Help Floppy neck Silkie Chick!

[Hopefulloflove]

She was fine yesterday..very active and cantackerous ...Today, she can stand but her neck and head hangs almost under her, to one side. It is going to the side of the crop...She still is active, and pecking, drinking eating.. doesn't appear to be in much pain except if her neck is straightened. We did the olive oil and massaged the crop in case of it being crop bind. The crop feels squishy now, not hard like it was, but she is still keeping that neck bent all weird...What could it be??? Please help!! I will cry if she dies!! Oh, she is about 5 weeks old...her nest mates are perfect!

 

[silky ma]

If she is wiggling her head while down , starts to fall over then its Crook Neck..meaning brain swelling from a peck on the head.
I f this is it then go to your vet and get prednisone. This will decrease the brain swelling. Other people treat it with vite and selenium but with mixed results.

 

[sanders2778]

i am following your post ,mine doing same thing for few days now. have not had vet help , long holiday weekend and before that bad storm came our way. mine is still trying to hang on but is weak and is being fed by hand . giving her vit e , b12 and selenium. feeding cooked egg yolk and yogurt , was giving the only antibiotic i could find which was tylan. have stopped that and plan to see vet in morning will let you know what they say.

 

[Hopefulloflove]

Ok..it is definitely crook neck. I am giving her poly visol without iron
Feeding by hand...she is not much better since I started the pv last nite, but ahe is still active, alert. Idont thonk the vet is an option for us. Can human.prednisone work? I believe my mom has some. If I cant get a hold of prednisone, what is the prognosis? What else can I do?
.

 

[sanders2778]

I'm so sorry that i can't help more . i took my girl to vet she gave me a (cocktail) her words . she phoned ms state office and I'm waiting to hear back from them . she told me to continue the tylon antibiotic , 400iu vit E once day , few drops of liquid b12 to her food per day. she stopped the baby aspirin i was giving /added something else to cocktail. when they call back i will keep you informed. at least your girl is alert and active . mine does nothing but sleep until i wake her to eat and and drink , i have to all that by hand,she is partly paralyzed. i don't know about human predisone you will have to search on line sorry .will not forget you will be back when i find out more

sandy

 

[Hopefulloflove]

Ok...I called the vet and took her in...They only charged $30 for the office visit and so I caved... He looked her over and said it's "probably Mareks" but couldnt say difinitively. However, he would NOT even listen to me on the crook neck thing. Said that was too general to diagnose or treat. He wasn't going to do anything for her and I INSISTED he prescribe some Prednisone for her. So I have started that, so I am hoping it will help! I also bought Vitamin E and Selinium. I am going to start that also, along with the PolyVisol that I am already giving her. The vet did tell me before I left, to let him know the outcome. What do you all think? Is it Mareks? I have no experience with that, thankfully! Sanders, Please let me know what you find out!

 

[sanders2778]

the vet called few mins ago said to give .03ml tylan 3 times day ,very small amounts ? of selenium every 3 days, the major component of cocktail is metacam an nsaid or anti inflammatory . she had not heard from state yet said she had no idea when they would call. i guess very busy with hurricane problems and long weekend, like every one else. the vet said it could take weeks for her to get stronger. I'm retired so I'm not going any where , and can make time to hand feed. the main reason she called was to give further instructions on tylan antibiotic, because it's not mainly for poultry.will let you know if i find out any more. she did not mention mareks or anything else for that matter i think so many diseases have same symptom's , and i just don't have that much experience . all i can do is let you know when they call back and be here for any support i can. by the way my visit was $40.00 with meds included. you do what you have to do . one last thing she said not to worry about my children, dogs, cat or me. will not affect us. try to keep close eye on other birds ,keep her away from them and be careful about carrying any thing out to them, now i take care of honey bun and my son takes care of rest of flock. looks like i wrote you a letter,sorry if it got to long. sandy

 

[Hopefulloflove]

Thanks for letting me know. This girl is only 6 weeks old. We are keeping her inside away from all the others. She is just the same. I just don't think it's Marek's. She is not showing any of the symptoms that I have been reading about. She does not have paralysis. I don't understand what the deal is about the vet saying it was Marek's and not listening to anything I say. We will see. I guess time will tell. What did she say about giving Selinium? I have some but wasn't sure on how to give it really...Hmmm...

 

[leadwolf1]

Marek's can and does show up as wry neck. I've lost several to Marek's that presented that way. To me, both of your birds could be Marek's cases. Especially the one that is also exhibiting paralysis. I think that is why the vet put in a call to the state lab. They just didn't want to say anything until they ran it by someone else.

If either one of these birds fail to respond to the vitamin therapy or, gets worse over the next week, you are dealing with something more serious then wry neck or another vitamin deficiency. At that point, I would recommend having them euthanized and necropsies performed. The sooner you find out whether or not you are dealing with Marek's the better for both you and your flocks. I have been dealing with Marek's for over a year now and have lost 40+ birds.

 

[Hopefulloflove]

Leadwolf. Thanks for posting...I will keep that in mind. How fast does Marek's take? Do they get lethargic or anything like that? Hmmm..

Thanks again