Hawk Attack, does my bantam have nerve damage?

[Eggcessive]

And another sling pic: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/609764/my-chicken-sling

Here is a link for wry neck: http://oureggbasket.blogspot.com/2013/04/wry-neck-or-crook-neck-understanding-it.html

 

[mvining]

What a clever idea. I'm going to get my neighbor to watch him tomorrow. He loves my chickens more than I do I believe!

 

[ten chicks]

He may have sustained some damage to his ilium(largest bone of pelvis)the leg(femur)connects to the ilium. Possible pain might be the cause of his not wanting to walk,interesting that he will move legs while lying on his side(i believe this was mentioned in one of the posts)maybe being on his side does cause as much discomfort so he will move legs( i know when i had a back injury,lying on my side was the only way that did not cause intense pain).

Have you tried any pain medication? Keep him warm,encourage eating/drinking. Do not force him to walk,let him heal and take it slow.
Sling is a great idea,unless it is an injury to hip area(ilium,ischium and pubis are the 3 bones that form hip)my concern is that it may cause him pain if using a sling.

 

[mvining]

That seems possible. Would that tie into him not moving his wings? I will take your advice and go slow. Pain meds? Like baby tylenol? I desperately want to know his future, but I believe he will walk again. He's just a few months old and so spunky.
Oh yeah, solid poop this morning.

 

[ten chicks]

That seems possible. Would that tie into him not moving his wings? I will take your advice and go slow. Pain meds? Like baby tylenol? I desperately want to know his future, but I believe he will walk again. He's just a few months old and so spunky.
Oh yeah, solid poop this morning.

For pain relief you can give a low dose aspirin(81mg) or reg aspirin(325mg)dose is 25mg per lb of body weight,crush and place in water or sprinkle over feed or give orally or purchase Metacam from a vet.

You could also try giving vitamins in the B complex family,B12 helps keep nerve and blood cells healthy and B6 is used for nerve compression injuries,some foods that contain B6/B12 are: brewer's yeast,bananas,cereal grains,carrots,spinach,peas,eggs,fish,sunflower seeds,milk,cheese.

 

[mvining]

Okay, again thank you SO much for guiding me. No change today. I took him outside to visit his peeps. He was talking to them, so I think he really enjoyed it.

 

[attilathehen]

Sorry to hear your bird is still not improving too much. I thought I'd write again to let you know what I've been doing for my little silkie. I've decided that she was not attacked by a cat, but pecked on the head by our rooster. My husband saw the rooster bothering her earlier in the day, and she has missing head feathers (but no other missing feathers). I'm fairly sure she has wry neck, although a mild case of it. Her balance is off, she won't walk (although her legs are strong), she keeps putting her head down by her feet (to clean), and she used to be face planting into her bedding. I read a bunch about what to do for wry neck, and decided to try some of the remedies. She seems to be getting better. She now sits upright. She stands up. She has started to cluck here and there. And she started to eat voluntarily (I still have to hand feed her, but she laps it out of the bowl.) Not sure how your rooster is doing, but you can see the regiment I've been giving my bird, and maybe it will help yours.

I got:
From the petco bird section: vita-sol vitamin drops for 5$ (no iron, iron will block absorption of other vitamins) and exact for 5$ (a powdery gruel used to handfeed baby birds).
From my own medicine cabinet: vitamin e capsules
From a friend (but she got it from the vitamin section of a grocery store): selenium 100 mg powdered capsules

Until recently, my bird has refused to eat or drink, so I've been dripping water on top of her beak, and eventually progressed to egg yolks and yogurt. She reluctantly ate it, more out of a reflex than a desire to eat it. And she ate barely anything. I started mixing in the vitamin drops with the water, and that seemed to help. I also made a mixture of 1/2 a selenium capsule with water and some vitamin e, and tried to get her to get some of that too - she got a tiny bit.

I'm not sure if the drops and vitamins started working, if she started feeling better or what... but yesterday, she seemed to take the food a little bit more willingly. So, I made a mixture of the exact gruel (1.5 teaspoons of the powder with 5-6 teaspoons of water), mixed in half of a selenium capsule, and a vitamin e capsule (they need both together, the selenium helps the bird absorb vitamin e), and a few drops of the vita-sol. (Careful not to give too much selenium, it can be toxic in high dosages - I read 50 mg was acceptable for a day.) I mixed it in a shallow dish, held the bird on my lap, and submerged the tip of her beak (taking care to avoid her nostrils) into the mixture. She started lapping it up! She took maybe 1 teaspoon, then refused to take any more. So I let her rest. And repeated the process a few hours later - she took another teaspoon. It's very encouraging. She seems to be getting peppier! And it is certainly the most she has eaten at once in the last few days. Too soon to say if it will be totally successful, but so far so good!

If your birds is still acting funny, I'd recommend giving it a try. Even if it is nerve damage and not Wry Neck, the two are basically the same thing, so it might help. Although wry neck/nerve damage resulting from injury (as opposed to genetics or bad nutrition) can be harder to treat, the treatment is still basically to boost the bird's nutrition. There doesn't seem to be much else to do... Good Luck.

 

[mvining]

Your care for your silkie is outstanding. I'm taking all the advice and putting it into a regime. I took the B vitamin advice and make my rooster a smoothie with a lot of those ingredients. I buzzed it all in my Nutribullet, and he loves it. Now I can add the pain meds and vitamins, because he drinks his smoothie right up. I add a little chick feed on the top for crunch. ; ) Today, I checked in on him and at one point he had sat himself up!! That is a good sign, isn't it?...the fact that he can put weight in his legs? He even opened his wings slightly. I'm also giving him some Pedialyte every now and then as well as one dose of the PolyViSol. I don't know what the future holds, but he doesn't seem sickly anymore, just handicapped.
You guys are great, thank you BYC.

 

[attilathehen]

Thanks! I feel a little bit silly pouring so much into a little silkie. But at this point, it's an interesting learning experience for me, and I'm curious to see if she can recover! It's probably not a very practical solution for a large chicken farm or anything, but I've accepted that this silkie has become a pet. Good luck with your rooster. His signs of improvement are certainly encouraging, and the fact that he is eating without tons of assistance is great.