Help! My chicken suddenly is twisting her neck!

[Chiccenlover]

I have a chicken who previously before today was fine and was not sick and she was healthy.
This morning I found her lying on the ground in my chicken coop and was tiwsting her neck aggressivly. I don’t think she will make it, but I dont know what happened. Maybe one of roosters broke her neck because that had happened before to a different chicken. Edit: Right now she isn’t twisting her head aggressivly. But she is making normal chicken sounds and is only moving her head slightl, but one eye is closed and she won’t get up. I have her in a cage with food and water (she isn’t eating or drinking right now) away from the other chickens so they don’t peck her. Hoping for the best.

 

[azygous]

If the chicken has a broken neck, she would be dead. So this is either a spinal column injury or a vitamin E deficiency causing wry neck. Either one, the treatment is vitamin E 400iu. It's the same vitamin E they sell for people. Get it from the pharmacy vitamin aisle. Pry open her beak and shove the gel cap into her mouth. Do that twice today, and once a day until she's behaving normally again.

It sounds like you may have a rooster that would be better off as soup.

 

[Eggcessive]

It sounds like wry neck (torticolis,) which is a neurological symptom of something affecting the brain. The closed eye may be related. It can be from a head injury, a vitamin E deficiency, and is seen in some diseases. Do you know if she was vaccinated for Mareks disease? I would separate her in a dog crate or pen with food and water in a quiet place. Try getting her to drink from a small cup held to her beak. Get some human vitamin E 400 IU softgels, and give one daily. A small amount of scrambled or cooked egg can give selenium as well. Mushy chicken feed with a lot of water mixed in can be offered.

 

[Chiccenlover]

It sounds like wry neck (torticolis,) which is a neurological symptom of something affecting the brain. The closed eye may be related. It can be from a head injury, a vitamin E deficiency, and is seen in some diseases. Do you know if she was vaccinated for Mareks disease? I would separate her in a dog crate or pen with food and water in a quiet place. Try getting her to drink from a small cup held to her beak. Get some human vitamin E 400 IU softgels, and give one daily. A small amount of scrambled or cooked egg can give selenium as well. Mushy chicken feed with a lot of water mixed in can be offered.

I don’t think she was vaccinated for Mareks. I did not know that extreme wry neck could happen overnight. Thanks for the advice, I’ll update if she eats the eggs.

 

[Eggcessive]

I would try the vitamin E, since it can really help if it is vitamin or head injury related. I would not worry about Mareks at this early time. You can puncture the E softgel and just give it to the chicken orally or on food. If she cannot right her head, you may also make some dough balls out of chicken feed and water, and pop one into her beak. Be sure to provide water as well. Here is a video of offering food to a chicken with wry neck:

 

[OwO]

Worth mentioning that inner ear infections can cause neurological-esque symptoms such as wry neck, so check if there's anything in her ears or if they smell

 

[Patchwork Farms]

I've seen it happen suddenly in turkey poults. Lacking selenium found in vitamin E preparations.