Is it inhumane to keep wry neck chick alive

[mikahakkinen]

Today I noticed one of my 4-week-old broiler chicks had a wry neck. He didn’t seem to eat or drink until I checked a couple hours later after the discovery. I hand-fed and hand-drank him and he immediately seemed a little better. I watched him go to the feeders and feed. His neck will go limp and he will walk backwards and all that stuff, but then it will perk back up, head tilted oddly, and he’ll walk around and eat, and then it’ll go limp again.

Is it inhumane to keep him alive? Is he in pain? After feeding him and stuff, he did chirp a few times. If I can keep him fed and stuff, is it ok to keep him alive? We will be processing our broilers once they are of age, but we will keep one or two to remain in the flock when we get laying hens. Also I have no idea how he got wry neck

 

[Debbie292d]

If this wasn't a broiler, I'd certainly say it was worth the effort to fix your chick, but since you're going to cull it soon anyway, then it's your call.

You could give it a Vit E capsule, 1/4 of a B-Complex pill, and a little scrambled eggs for the selenium the E needs to be absorbed. You could try this for a week and should see improvement, but usually it takes about two weeks.

 

[Altairsky]

I wouldn't keep broiler chickens in a flock of laying hens. They're genetic monstrosities that aren't meant to survive more than a few weeks. They tend to develop serious and painful illnesses as they grow.