Chicken has a crooked neck. Not wry neck.

[Chik-InnMamaTata22]

I have an almost 3 month old chick that has a crooked neck. We got her and 21 others, when they were 2 days old (the person who ordered the "day old chicks", never showed up to get them and they were due to be "disposed" of, so we rescued them.) We had no clue of the different breeds they are or the sexes. The hatchery they came from was no help to us, because we didn't order them, so I had to wait until they got older. They're all females, different breeds. They were all fine growing up in the brooder. No worms, no deficiencies, etc. This girl, however, decided at the age of 1 month, that she would try to escape from the brooder. She got stuck. We got her out, no problems, no injuries. Well, two days later, she did it again. I wasn't home this time and my daughter found her, stuck again. She had helped her out. She was fine. Then a few days later, we noticed her neck turned to the right. I thought about isolating her, thinking it was wry neck, but her gait was good and she was able to eat and drink just fine. Again, no parasites, poop normal, everything good other than her head turned.. I gave them all nutridrench and extra vitamins also, thinking it may be a vitamin deficiency.. So, then, we decided to just keep an eye on her. Unfortunately, it never got better, but it hasn't gotten worse either. She can do everything that the other girls can do, except now, I think she is being bullied because she doesn't want to go in the coop to roost at night. She will fall asleep on their swing and want to sleep there. So I have to pick her up and put her in there, but she will sleep where I put her and wait for me to open the door at 0600 to run out into their run. I haven't visually seen anyone bully her but I'm wondering if it's due to her "deformity".. Is there anyone who has dealt with this before? Is there anything we can do to help her neck now or is it too late? What should we do? I don't want to cull her, because she acts fine and eats and deficates well, Her neck is just turned to the right. Any help, thoughts, ideas or experiences, would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!

 

[Tookie]

Wry neck can be caused by injury to the head, so she may have it. I would give her vitamin E and selenium. Here's an article.->
https://www.backyardchickensmama.com/how-do-you-treat-wry-neck-in-chickens/

 

[Eggcessive]

That is wry neck or torticolis. It can be hereditary, from a vitamin E or thiamine deficiency, a head injury, and in some cases, a symptom of certain diseases. Treatment is vitamin E 400IU and a little extra thiamine daily. Give with a small amount of scrambled or chopped egg which contains selenium. Human vitamins are fine. Thiamine is in most vitamins and B complex.

 

[Chik-InnMamaTata22]

That is wry neck or torticolis. It can be hereditary, from a vitamin E or thiamine deficiency, a head injury, and in some cases, a symptom of certain diseases. Treatment is vitamin E 400IU and a little extra thiamine daily. Give with a small amount of scrambled or chopped egg which contains selenium. Human vitamins are fine. Thiamine is in most vitamins and B complex.

Thank you so very much. I will go back to giving the vitamins again. I tried for 2 weeks and saw no improvement. Should I just keep going even longer? I was told not to over do it because the vitamins can harm her.

 

[Chik-InnMamaTata22]

Wry neck can be caused by injury to the head, so she may have it. I would give her vitamin E and selenium. Here's an article.->
https://www.backyardchickensmama.com/how-do-you-treat-wry-neck-in-chickens/

Thank you. I am apparently very uneducated on wry neck lol. When I was growing up, we had a chicken hatch with it, so I assumed that it would have had to of been hatched with wry neck to have it. I appreciate the help.

 

[Chik-InnMamaTata22]

Wry neck can be caused by injury to the head, so she may have it. I would give her vitamin E and selenium. Here's an article.->
https://www.backyardchickensmama.com/how-do-you-treat-wry-neck-in-chickens/

She also has no difficulty with holding her head up, standing, eating, etc. That's why I'm confused.

 

[Djkarp]

I had this problem with a batch of polish chicks that I got from someone online. It was a horrible mess that I learned a lot from. I lost most of them and also lost some of my existing flock. Without going into all the details of the nightmare I can tell you what slowed it down and helped and continues to help is sunflower seeds, it has the selenium and vitamin e and they all love it! You don’t want to feed too much because it will loosen their stools up, I just supplement once a week or so. I only have a couple of the polish girls left a year later, their necks never did straighten back all the way but they are happy, healthy and giving us an egg a day. I hope this helps you.

 

[Tookie]

How is she doing?