Chick with Wry Neck

[HenHustler67]

My daughters 4 week old chick started twisting her neck into unnatural positions last night. After a lot of crying, worrying from my daughter, and some research here we found that she had Wry Neck or Crook Neck. I went to the store at about midnight and picked up some Poly Vi Sol and Vitamin E. I was able to get some if not most of both into her mouth with a syringe used to give infants their meds. I also put a couple drops in her water and isolated her from the other chicks as they started to pick on her. She doesn't move much if at all and when she does she pushes her head against the bottom the pen we have her in. She isn't eating and when I hold her and try to feed her she still wont eat. My question is can I blend some eggs, the chick starter crumble, and some water to feed her through a syringe? How much should I feed her? If it is blended into a liquid do I still need to give her grit? How many times a day should I do this? We are very new to this and need a little help. Any will be most appreciated.

 

[realsis]

Hi I had two severe cases of wry neck this last month. both cases are now cured thank God. when mine began they couldn't eat by themselves either and I fed small amounts of food and water every two to three hours. The treatment that cured my birds was vitamin E capsules small amount of selenium because the selenium helps the bird process the vitamin E in small amounts . very important. Then I also game vitamin B and polyvisol liquid children's vitamins without iron and predinsone. This treatment WILL work without the predinsone.it takes around three weeks to heal. Have patients. I'm sure she will heal to 100%. Both my cases did and they were very severe. If you have any questions at all please feel free to private message me and I will help in any way I can help! Trust me this treatment works.it will however take patience and around three weeks. hope this helps. Best wishes

 

[Haunted55]

My daughters 4 week old chick started twisting her neck into unnatural positions last night. After a lot of crying, worrying from my daughter, and some research here we found that she had Wry Neck or Crook Neck. I went to the store at about midnight and picked up some Poly Vi Sol and Vitamin E. I was able to get some if not most of both into her mouth with a syringe used to give infants their meds. I also put a couple drops in her water and isolated her from the other chicks as they started to pick on her. She doesn't move much if at all and when she does she pushes her head against the bottom the pen we have her in. She isn't eating and when I hold her and try to feed her she still wont eat. My question is can I blend some eggs, the chick starter crumble, and some water to feed her through a syringe? How much should I feed her? If it is blended into a liquid do I still need to give her grit? How many times a day should I do this? We are very new to this and need a little help. Any will be most appreciated.

You can do the liquid food as needed. She will not need any added grit as the chick starter has some in it already as you will find when you turn it into liquid. For feeding her, if you are going to do this with a syringe, you need to be very careful she doesn't aspirate. This would not be a good thing. Is she able to drink on her own at all?

This is what I would do and have done myself.....separate, as you've done. Give the dosing for the Wry Neck once a day and if she is drinking mix in 1/2 of a human Super B Complex vitamin to 1 qt of water. If not drinking, give her some of this as often as you are able during the day. It's the steady dosing of the Bs that are needed to help turn this around. I use a 400IU human vitamin E once a day.

I know that there are a lot of threads out there that say to repeat the dosing with the Poly and E a few times a day. Maybe for the first day, but you are running the risk of overdose and that carries it's own problems. This is a very fine line to walk and needs to be taken very carefully.

 

[dejavoodoo114]

I got on to ask what was wrong with my chick but it sounds like this. He keeps holding his head twisted upside down... Can you save them when this happens? How? Is he in pain? What causes this?

 

[Haunted55]

I got on to ask what was wrong with my chick but it sounds like this. He keeps holding his head twisted upside down... Can you save them when this happens? How? Is he in pain? What causes this?

He might be, because it is caused by muscle spasms due to vitamin deficiencies. Kind of like a charley horse. Do the treatment and he will start getting better and showing less spasms in a few days time.

 

[HenHustler67]

Thanks for your response. I started her off with a dose of Poly last night early this morning (Midnightish) and some vitamin E. I also put a drop of Poly in her water but she hasn't touched it. I ran out and got some selenium and crushed it up into a small dixie cup and mixed it with water. I gave her a few drops of the water selenium mixture out of a syringe. I will run out and get the B complex right away but when if I have to keep doing these doses via syringe how much should I give her through the syringe every few hours? I was also wondering the exact dose of Poly I should give her and how often. I was not able to find exact numbers when I started looking. Unfortunately I started this in kind of a rush as my daughter was very distraught. Do you have a detailed regimen that you followed by chance. If I can help this chick you will help make a little 7 year old girl very happy.

 

[Eggcessive]

Here is a link to dosages on vitamins for wry neck: http://www.oureggbasket.blogspot.com/2013/04/wry-neck-or-crook-neck-understanding-it.html

 

[HenHustler67]

Update on "Lola": What a difference a couple days makes. She is back to eating on her own. I still have to lead her to water to make sure she is drinking and taking in the vitamin supplements. She still has her tick and her neck will contort from time to time but she is now holding her neck up better. Thank you all for the help my daughter is very happy that her chick is getting better. I am hoping she can rejoin her crate mates by the the end of next week. I will continue to post updates as she progresses

 

[Haunted55]

Update on "Lola": What a difference a couple days makes. She is back to eating on her own. I still have to lead her to water to make sure she is drinking and taking in the vitamin supplements. She still has her tick and her neck will contort from time to time but she is now holding her neck up better. Thank you all for the help my daughter is very happy that her chick is getting better. I am hoping she can rejoin her crate mates by the the end of next week. I will continue to post updates as she progresses

I am so very glad to hear this! It took me two weeks to get my hen well enough to go back with her flockmates but there has been no signs of it coming back at all. The E and the Bs are the trick for this. A lot of the other cures will want you to add prednisone. I never would as it's something not needed for the cure. The selenium added in some can be a help but it needs to be used carefully. If you live in an area that has a high amount of this naturally in your ground, do not add it. Selenium can be a poison in too high amounts. I didn't add that either.

All I did was dissolve 1 Super B Complex in a gallon of water, add a poultry multi vitamin as well and then before I put this waterer in with the bird, I floated the contents of a 400iu vitamin E cap on the drinking water in the dish part of the waterer the bird drinks from. That's it, I did nothing more than that. Both the multi and the Bs were given for 3 days then I just switched to the B Complex and the E.

 

[realsis]

My cases were severe and the predinsone helped greatly with the brain swelling. I have luckily had zero side effects from its use on either bird. They were both 100% with in three weeks. I don't think every case needs predinsone but do believe it helps greatly with the more severe cases. That's when its use comes into play. And a very low milligram should be used. Cases that are not extreme can get by without it but I do believe extreme cases benefit greatly from its use. My cases were extreme. My bird couldn't lift her head and was dragging it between her legs backward. She couldn't walk and was doing flips
and having seizures. She is now 100% and normal back to herself and laying and I defiantly attribute her success to the predinsone and treatments. So depending on severity of the cases predinsone can be a helpful tool towards recovery.