Hen twisting her neck

[dobby13]

I have a hen that twists her neck and stumbles backwards. She was brought in and will eat and drink if you hold a bowl where she can see it or tap it to get her attention.She never holds her head up,always down and somewhat twisted.My wife and I have been watering and feefing her and she poops so she must be feeding & drinking.Her feathers are shiny and her comb is erect and pink.What's up?

 

[ILOVELEGHORNS]

Lymphoid Leukosis, Marek's Disease, Newcastle Disease (domestic), Newcastle Disase (exotic), Poisoning or genetics

 

[back15]

I am a new owner, less than 1 month. I found my healthy hen in the pen 2 nights ago twisting and tucking her head, only one eye looking up and moving in little circles. She is eating but have removed her from the others. I saw your post and wondered what became of your hen that did this?

 

[Sebright18]

This was exactly the same case for my Buff Orpington and it is not a very nice sight!!

I hatched out a buff, a couple of years back ago and she got stuck whilst hatching so my friend helped her out of her shell. She was very weak from a chick atcually but she would try and run around. We kept her and one day her neck got caught underneath her legs upside down we could tell her neck was twisted. She kept getting it twisted even though she was a very happy hen. We found out that they had broken a bone in her neck at birth. It wasnt right to keep her alive. So one of my friend did the chop, and we buried her. We should of let nature took its course, really. It was unfair to keep her alive really.

R.I.P Tulip

Hope this helps.

 

[cawpeaches]

My little Silkie just passed because of this. He had a case of wry neck, and unfortunately became so weak during the process I would give him eyedroppers of meds (he responded the first time this happened last fall this way) but unfortunately this time he didn't do well swallowing and aspirated the meds. ;(

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/592825/chick-with-wry-neck-treated/10#post_8333460
video of wry neck treatment

video of silkie with wry neck


http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ps044
diagnosis charts at bottom- note that some diseases have twisted necks as a sign

 

[Silkie-lover33]

Yep, It's wry neck. I would give your chicken vitamins in water and make sure it gets plenty of food. Also if this happens to any other chickens of your I would suggest changing the chicken food you give them. Plenty of nutritious cooked grains (like quinoa) and other yummy treats will be good. Also wry neck is pretty easy to cure and chickens rarely die from it. Though they usually take their time to recover you don't have much to worry about!

 

[back15]

Thank you all for your input. I have been spoiling her with fresh tomatos, grapes and some cooked oatmeal and she seems better. She is walking around a little better and holding her head up straight a little more. You mentioned vitamins, just a multi type vitamin...in the water? Did notice today she seems to be scratching her head against the ground too. Any thoughts?

 

[Haehnchen1]

These are treatments that I found through my searches about wry neck on BYC. ( I apologise for not giving credit where credit is due to the authors of these treatments, but we cut & pasted to a Word document for easy reference. ) We have been following the second one. We use Polyvisol drops for the liquid human vitamins. Be sure that you get Polyvisol without iron. It's very strange, but my chicken will do fine when we take her outside and then her head resumes the droop and backward walking when we come back in the house. I have her separated from the other chickens so they don't pick on her. I pray that she makes a full recovery. She is a total sweety. Good luck!

Treatment 1: Vit. E (400mg) snip the tip off a capsule and squeeze into mouth twice a day for 10 days, then every other day for another 5 days
Selenium (25mcg) dissolve one 250mcg tablet in 2 ml water and give 0.2cc once a day for 10 days, then every other day for another 5 days
Prednisone 1mg. dissolve one 10 mg tablet in 2 ml water and give 0.2cc twice a day for 5 days, then once a day for 5 days, then every other day for 5 days
B-Complex purchased in liquid form from Walgreens; 0.5 cc twice a day for 5 days, then once a day for 5 days, then every other day for 5 days


Treatment 2: It is important to be sure the bird gets enough to eat and drink while it has this problem. Birds with severe cases of crookneck can't eat and drink enough to survive. You will need to gently place their head in the feed dish and carefully dip just the tip of the beak in water. Be careful not to dip too far into the water and to not stress the bird while trying to help.

The following is for an adult about 2 pound bird. Scale back for smaller birds.

For the first week I give

Twice a day
2.5 mg of prednisone
400 IU of vitamin E

Once a day
A piece of human vitamin B complex pill or a squirt of human liquid vitamins
Selenium (50 micrograms/day for half size juvenile for 3 days)

For the second week I give

Once a day
2.5 mg of prednisone
400 IU of vitamin E
A piece of human vitamin B complex pill or a squirt of human liquid vitamins

Every other day
Selenium (50 micrograms/day for half size juvenile for 3 days)

For the following weeks I give

Once a day
2.5 mg of prednisone
400 IU of vitamin E
A piece of human vitamin B complex pill or a squirt of human liquid vitamins

 

[MGoodyer]

This is really good info. Thanks. My Silver sussex does exactly the same. Today she is in the garden (it's a sunny day for a change) and happily walking forwards, pecking at the grass and small leaves. She even has her tail up for the first time in two weeks. (In our house or in her own pen she tends to shuffle backwards and hang her neck more often). She is having difficulty drinking water today, though. Thanks again.