (thiamine,) and selenium are the important ones. For bone deformities, then minerals and vitamins are importanat, although they won't reverse the damage. Here is a good thread on wry neck:
http://www.browneggblueegg.com/Article/Crookneck/Crookneck.html
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/97121/lets-talk-wry-neck-crook-neck

 

[evekelly]

Hi Cockadoodle Mimi, My Dottie appears to look the same way as your roo. Is the bulge bony to the touch? Dottie has a bony protrusion. I'm going to try the vitamins that Eggcessive recommended. I'll keep you all posted.

 

[CockadoodleMimi]

We probably noticed it when he was around 6 wks old. His neck doesn't droop it just looks off to the side because of the lump on his right side above the shoulder. I did look at some articles on wry neck and that doesn't seem to be what he has. But I'm fairly new at raising chickens so I could be wrong. I'll probably take him to our vet who treats livestock just to see if he can tell me what it is. Thanks for the reply.

 

[CockadoodleMimi]

Yes Eve it is bony. At first it looked like it might be a cyst but when I felt around it was hard. He's trying to cockadoodle and it sounds so funny, like he just can't quite get it lol. I hope his condition doesn't have anything affect on his cute little voice.
I think I will try the vitamins and minerals also. It can't hurt. Keep me posted on little Dottie