Chicken Stretching Neck Funny and Shaking Head

[jennkretz]

Hi all! Sorry in advance for the long post, but any help you can provide would be greatly appreciated!

We have a Buff Orpington Hen (about 3 years old) - who has been stretching her neck funny and shaking her head for the last couple of days (I think I noticed this Friday PM or Saturday AM). Last night, after she went to bed, I picked her up and inspected her. Nothing seems to be down her throat (I looked in there with a flashlight first, then stuck my finger down there) and her rump doesn't feel like there's an egg stuck. My husband found this and then I felt it - it seems like her neck has a crook in it. Could this happen? Her crop feels OK, but if you press firmly on either side of her neck, sometimes she would gurgle. When we put her back in the coop, she spit up some bile or liquid (maybe from putting my finger in her throat). Otherwise she is acting normally and I believe she's still laying. Have you heard of anything like this? Is there something I should do? Thank you in advance and I hope you had a WONDERFUL day!

 

[Eggcessive]

Do not press around her crop—that can cause her to choke if food comes back up from the crop into the throat. Can you post a picture of her or a video posted to YouTube with a link posted here? Is her neck staying twisted as they do in wry neck, or is she twisting it to adjust her crop? Sometimes they can get an impacted crop full of grasses or other material and have an impacted crop. Is she drinking a lot of water? If her neck is staying twisted, then that could be wry neck, which is treated with Vitamin E and Thiamine (Bitamin B 1.)

 

[jennkretz]

Eggcessive - here you go.

I'm being told maybe a type of worm??

If so, which dewormer should I get? So confused. Thanks in advance!

 

[jennkretz]

She also looks like she may have been "drooling" - some of the feathers down her front are wet.

 

[Eggcessive]

Look inside her throat with a light to see if there is any gunk or yellow patches. Can you feel her crop (don’t press on it) and tell us if it feels full and puffy or hard? Does she do the neck movement almost constantly or just at times? This type of movement usually is due to an impacted crop problem, but it can sometimes be a neurological symptom, especially if the crop feels empty early in the morning before she has eaten.

If you would like to worm you chickens for most any type of worm, you can use Valbazen or SafeGuard Liquid Goat Wormer or horse paste. Valbazen dosage is 1/2 ml for a 5-6 pound chicken given orally once and again in 10 days. Safeguard dosage iz 1/4 ml per pound given for 5 consecutive days. Most feed stores carry SafeGuard and if you cannot find Valbazen, you cannget it online.

 

[jennkretz]

Thank you thank you! You are awesome! I want to get this girl feeling better asap. She - and I - Thank you!

 

[Spook241]

I know this thread is over a year old now, however thought it would be worth a try getting an answer.
This is exactly what my hen is doing at the moment and I was wanting to know did you find out what it was? And what did you do to fix it?

Many thanks

 

[CeriseB]

I know this thread is over a year old now, however thought it would be worth a try getting an answer.
This is exactly what my hen is doing at the moment and I was wanting to know did you find out what it was? And what did you do to fix it?

Many thanks

I have a girl who overheated today and is doing something similar but more of a headshake and a yawk/beak smacking. Not sure if it's the heat or something else I didn't notice sooner and also curious the results of this post.