Another wry neck thread....

[jenfletcher]

I know that there are a ton of wry neck threads here. I have read them until my eyes hurt. However I need some reassurance or worst case scenarios form all of you please. My, at the time, 5 week old chick started developing wry neck. We were just about to leave for vaca on May 26th when I noticed it was just acting off. I had already saw wry neck and knew that's what it was. A very good friend took it in while I was away and gave Vit E and Nutridrench. A week later I returned and the chick looked perfect. I lessened the doses but continued to treat and returned it to the coop. Within a couple of days wry neck returned with a vengeance. I brought her back in and started treatment all over. Added eggs for selenium. After a bit with little improvement I started giving selenium crushed with food. It has since improved greatly but very, very slowly. It can eat and drink on it's own. Its looks completely normal except for when I pick it up. Then its neck drops into a spasm. It goes out during the day with 2 others, same age. I bring it in at night for meds and to sleep because it cant climb stairs to the coop. I am weaning off selenium now, only giving every other day per instructions form a link I got here. It does fine in the coop except for climbing and it has a hard time stepping over things. So it can't roost or get out of rain and bad weather. Here are my questions.
Should I still be giving vit e? I read long term use could cause internal damage. I've been giving it for 7 weeks.
If I get to the point of no more selenium and vit e will it continue to improve or just stay as it is?
Should I continue bring it in at night? Am I being detrimental not letting it try to be a normal chicken? At this point it comes and crawls in my lap at dusk instead of trying to go up to sleep with its hatch mates.
Do you think it has a chance of total healing?

TIA

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Awww...such a cutie

There's no way to know if she is ever going to recover. A lot depends on the cause. Wry Neck is a symptom. A crested bird - she may have Marek's, injury to the head, etc. It may not be deficiency but usually vitamin therapy is the normal course of treatment unless you have vet care and they can check for infection.
How much Vitamin E are you giving daily?
I would also add B-Complex to the vitamin therapy too. B1 (Thiamine) seems to be one that is needed for treating symptoms of Wry Neck. For her age/size, I would give 1/4 tablet daily.

Selenium can be over given, so it's good that you are tapering that off. Egg is a good source and I would give her that daily too.

 

[jenfletcher]

Thank you!
I forgot to mention, I did give vit b for a couple of weeks. I put it in her morning food/meds mix. After awhile she stopped eating it. She acted like she didnt like it. I stopped the vit b and she starting eating breakfast again.
I give her a 400iu vit e capsule squirted on her food twice a day.
Do you think I should stop giving e since I've been giving it so long?
Should I start b again?
Should I be doing anything different?

 

[jenfletcher]

Awww...such a cutie

There's no way to know if she is ever going to recover. A lot depends on the cause. Wry Neck is a symptom. A crested bird - she may have Marek's, injury to the head, etc. It may not be deficiency but usually vitamin therapy is the normal course of treatment unless you have vet care and they can check for infection.
How much Vitamin E are you giving daily?
I would also add B-Complex to the vitamin therapy too. B1 (Thiamine) seems to be one that is needed for treating symptoms of Wry Neck. For her age/size, I would give 1/4 tablet daily.

Selenium can be over given, so it's good that you are tapering that off. Egg is a good source and I would give her that daily too.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Thank you!
I forgot to mention, I did give vit b for a couple of weeks. I put it in her morning food/meds mix. After awhile she stopped eating it. She acted like she didnt like it. I stopped the vit b and she starting eating breakfast again.
I give her a 400iu vit e capsule squirted on her food twice a day.
Do you think I should stop giving e since I've been giving it so long?
Should I start b again?
Should I be doing anything different?

It's hard to know if you should stop or not. 7 weeks is a long time for vitamin treatment. Vitamin E is fat soluble so you can eventually overload them. B vitamins are excreted so there's not much risk in overdosing on those.

You could try giving her a break/taper off and see if she worsens or stays the same. She may be at a point where she's leveled off or this may be a far as she recovers.

 

[jenfletcher]

It's hard to know if you should stop or not. 7 weeks is a long time for vitamin treatment. Vitamin E is fat soluble so you can eventually overload them. B vitamins are excreted so there's not much risk in overdosing on those.

You could try giving her a break/taper off and see if she worsens or stays the same. She may be at a point where she's leveled off or this may be a far as she recovers.

Thank you for the advice! I'll taper of vit e also. May try vit b for a bit again

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Thank you for the advice! I'll taper of vit e also. May try vit b for a bit again

I wish I had better answers for you. It must be so frustrating to see her like that

 

[jenfletcher]

I wish I had better answers for you. It must be so frustrating to see her like that

It really is! I know it sounds crazy but if I have to bring her in every night from now on, I will. I just hope she can live a more normal chicken life.

 

[electrycmonk]

Well, it's been a year. Update would be welcome.