Help!! chick walking backward with head down!

[2overeasy]

Just found my 4wk old columbian wyandotte chick with her head and neck tucked way down in a separate corner of the brooder. I noticed yesterday that she very oddly ran backwards for quite a few steps with her head tucked under. I just thought it was an oddity.
She is the chick that I posted on the other day but never got any responses. She is not really feathering out and has bald spots. I've tried research and found crook/wry neck but I'm still not sure I understand if that's it. She's on medicated feed. It's 9:30 at night right now and I have no way to get anything from a store til morning.
What do I do??

 

[2overeasy]

Sheesh! What do you have to do to get a post answered here? I ask legitimate questions about real problems and nothing. I've done my research first, or I wouldn't post. I'm fairly new at this, and just learning, so this is where I come for help. The person who posted about her angst over eating Lindt chocolate chicks got 5 pages!

The posts I've read about wry neck have to do, it seems, with older chicks/chickens. This is a wee one. It's late and I've nothing to give her in the way of vitamins. I have vitamin E oil that I use to put on my cuticles but I don't think that would work. She's in the house now, and has eaten some scrambled eggs.

If anyone has anything to offer, I would be most appreciative.

Thanks

 

[welasharon]

You have to be a bit patient. I can't answer your question as I have no clue and just now saw the post. There are lots of posts and sometimes your post can go pages (and hours) before an answer. It doesn't mean no one cares....just that the ones who have seen it had no helpful info and the ones who may could help have not seen it yet. Hopefully you will get someone to help you. In the meantime I think bringing her in and feeding her the egg was a good start. Good luck!

 

[tinydancer87]

Sounds like wry neck...I had a silkie get it once, she eventually got better but was really never the same as far as posture. But silkies and polish are more prone to it bc of their vaulted skulls. I read somewhere that massaging the neck can help...

Maybe try some antibiotics just in case, and give her a little time and TLC. Hopefully someone else will chime in with more advice. Poor chickie.

 

[2overeasy]

Thank you for responding! I try to be patient.

I've just had 2 posts that never got answered (still don't know what to do on those!). And now this one is a bit of an emergency...
I've read that Silkies are prone to it. i watched a video of one silkie chick doing the exact same thing my Wyandotte is doing.
Should I give her more of the medicated chick feed (someone on another post said you shouldn't)? What about the layer crumbles I give my grown hens? And how much egg is too much?

 

[hennyannie]

I had this happen to a SLW this year. He lived. I tried a bit of everything, antibotics, vitamins, so forth. But I think what bought him through it was I kept trying to get food in him because he was losing weight. I gave yogurt sugar water and starter soup and in a couple days I seen him eating on his own.

 

[hennyannie]

By the way I noticed before hand that this chick was not growing and feathering out like the others before he became sick like you mentioned.He also was running forward not backward. He seemed to not be able to stop long enough to eat or drink.

 

[2overeasy]

Can you tell me more about "yogurt sugar water" and "starter soup?" What do you mean, exactly? Can I use some of my fruit flavored yogurt in her water?

 

[Yay Chicks!]

Quote:
I'm sorry, I'm not going to be much help. However, I can tell you that it would not be good for your chick to feed it layer crumbles. The high level of calcium in layer feed is not good for chicks.

Hope you get some more definitive answers soon.

 

[2overeasy]

Yes!! Same with mine. I posted a few days ago about this chick not feathering out and growing like the others. Wow, I wonder why the two symptoms seem to go together - at least in these two cases...