5 week old silkie chick with wry neck :((

[sadiemartin]

I haven't heard of Vit-E gel pills with Selenium in them, but since you did, check the amount of Selenium for each gel pill in micrograms (mcg), and check that you're using 400IU gel pills. If only 200IU or something different, you'll have to convert for the 400IU dosage, and be careful of the amount of Selenium. We try to stay below 50-60mcg per day, and even that is on the larger end of the dosing spectrum, but we mix the Selenium in as a separate ingredient, using 1/8 of a 200mcg tablet (25mcg) at each dose. If you have Vit B-Complex tablets, use 1/4 tablet once per day at the first dose only. Subsequent doses don't need it (or the Selenium, just the Vit-E).

Now, most feed a 400IU gel once or twice per day. I've gone to as many as three per day with 400IU Vit-E with success in severe cases, but two doses/day will probably work here since your chick is not exhibiting extreme symptoms. Getting a chick to take the E is the trick though.

We use a moist paste mix of a few ingredients in a small bowl or ramekin to get the chick to eat this on their own. Your results may vary.
We start with the 1/4 tablet of Vit B-Complex (or a Liquid Vit-B complex like Poly-Vi-Sol - about 3-4 drops of this in the mix you're making).
Since you're using Vitamin B in tablet form, crush/pulverize the Vit B-Complex tablet, and mix it into about 1/2 TBSP of dry Starter Feed.
Add about 1/4 TBSP of Yogurt (any flavor; ours seem to like "mixed berry").
Then puncture the Vit E gel and squeeze it over the Yogurt/Feed/Vit-B in the bowl.
Mix thoroughly to a moist paste that's about the consistency of a dough ball for baking cookies.
If the mix is too dry, add a bit more Yogurt; if too wet, add a little more feed. We try to get this mixture moist enough to stick to our fingers, but dry enough that it will break apart if prodded with a fork.

Feed to your baby first thing in the morning. If using a second dose per day, leave the Vit B-Complex out, but mix all the other ingredients together and administer in the late afternoon, early evening. You may see positive results in as little as a few hours to a few days. However, this can sometimes take weeks to get past, so be ready for that. We had a little Silkie with a severe case of Wry Neck that began treatment on June 22 and is just now beginning to trail off of those treatments...

Run a search on the web or on this Forum using "WRY NECK" as your search parameter, and you'll find TONS of info. The Search window on this site is at the top of the page. Find the Forums tab, then look on the line just below it, and you'll see "Search Forums" in a tan-colored bar. Follow the dropdown boxes that follow.

Good luck with your Polish! Let us know how she does?

Thank you so much!! I’ve been giving her 1/4 Vitamin B Complex and also vitamin E 400 IU with no selenium. I have been doing this 1-2 Tim’s per day and she has been slowly improving. She isn’t there yet but I feel like it’s working and definitely preventing it from getting worse. She can still eat and drink and walk around but her balance is very bad.

 

[Swbertrand1]

Thank you so much!! I’ve been giving her 1/4 Vitamin B Complex and also vitamin E 400 IU with no selenium. I have been doing this 1-2 Tim’s per day and she has been slowly improving. She isn’t there yet but I feel like it’s working and definitely preventing it from getting worse. She can still eat and drink and walk around but her balance is very bad.

I hear you, and I think I know what's at issue: Your Polish is likely not getting enough Vit-E because you're not giving Selenium with it. Selenium is the transporter for Vit-E. Without Selenium, she won't be able to absorb most of the "E".

If you don't have Selenium tablets (available in most CVS, Walgreens, etc), you can feed fried or hard-boiled eggs with the Vit-E to her; eggs contain Selenium. However, determining what dosage of Selenium she's received is going to be a shot in the dark. Brazil Nuts, Sunflower Seeds, and other foods contain Selenium too, but again, the dosage is going to be in question. NOTE: There are experts that I trust on this forum that say that just a little egg per day is enough Selenium for the uptake of Vit-E in the bird. So, do with that what you will.

In any case, try giving the Vit-E with Selenium (egg) for a few days, and you should see more improvement. This can be a long process as I mentioned above. I'm in the 6th week of treating our little girl, but I'm happy to report she's doing beautifully after having a VERY severe case of wry neck where she could barely get her head up and/or from between her legs...

 

[The Backyard Bantams]

Hello. If you catch this quickly, like it appears you did, this can sometimes be overcome, but you'll need to start treatment as soon as possible. We raise Silkies and have had to deal with Wry Neck several times with success.

I see that you're in Melbourne, AUS too, so I'm not familiar with products available to you for chicken health. Which of the following do you have available to you for her treatment?

a) Vitamin-E
b) Selenium (transport for Vit-E)
c) Vitamin B-Complex (vitamins)
d) Vitamin B-4 (only because I can't find it in any B-Complex variant)
e) Nutri-Drench (vitamins)
f) Liquid Vit B-12 (high dose variant by Rooster Booster)
g) Prednisone (for swelling)
h) Yogurt (good bacteria for digestive health)
i) Syringes or Droppers for watering
j) a safe space for her to rest and recover

Hi! She's still with us and making slow but steady progress

I must've checked on her within an hour or two of her first symptoms!

The products are by vetsenseanimalhealth, check out their website or insta! Would recommend! What suburb in Melb are you in? I'm in Wantirna sth, in southeast melbourne.

I have been giving her hand-rearing bird food instead of the medicated starter, it is 23% protein. Supplementing this with organic brazil nuts (VERY high in selenium), sunflower seeds (vitamin e), hemp seeds (high in protein and omega 3), lcm, pepitas, cinnamon, Tumeric, thyme, oregano, vitamin b complex, avi-vital, dried goji berries, papaya, etc....


I do have yogurt, I make my own with goat's milk. I also have soy, almond, cashew milk, etc for dairy-free options. Avi- vital does contain prebiotics, and I can give her some chicken-safe kombucha.

I do have a little syringe, and she has learned to drink from my finger

I never force feed chickens, as they can choke or inhale liquids. She is eating just fine as long as she's in a comfortable position.

Her legs were slightly splayed. for the first few days, I had to keep her in a little wooden box with pine shavings and a sock stretched over it, to stop her flailing around. I was concerned she wasn't building any muscle strength. I let her roll around a little more, and put a gentle straw & rubber band brace on her legs for a day.

Her legs are perfectly fine now

She is very chirpy and happy, as long as she's not panicked and rolling around.

She is able to stand and preen, but not walk quite yet.

She has gotten so fluffy, although gets so grotty after a meal, I have to bathe and blowdry her sometimes. A couple of times she fell into the water bowl and got very wet

I thought she was a cockerel, but I'm almost certain she's a hen now

She should be very bonded to me, hopefully, she'll become my new emotional support chicken <3

I'll make sure to keep you updated, and send you some photos!

 

[The Backyard Bantams]

Hello. If you catch this quickly, like it appears you did, this can sometimes be overcome, but you'll need to start treatment as soon as possible. We raise Silkies and have had to deal with Wry Neck several times with success.

I see that you're in Melbourne, AUS too, so I'm not familiar with products available to you for chicken health. Which of the following do you have available to you for her treatment?

a) Vitamin-E
b) Selenium (transport for Vit-E)
c) Vitamin B-Complex (vitamins)
d) Vitamin B-4 (only because I can't find it in any B-Complex variant)
e) Nutri-Drench (vitamins)
f) Liquid Vit B-12 (high dose variant by Rooster Booster)
g) Prednisone (for swelling)
h) Yogurt (good bacteria for digestive health)
i) Syringes or Droppers for watering
j) a safe space for her to rest and recover

Hi! She's still with us and making slow but steady progress

I must've checked on her within an hour or two of her first symptoms!

The products are by vetsenseanimalhealth, check out their website or insta! Would recommend! What suburb in Melb are you in? I'm in Wantirna sth, in southeast melbourne.

I have been giving her hand-rearing bird food instead of the medicated starter, it is 23% protein. Supplementing this with organic brazil nuts (VERY high in selenium), sunflower seeds (vitamin e), hemp seeds (high in protein and omega 3), lcm, pepitas, cinnamon, Tumeric, thyme, oregano, vitamin b complex, avi-vital, dried goji berries, papaya, etc....


I do have yogurt, I make my own with goat's milk. I also have soy, almond, cashew milk, etc for dairy-free options. Avi- vital does contain prebiotics, and I can give her some chicken-safe kombucha.

I do have a little syringe, and she has learned to drink from my finger

I never force feed chickens, as they can choke or inhale liquids. She is eating just fine as long as she's in a comfortable position.

Her legs were slightly splayed. for the first few days, I had to keep her in a little wooden box with pine shavings and a sock stretched over it, to stop her flailing around. I was concerned she wasn't building any muscle strength. I let her roll around a little more, and put a gentle straw & rubber band brace on her legs for a day.

Her legs are perfectly fine now

She is very chirpy and happy, as long as she's not panicked and rolling around.

She is able to stand and preen, but not walk quite yet.

She has gotten so fluffy, although gets so grotty after a meal, I have to bathe and blowdry her sometimes. A couple of times she fell into the water bowl and got very wet

I thought she was a cockerel, but I'm almost certain she's a hen now

She should be very bonded to me, hopefully, she'll become my new emotional support chicken <3

I'll make sure to keep you updated, and send you some photos!

 

[Swbertrand1]

Hi! She's still with us and making slow but steady progress

I must've checked on her within an hour or two of her first symptoms!

The products are by vetsenseanimalhealth, check out their website or insta! Would recommend! What suburb in Melb are you in? I'm in Wantirna sth, in southeast melbourne.

I have been giving her hand-rearing bird food instead of the medicated starter, it is 23% protein. Supplementing this with organic brazil nuts (VERY high in selenium), sunflower seeds (vitamin e), hemp seeds (high in protein and omega 3), lcm, pepitas, cinnamon, Tumeric, thyme, oregano, vitamin b complex, avi-vital, dried goji berries, papaya, etc....


I do have yogurt, I make my own with goat's milk. I also have soy, almond, cashew milk, etc for dairy-free options. Avi- vital does contain prebiotics, and I can give her some chicken-safe kombucha.

I do have a little syringe, and she has learned to drink from my finger

I never force feed chickens, as they can choke or inhale liquids. She is eating just fine as long as she's in a comfortable position.

Her legs were slightly splayed. for the first few days, I had to keep her in a little wooden box with pine shavings and a sock stretched over it, to stop her flailing around. I was concerned she wasn't building any muscle strength. I let her roll around a little more, and put a gentle straw & rubber band brace on her legs for a day.

Her legs are perfectly fine now

She is very chirpy and happy, as long as she's not panicked and rolling around.

She is able to stand and preen, but not walk quite yet.

She has gotten so fluffy, although gets so grotty after a meal, I have to bathe and blowdry her sometimes. A couple of times she fell into the water bowl and got very wet

I thought she was a cockerel, but I'm almost certain she's a hen now

She should be very bonded to me, hopefully, she'll become my new emotional support chicken <3

I'll make sure to keep you updated, and send you some photos!

Hi. That's good to hear that she's doing better. I see the B-Complex in there and things that will provide Selenium, but only see the Vit-E in the sunflower seeds. She may not be getting enough Vit-E from the sunflower seeds with all the other things you're giving her. Thus, her slow improvement.

Vit-E is the key to this equation and why I posted it as #1 above. Do you have access to Vitamin-E gelcaps or a Vitamin-E in liquid form?

 

[The Backyard Bantams]

Hi. That's good to hear that she's doing better. I see the B-Complex in there and things that will provide Selenium, but only see the Vit-E in the sunflower seeds. She may not be getting enough Vit-E from the sunflower seeds with all the other things you're giving her. Thus, her slow improvement.

Vit-E is the key to this equation and why I posted it as #1 above. Do you have access to Vitamin-E gelcaps or a Vitamin-E in liquid form?

The avi-vital does contain vitamin E.

She has significantly improved. She can now easily stand, hold her head up, and walk!!

I have special multi-vitamins that I take. My guess is that one would be way too much though. It contains 75 micrograms of selenium. What dosage should I give her?

I also have probiotic tablets, garlic+zinc, etc

The chick starter they've been eating is *very* old. like 9 months old. Hasn't been properly sealed

I'll order some grower tomorrow. Are they old enough at 6 weeks? Worst case
I'll buy more starter.

Is it bad that her diet has mainly been hand-rearing bird food? It's from peckish.

 

[Swbertrand1]

The avi-vital does contain vitamin E.

She has significantly improved. She can now easily stand, hold her head up, and walk!!

I have special multi-vitamins that I take. My guess is that one would be way too much though. It contains 75 micrograms of selenium. What dosage should I give her?

I also have probiotic tablets, garlic+zinc, etc

The chick starter they've been eating is *very* old. like 9 months old. Hasn't been properly sealed

I'll order some grower tomorrow. Are they old enough at 6 weeks? Worst case
I'll buy more starter.

Is it bad that her diet has mainly been hand-rearing bird food? It's from peckish.

Hey, you're back! Glad to see that she's doing better! I LOVE Silkies!

Yes, get more Starter Feed as soon as you can. We feed Starter Feed until they're about ready to lay, some 4-5 months of age. Make sure she stays hydrated too. None of this will work if she's not getting enough water each day.

The bird food is likely not giving her the nutritional requirements that she needs, and that is likely causing her condition. That the seed/feed is old and hasn't been stored properly is at issue too, but I can't speak to it causing the Wry Neck beyond it NOT giving her the proper nutrition.

Let's focus on the Avi-Vital. I've researched Avi-Vital, and I like its ingredients, all of them. I just don't know how much Vit-E she'll be getting, but we'll start with it. As for probiotics, Yogurt is what we use and I don't know anything about dosing from a probiotic tablet, but it's not necessary right now. We use Yogurt because it tastes good to the chick and encourages them to eat the "mash" treatment we mix up. If you can get a little Yogurt, I know that will work; if you can't, I'd leave the probiotic tablets out.

Since you don't have Starter Feed right now, let's make a "mash" I hope she'll eat readily:

Take about 1/4 TBSP of seed and crush it up in a bowl with a spoon (mortar and pestle works well here), add a little water and mix to a thick paste. Add the Avi-Vital to this mix at a rate of 2ml per 1kg in body weight and mix it in. Add about 1/4 TSP of Fried Egg or a pulverized Sunflower seed to get Selenium (helps the chick absorb the Vit-E) and mix this together to form a moist paste. If too dry, add a little water; if too wet, mix in a bit more feed/seed.

Keep in mind that you're trying to make a quantity that the chick will eat at one (1) feeding, so we're trying to get to an amount of treatment that's about the size of small small cherry or 3-4 corn kernels. We need her to eat ALL of the mix at once so she gets all the vitamins she needs, so keep the total amount mixed small.

Feed this "treatment" to the chick once per day to start (mornings work for us), and monitor her condition. At other times of the day, feed and water her as often as she'll eat or drink to help her maintain and build her strength.

Let us know how she's doing

 

[The Backyard Bantams]

Hey, you're back! Glad to see that she's doing better! I LOVE Silkies!

Yes, get more Starter Feed as soon as you can. We feed Starter Feed until they're about ready to lay, some 4-5 months of age. Make sure she stays hydrated too. None of this will work if she's not getting enough water each day.

The bird food is likely not giving her the nutritional requirements that she needs, and that is likely causing her condition. That the seed/feed is old and hasn't been stored properly is at issue too, but I can't speak to it causing the Wry Neck beyond it NOT giving her the proper nutrition.

Let's focus on the Avi-Vital. I've researched Avi-Vital, and I like its ingredients, all of them. I just don't know how much Vit-E she'll be getting, but we'll start with it. As for probiotics, Yogurt is what we use and I don't know anything about dosing from a probiotic tablet, but it's not necessary right now. We use Yogurt because it tastes good to the chick and encourages them to eat the "mash" treatment we mix up. If you can get a little Yogurt, I know that will work; if you can't, I'd leave the probiotic tablets out.

Since you don't have Starter Feed right now, let's make a "mash" I hope she'll eat readily:

Take about 1/4 TBSP of seed and crush it up in a bowl with a spoon (mortar and pestle works well here), add a little water and mix to a thick paste. Add the Avi-Vital to this mix at a rate of 2ml per 1kg in body weight and mix it in. Add about 1/4 TSP of Fried Egg or a pulverized Sunflower seed to get Selenium (helps the chick absorb the Vit-E) and mix this together to form a moist paste. If too dry, add a little water; if too wet, mix in a bit more feed/seed.

Keep in mind that you're trying to make a quantity that the chick will eat at one (1) feeding, so we're trying to get to an amount of treatment that's about the size of small small cherry or 3-4 corn kernels. We need her to eat ALL of the mix at once so she gets all the vitamins she needs, so keep the total amount mixed small.

Feed this "treatment" to the chick once per day to start (mornings work for us), and monitor her condition. At other times of the day, feed and water her as often as she'll eat or drink to help her maintain and build her strength.

Let us know how she's doing

Thank you!!

She is doing AMAZING

She looks almost normal now. Can run around without trouble.

A very experienced silkie friend on IG recommended i have it on hand for weak birds or chicks. I think it is safe however not the best thing to have her on long term. I have stopped giving it to her, as she does not need it. Atm she's been eating some game bird starter which is ok, a bit newer than the chick starter. It is probably a tiny bit too high in protein to have her on for very long but otherwise it's safe. I think it is unmedicated. I really do need to order some chick starter, what would you recommend? Unmedicated? It would be very helpful if I could get it off petcircle since that's where I usually order from.

Vetsense says that they don't claim avi-vital as a cure for wry neck, but the vitamin E will definitely help.

She is such a perfect little angel. I'm actually stumped whether she has a small beard or is non-bearded. Same with most of them actually. I was sure most of them were bearde as chicks, but they've gone through stages where they look different. They have their first pullet feathers now though.

 

[The Backyard Bantams]

I wanted to share a couple photos of one of our Silkies before/after photos from the six week journey she's been on.
This little girl was fine on June 21, 2021. On June 22, her head was upside down (first photo). The second photo is five (5) weeks later after treatments with Vit-E, Selenium, B-12 vitamins, Yogurt, and Starter Feed. Yes, it may take time, and we're still treating her...

She's beautiful

 

[Swbertrand1]

Awesome to hear!