Crooked neck and walks in circles......help our girl

[KeyPenCoop]

One of our favorite hens has a twisted neck........poor girl......

We noticed about a week ago that she was twisting her head to the right and was having balancing problems......now she walks in right circles, pecks at food/water kind of sideways. Weve been bringing her in at night and she sleeps with her head completely upside-down. Weve also seperated her from our flock as were not sure if she 'has something' or not. It doesn't seem as though she's had any kind of injury and it doesn't seem to be getting any better. She is even still laying, though we aren't eating her eggs without knowing what's up with her. It's like a paralysis?

Any ideas or possibilities of what could be wrong with her?? She's very clumbsy when first put out in the morning, and seems 'uneven' all day. She's eating and doesn't appear to be in any pain.......

 

[FrizzleFreak]

Well, I don't want to gross you out, but when we killed our roo, it was very similar, but obviously to a greater extent. We whacked his head with a stick. So, definitely head trauma or other damage.
I can't think of any diseases that would cause this, but thepoultrysite.com has a very comprehensive list of diseases, and possibly injuries, I can't remember.
Sorry if that's listing a competing site, but it's worth checking their disease index.

 

[Renee]

Hi there,
There are a number of causes of this, and you might want to do a search for "crooked neck".

Sometimes it is a vitamin deficiency, so you should go get some bird vitamins asap.

If you can't find AviaCharge 2000 or a similar product, you can go to the market and get liquid baby vitamins like PolyVisol and put a few drops on her beak twice a day or so.

Good luck.

 

[Momma_Cluck]

sounds like a head trauma hun... sorry!!!!

 

[ruth]

Sounds like a vitamin deficiency to me too. Give the Poly-Vi-Sol - several drops a day in her beak. Feed her some scrambled egg. Add vitamin/electrolytes to her water. Chickens can suffer from vitamin B deficiency.

 

[Poohbear]

Rancid or wet grain, eating maggots from dead animals, rat poison, poison plants or raw sewage may be your problem. Like a form of botulism. Get some new grain feed and try it away from the old feed. First you need to keep her from dying though. Bread soaked in milk and small pieces pushed into the beak may help. Bread and milk. Some water two or three times a day. Keep her warm and dry, sitting in an upright position till she can stand without falling. antibiotics for a few days in the water or by injection. Just my guess.

 

[Guinea Goonie]

What bred is your hen please. If it is a silkie there is an answer for you. If not, then you have a problem I do not know about.

 

[sammi]

Poly-vi-sol liquid baby vitamins..Enfamil brand if possible, no iron..
give 3 drops once a day on beak..the taper off for another week.
(as Ruth posted)..
here is more info:

http://www.browneggblueegg.com/Article/Crookneck/Crookneck.html

wouldn't hurt to check the area for any source of possible poisoning, moldy feed, or botulism as posted..

 

[mainchick]

do you have a silkie? this is a common problem with them.

 

[KeyPenCoop]

Wow!! You guys are AWESOME!!! I was gone all day(b-day thing) and just now got home to come in here to see if there were any responses...... WOW!
So we get home and I have my SO drop me off down at the coops, she thinks I am nuts

, so I can bring our hen up here to the house as weve been doing at night. I am almost sure she is a sex-link. So I have her in her box right here next to me now; I should take you guys a pic......she's sleeping, comfortably from the looks. But anyway, I forgot all of my chores that didn't get done today.......I was just reminded as I was reading all of these replies.......

So, I am thinking and hoping it's one of these curable ideas that have been brought up--I am quite sure it's not an injury. Their grain and feed are stored in their coop( I have a 'shop' side to it) and I keep it sealed away from the moisture as I did have some chick crumble out last spring and it molded..... Their outside pen area has been muddy, even though I ad sand over and over....... The coop: I am doing the deep-litter method with the white shavings(pine?). I keep mixing it up and adding to it with fresh shavings, add a couple cups of DE..... No smell in there whatsoever. And it's dry: I have it heated and have also added a red heat lamp in one of the corners<--so now they are always up and wanting treats if they hear me coming.....which brings up one of my possible mistakes: I 've been throwing them scratch and oyster-shell right in on the floor(could there be something rotting, growing, or??, that she might have eaten off of the floor??).

Okay....... We had a few rats last summer..... One was pretty big and VERY healthy and actually scared the poop out of me one night. So we have no more rats.......Yep: Poison

I used those little waffer things with the hole in the middle that are about an inch sq x 1/2" thick...... and I screwed (most of) them down. I did this outside too, not in their house. But I am willing to bet that somehow a piece of one got in there. Why else would not more of them be affected?? I have 10 hens in there(their side of the coop is like 8' x 10').

They eat regular layer pellets from from a local drive-thru feed store, scratch(cracked corn, ??), oyster-shell, grit, dinner scraps(no meat yet), grass, leafs, bread, and I make them special cookies with their feeds and add bird seed, oats, mollasses, egg.........

spoiled? Could they still be lacking vitamins??

So for tonight, she's asleep. In the morning I am going to see if our Del's has the Aviacharge2000, if not, get the infamil-Poly vi sol and do the drops on the beek, the vitamin water w/electrolites....... first thing in the morning when I get up I will soak her some bread in milk and share my scrambled eggs with her. She has been trying to eat but her beek lands sideways and it's hard for her......she holds her head up and it just like bobs up and down(and by down I mean upside down....)Poor thing.....

I thank all of you so much for your help and ideas and understanding!! I do realize it is highly possible that it is head trauma of some sort, from what, I have no idea...... But we will hope not and do what we can for our girl...... My mom said today, "It's just a chicken," as she happily accepted all of the eggs we brought them......hearing the story about the hen....... I wanted to tell her I could care less if she ever layed another egg again----she's part of our family.......just like the pther nine.....especially now that we only have one kid left at home......

So I guess only you guys understand that

I will follow this up with you guys, if your curious, tomorrow afternoon. I will try to get a pic too......

Thanks again to all of you!!!!!