Crazy chick disease? Day old chick

[Californiasilkie]

Hello all, we recently hatched our first chick ever from my aunt's neighbors frizzle (it may be a silkie frizzle mix). We are very new to this and noticed that the little one tucks its head and walks backward. It seems ok for a moment but then back to the tuck and backward. Also very unstable when normally walking. Is there anything I can do beyond vitamin E and chick vitamins? This is our only chick so far as the other eggs did not fully develop and some were not even fertilized. Thank you very much in advance and we look forward to becoming part of the community!

 

[StaffordshireLady]

WELCOME!!
This is one one of the best sites that I have ever been on for solving problems and getting support.
What ever happens please keep us up to date so that we can all learn from it.

 

[Nigel27]

Has it walked forward or only backwards? How old is it? Can it drink or peck?

 

[Rainwing]

probably wry neck or something neurological, judging from how it walks backwards and especially how it tucks its head between its legs. if you had heat fluctuations during incubation, this could be the cause. supplement it with vitamins and hand feed, make sure it has plenty of liquids. silkies have a hole in their head so they're prone to this.
https://www.browneggblueegg.com/Article/Crookneck/Crookneck.html
here is treatment. they say to use prednisone for treatment, but it's a prescription medication so i'm not sure how you'd attain that in the first place.
here's a quote
"The Most Important Treatment

It is important to be sure your bird gets enough to eat and drink while she has this problem. Birds with severe cases of crookneck can't eat and drink enough to survive. You will need to gently place their head in the feed dish and carefully dip just the tip of the beak in water. Be careful not to dip too far into the water and to not stress the bird while trying to help.

In severe cases, you will need to use a hand feeding syringe and hand rearing formula for cage birds. My boy Spot had to be hand fed for 2 months but he survived to father lots of healthy chicks.

If you and your bird are lucky, hand feeding and vitamins will be all that is needed."

 

[Californiasilkie]

Thank you for the responses! It’s 3 days old now and has stared eating, pecking and drinking water... we have been giving 400IU vitamin E with water from a dropper the past two days as well as adding “chick vitamins” to its water. It walks forward and holds its head up for a bit but has “episodes” where it tucks and runs backward. Also chirps and sings, sleeps an awful lot, sometimes shoots one leg out and drops to the ground.

 

[KDOGG331]

Do you have any poultry nutri drench or rooster booster? I think I’ve heard of people using those with success and they might be a little stronger than the chick ones and more broad spectrum than just vitamin E just in case. I’ve never used the rooster booster one but have used nutri drench on a chick with wry neck once and it seemed to work well. Not sure if wry neck is the same thing as what your chick has going on though so hopefully someone will be able to help more.