Reposting here hoping someone will answer.
I came home from a week long work trip last night and my adult daughter (animal caretaker when I am gone) was all upset because she thought she killed one of my 3-week old silkie chicks. The chick runs backwards with its head between its legs and sometimes looks like it is having a seizure (shaking with its beak hard against its chest).
Before I culled it I did some research on this site and think it might have wry neck. Does it sound like it might? The only thing I could get locally at that time of night was children's chewable vitamins, so I soaked one and crushed it up and added some chick mash. The chick nibbled up a little bit and we got it to drink a small amount of water. It had a huge runny poo (no blood or stink) and is in a box by itself on top of the brooder so it gets the benefit of the heat lamp and can hear its hatch mates. I checked the temperature and it is correct for 3 weeks and the chick seem comfortable.
This morning I got liquid baby vitamins without iron and have given it a few drops twice so far. It seems strong and alert, just can't control its head for very long. It has been pecking chick mash voraciously and even drank normally for a few sips. It really got into a few bits of scrambled egg tonight and makes little purring happy sounds while it is sitting on my lap eating.
I put the feed and water in a shallow wide mouth glass and support its head with my finger and the side of the glass and it pecks up food for 20-30 seconds before it seems to tire out and the head spasms to its chest. The glass and my finger help keep the head up and she (has that sweet look and is one of the smaller chicks) doesn't exert downward pressure, the neck seems to go limp and she loses control. After resting a little she goes back to eating with gusto.
Am I doing everything I can? Does this sound like a baby that might recover?
I came home from a week long work trip last night and my adult daughter (animal caretaker when I am gone) was all upset because she thought she killed one of my 3-week old silkie chicks. The chick runs backwards with its head between its legs and sometimes looks like it is having a seizure (shaking with its beak hard against its chest).
Before I culled it I did some research on this site and think it might have wry neck. Does it sound like it might? The only thing I could get locally at that time of night was children's chewable vitamins, so I soaked one and crushed it up and added some chick mash. The chick nibbled up a little bit and we got it to drink a small amount of water. It had a huge runny poo (no blood or stink) and is in a box by itself on top of the brooder so it gets the benefit of the heat lamp and can hear its hatch mates. I checked the temperature and it is correct for 3 weeks and the chick seem comfortable.
This morning I got liquid baby vitamins without iron and have given it a few drops twice so far. It seems strong and alert, just can't control its head for very long. It has been pecking chick mash voraciously and even drank normally for a few sips. It really got into a few bits of scrambled egg tonight and makes little purring happy sounds while it is sitting on my lap eating.
I put the feed and water in a shallow wide mouth glass and support its head with my finger and the side of the glass and it pecks up food for 20-30 seconds before it seems to tire out and the head spasms to its chest. The glass and my finger help keep the head up and she (has that sweet look and is one of the smaller chicks) doesn't exert downward pressure, the neck seems to go limp and she loses control. After resting a little she goes back to eating with gusto.
Am I doing everything I can? Does this sound like a baby that might recover?
