Face suddenly swollen, spots on comb and wattles, head shaking

[Bawkbok]

We inspected her vent on a regular, almost daily basis, she always looked healthy and clean, never any mites or lice or ticks that we could see. We keep the layer, roost and run impeccably clean, refreshing the food every day, yes, a lot of wasted food but I'm anal that way. Fresh clean water multiple times a day. Poop was healthy and looked normal.
Our biggest problem as of late is the mosquito infestation. living in northern FL we are receiving rains every day and recently 9" of rain with the tropical system - Debby. The mosquitos are impossible to control with all the wet vegetation everywhere.

Biggest concern now is if the problem is contagious or transferrable to the other hens, both vaccinated, about 5 months of age, not laying yet.

What we've done - stripped the layer, the roost and run clean, power washed, soap and vinegar, all new pine shavings, hemp pads, fresh hay daily and I always sprinkle a light amount of DE in the layer and roost to control insects and bugs in addition to using PDZ in the layer. I have mite/lice spray that I occasionally use inside the roost.

Is stargazing curable / treatable?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Update. We thought we were turning the corner on this issue until yesterday happened. Her face was still a little swollen but better. She was foraging fine yesterday morning with a slight tilt of her neck to the right but was eating / drinking, acting and foraging as normal. When I went to let them out for afternoon forage, she was in the roost which at that time of the day was completely abnormal. When she saw the door open, she flew smack into the wire cage, missing the door by 6 inches. I noticed the tilt was worse and when I brought her in for inspection, her head was completely tilted to the right side. Her neck was extremely rigid in an S shape. I straightened it out and it would go immediately back. In referring to The Chicken Health handbook by Gail Damerow, I suspected an inner ear infection so we started her on amoxicillan thinking if there were a bacterial infection it might help. Her face had a dime sized hard lump so we no longer thought of insect bite but a tumor or some other injury? She had been receiving vitamins, was treated for respiratory infection, although never presented with any symptoms and is on quality layer feed. She laid a (soft shelled) egg every day.

This morning, she never came out of the roost. I found her on her belly looking up at the sky - her neck in a 180 degree angle. I tried to straighten her neck and she whimpered in pain. I actually could not straighten it. I tried to stand her up, but her toes were curled in a tight fist. She flapped wildly but failed to stand. We waited, deliberated, waffled back and forth on what to do, is this fixable? Did she injure her head when hitting the cage wall (?) yesterday although nothing else was apparent. Back to the handbook, it explains stargazing, but does not provide any indication (that I could find) on if this is treatable - and if so - how? She could not eat, drink or navigate on her own. She isolated herself in far corners.

Since my last writing, we treated her for respiratory infection as recommended, in addition to the vitamins, that didn't seem to change things. Her head would tilt sideways and then seem to be better, but never upright. This head tilting seemed to wax and wane, better, never normal, then worse again over the past week. Every time I would try to straighten it out, it would go right back to skyward. The toes curled and her inability to stand smacked of neurological issues.

Being a new chicken momma of only 6 months, I am learning as much as possible but there is so much I don't understand. We are not able to properly accommodate or care for a special needs chicken (manually feeding every day) due to lack of resources, schedules and time. I could not watch her linger in pain. We made the hard choice to dispatch her - my favorite hen. Right or wrong - I am devastated and heart sick. Curiosity did not outweigh emotional pain, so I did not perform a necropsy. I am mortified this happened.

Can someone please help me understand for future knowledge if Stargazing is fixable and how to treat it? I am just sick.

Pictures where taken last night. first one is me trying unsuccessfully to pull her neck straight, it reflects the hard lump on her face. second picture is her sitting on lap, right side of face to the floor.
then this morning, no pic, of her completely stargazing.

Wyorp Rock - if you're out there what are your thoughts? What did I do wrong? What should I have done differently? I'm beside myself in anguish. Thank you for your insight.

I should mention, she was purchased as a pullet and was 7 months old, she did not receive the Marek's vaccine.

Thank you to anyone for any insight.

We inspected her vent on a regular, almost daily basis, she always looked healthy and clean, never any mites or lice or ticks that we could see. We keep the layer, roost and run impeccably clean, refreshing the food every day, yes, a lot of wasted food but I'm anal that way. Fresh clean water multiple times a day. Poop was healthy and looked normal.
Our biggest problem as of late is the mosquito infestation. living in northern FL we are receiving rains every day and recently 9" of rain with the tropical system - Debby. The mosquitos are impossible to control with all the wet vegetation everywhere.

Biggest concern now is if the problem is contagious or transferrable to the other hens, both vaccinated, about 5 months of age, not laying yet.

What we've done - stripped the layer, the roost and run clean, power washed, soap and vinegar, all new pine shavings, hemp pads, fresh hay daily and I always sprinkle a light amount of DE in the layer and roost to control insects and bugs in addition to using PDZ in the layer. I have mite/lice spray that I occasionally use inside the roost.

Is stargazing curable / treatable?

Is stargazing curable / treatable?

I'm so sorry to hear about your hen.

I think you made the right call. Very hard decision to make and it's heartbreaking, but she's no longer in pain.

Stargazing/Wry Neck/Crookneck...are all names used to describe Neurological Symptoms. A few common causes of this symptom are Marek's disease, trauma, genetics and/or nutritional deficiency.

Is the symptom treatable? Yes, in certain instances, it can be treated with vitamin therapy and a bird recovers. Sometimes the symptom can become chronic, the bird gets better only to relapse over and over. Other times, the symptom never resolves and the bird doesn't make it.

There are no easy answers I'm afraid. Treatment for Wry Neck is to give 400IU Vitamin E and 1/4 tablet B-Complex daily. Give a little egg or tuna to help with the uptake of E.
Results usually are not immediate, it can take weeks for symptoms to improve, if at all.

 

[Bawkbok]

Thank you for your response and the explanation. We are heart sick over this and can't believe it happened. We've been through so much with this girl in her short life so poor genetics coupled with no vaccines makes sense. What a trooper she was. I suppose it's normal to second guess ones' decision and actions over and over. I loved her too much to see her struggling so and in pain. The other two littles (4 months age) are lost without their leader. Onward we must go. I appreciate your expertise.