Head-trauma induced wry neck

[BuckeyeFoodie]

Hi all,

I have a 4 month old silkie cockeral that has developed wry neck after getting badly pecked in the head by my evil broody Ayam Cemani hen (I can see the spot on his head where she hot him).

My question is when do I stop giving him the vitamin cocktail?? It's been 4 days since I found him injured, and he's at home in the brooder with my Littles. I've been giving him vitamin e, selenium, vit b complex, and poultry nutri-drench every morning when I tube-feed him water. He's slowly improving, and is able to feed himself between wry-neck "episodes", but I'm concerned about vitamin e toxicity.

I've tried to find info about safe dosing for poultry, but it's not really out there that I've found.

I've also been holding him and help to stabilize his neck several times a day (it must feel good because he always naps when I do this), but I found conflicting advice about gently stretching his neck in the opposite direction?

Any help you can give me would be great!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I've been giving him vitamin e, selenium, vit b complex, and poultry nutri-drench every morning when I tube-feed him water. He's slowly improving, and is able to feed himself between wry-neck "episodes", but I'm concerned about vitamin e toxicity.

I've also been holding him and help to stabilize his neck several times a day (it must feel good because he always naps when I do this), but I found conflicting advice about gently stretching his neck in the opposite direction?

Are you having to tube feed him food too?

I would give him 400IU Vitamin E and 1/4 tablet B-Complex. Give him a little scrambled egg for the Selenium.
Cut out the PND and Selenium tablet (Selenium can be toxic if overdosed).
You can give the E and B-Complex for a couple of weeks.
Offer wet feed and keep him hydrated.
Since it's injury induced symptoms, then you may want to consider an antibiotic like Amoxicillin to help with inflammation and infection (like water on the brain in Silkies). Fish Mox can be ordered online.
I don't know about stretching the neck, but have read where some do gently give a massage.

Not sure if you've seen this, but it may help with feeding and/or care.

 

[sassychickens76]

Did he recover?

 

[BuckeyeFoodie]

Did he recover?

Yes and no? I was forced to move and couldn't keep him separated from the main flock, so he's improving, but slower than if I could keep him in my home for individual attention vs. Being in the run. He's able to hold his head upright, but he also has spells of being bent down. He's eating and drinking though, so I'll give him all the time he needs.

 

[BuckeyeFoodie]

So I wanted to pop back and give an update since it's been almost two months - I would say he is probably 90-95% better. He still has rare moments where his head is upside-down, but it's not the completely uncontrollable thing that it was when he was initially injured. I normally add vitamin e to my Silkie's feed, and I genuinely feel that it helped because I could see a marked recovery plateau during the 10 days I ran out and wasn't adding it, followed by rapid improvement when re-introduced.

Fingers crossed, he seems to be back on track to being a happy, healthy boy. I can't wait for him to finish maturing so I can cross him with his lady friends!