help! wry neck?

[lisha85]

I have 3 welsh harlequins that are about 20 weeks. I came home and they were all perfectly fine. About an hour and a half later I noticed one of my females head was cocked to the side and she was walking around in circles. I watched her for quite some time and she did continue to eat, forage, and drink ok but her neck seems to be stuck like that. I looked up some things about wry neck but I do not know much about it. This is my first time owning ducks and we all love them! Any advice is appreciated! Thank you in advance!

 

[Amiga]

@lisha85

Does sound like wry neck. B vitamins seem to help quite a bit. Here is a compilation I wrote a while back, talking about niacin and B vitamin supplements. There are a couple of links that I think you may find helpful also - especially the one about Bentley.

You have some options.

I would go with brewer's yeast. Forgive me for using capital letters, but for anyone else who may casually look over this thread, NOT baking yeast, NOT winemaking yeast. Brewer's yeast is a nutritional supplement and it provides niacin and a few other vitamins.

Generally, folks who supplement with brewer’s yeast use a tablespoon per cup of food.

Ducklings need about three times the niacin chicks do. And some ducklings get leg problems or seizures if they don't have enough niacin.

If you cannot find the brewer's yeast, or if you happen to have (here come the capital letters again, please forgive me) PLAIN niacin - NOT no-flush, NOT timed release, then dissolve 150 mg niacin per gallon of water for the duckling’s drinking water.

Another approach is to use B Complex capsules, and use the B3 - niacin - levels as a guide. Again, 150 mg B3 per gallon of drinking water.


Keep the little one on the supplements for about 8 weeks.

Sometimes it only takes a few days to see improvement.

You can also see how it went for Qwackers and Bentley from these threads.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/857143/treating-wry-neck-in-crested-duckling-edited-title

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/761308/peking-duckling-with-crooked-neck-help

 

[lisha85]

I am very happy to repot today my duck was all better. Maybe she just tweaked her neck or something. I guess we will never know! Just happy she is ok!