Help! Possible wry neck, heavy feather loss, walking backwards...

[Broody_Mama]

Just an update in case anyone does a search later with similar issues -

I'm so glad I gave my chicky more time before putting her down.

I treated using Vitamin E and Selenium. I used poly vi sol for the first couple of days, but it was hard for me to pry her beak open to administer and I was scared to drown her in the fluid. So I instead gave her treats of sunflower seeds (deshelled and unsalted) for Vit E and canned tuna in water for selenium (OMG, chickens LOVE tuna!!). I also gave her some scrambled eggs, which she loved, and squirted a little poly vi sol in her water for a couple days.

She got worse on day 2, but little by little she got better each day thereafter. It took about a week for her to seem mostly OK and another week before I could hardly differentiate her from the other australorp. She's perfectly fine now!

She does seem slower in her reaction times than the others, so my best guess on her wry neck cause is that she knocked her head and had/has damage.

My advise if your chicken develops wry neck is definitely to treat with vitamin e and to just be patient.

Here's a picture of all my girls enjoying their morning snack yesterday

 

[Sarahh_Janeyy]

Hey there, I want to offer my input. First, here are two threads about what we went through with our chicken:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/feathering-in-speckled-sussex.1368639/
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...ex-need-advice-on-care-not-treatment.1379931/

I read your post and a few things- it can be hereditary that your chicken is deficient in thiamine, some chickens just need more thiamine- more than what is in their food. It could be that your chicken's gut biota is lacking and doesn't have the necessary microbes available to process vitamins and absorb them correctly- that's one thing we did different from a lot of posts on BYC. When we brought our chicken to the vet, he did a fecal and found she had close to zero gut bacteria- he recommended bene-bac probiotic supplements. We used the gel at first, but now we buy a tub and we sprinkle all their treats with it.
https://www.chewy.com/petag-bene-bac-plus-bird-reptile-gel/dp/281162?
https://www.chewy.com/petag-bene-bac-plus-bird-reptile/dp/213530?

Which brings me to supplements- having a concentrated source of vitamin E and thiamine is definitely going to help an acute case. Our vet had given us a mix he made, but before we got that, we tried the polyvisol and the selenium from the drug store. Since our chicken recovered, we've started giving her regular treats mixed/coated with Nutri-drench Poultry: https://www.premier1supplies.com/p/nutri-drench-for-poultry

This stuff is a miracle. We've had a few relapses where she'll fall off her roost at night and when we start giving her this stuff in her treats, she regains her balance again in a day or two.

We also dust their treats with Brewer's yeast for extra B vitamins: https://www.chewy.com/thomas-labs-brewers-yeast-powder-dog/dp/189036

We just mix all this into either plain greek yogurt, flygrubs, scratch mix (if it's cold out), on top of melon, fruit, berries, etc. We just mix everything up and feed to the entire flock and try to help the special needs chicken get some first. Sometimes she doesn't really want it, but she usually gets enough to keep her from having issues.

I hope all this helps!