hens neck "snaking"

[dawg53]

I noticed my 4 year old rir hen (Ruby) snaking her neck.this just started today.she will not eat,but isnt lethargic. I picked her up and she threw up about a teaspoon of very light brown watery liquid. I opened her mouth and inspected her throat with a magnifying glass and observed no obstructions nor worms. I then inspected her whole body and everything was normal. I have put her in an isolation pen away from my other hens. Ruby is the senior hen in the pecking order and has been a very good girl. Can anyone help me with this? i may have to put her down and it's breaking my wife's heart and i'm not happy about it neither. Thanks.

 

[princess araucana]

what do you mean "snaking"??

 

[dawg53]

By "snaking" I mean she is twisting or turning her neck in a 's' shaped pattern.

 

[princess araucana]

could it be a neuro/ nerve thing? Try giving her a few drops of poly-vi-sol by beak?
B vits might help if its nerve related. Amazing how they help!

 

[dawg53]

Thank you,we'll try polyvisol

 

[dgh]

I know you inspected her crop but, I lost a bird to a blocked crop, same symptoms, she had a piece of string in there.

 

[dgh]

Mineral oil?

 

[Miss Lydia]

sorry to hear it dawg, you have helped so many of us on here I hope you can get this figured out and she gets okay again.

 

[joebryant]

Flash a flashlight into her eyes to see if they're bouncing from side to side. If they are, she has an ear infection.
Here's what I posted on a silkie question this morning that had what yours might have.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=404783
Your silkie, like ours, has an ear infection.
The vet diagnosed this by the fact that when she shined a light into the silkie's eyes they wiggled back and forth, and that made her/him (it) (?) disorganized/dizzy (ETA and a lot of scooting backwards).
Get ready for a ten days job. Our silkie had not eaten for two or three days because we were waiting to see if it would get better.
...
Feed five times a day (force down throat if necessary)
...
Have ready:
400 IU Vitamin E capsules from pharmacy ( squeeze these over their feed once per day). Anne put it on the mealworms.
Orange Gatorade from grocery
Give the vitamin E and Gatorade until it starts eating on her own
...
MEDICINE:
SMZ (Bactrin) 2 times a day _ .12 ml with a syringe
***
We started off having to force feed it five times per day (beginning with lots of mealworms, then pellets) and giving water from a cup (dipping its beak into the water)
***
GOOD LUCK!
BTW As of yesterday, the silkie is as good as new.

 

[dawg53]

Quote:
Thank you Miss Lydia. This happened over a year ago and unfortunately I had to put her down, it was quick and painless for her. I never found out what it was and still couldnt take a guess to this day. We still miss Ruby. Edited; Thank you Joe, bookmarking for future reference!