Chicken with head down and twitching slightly

[farmprojects13]

Hi Everyone,
I'm a new chicken owner since the end of August and have my first sick chicken. This morning we found her standing next to the food head slightly ruffled (not body) with her head almost touching the floor. By noon I removed her from the rest of the flock and she is still standing with her head down, beak sometimes touching the ground and her head is twitching slightly every few seconds. She pecked at the food and seemed to drink once never bringing her head up though.

I called the vet and he gave me a 5 dollar antibiotic though from my description over the phone he didn't think it sounded good. The antibiotic is a small bottle for a gallon of water. I feel like the waterer takes up the majority of the crate she's in so she doesn't have enough room to lay down. I put water in a small dish but she just steps in it and gets all the bedding wet. I haven't given her the antibiotic yet because I haven't figured out how to do it in the space she's in.

Anyone have any thoughts on what is going on with her? Also, any ideas on giving her water in something other than a dish or a chicken waterer?

Any advice would be very welcome since I'm feeling very lost at the moment.

thank you in advance!

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Well I have seen that with an injury before - lasted about 24-48 hours and resolved spontaneously.

See this also:
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/publications/6/diseases-of-poultry/218/vitamin-e-deficiency
see 3rd pic

There are diseases that cause twisted necks also but I don't know what the diagnosis is for your girl. I hope she gets better soon!
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ps044
diagnosis charts at bottom

 

[Eggcessive]

This won't add much to helping you, but if I have to confine a chicken to a crate I will use empty cat food containers, and you can punch holes in them and wire them or tie twine to them to place them on the wall of the crate. I found some plastic bowls that screw into the cage wire at my farm store.