Is this wry neck or neurological damage?

[Heres2U_MrsR]

I have a 9 month old Appenzeller/Polish cross that has been in “ICU” for a full week now. I’m slowly...so slowly...seeing SOME improvements, but should I see more at this stage? She responded to treatment within 24 hours and was doing great, but then crashed and burned. I’m reading that Wry Neck will act that way?

She will make her way over to the crate door when I open it and looks at me when I talk to her. She eats voraciously, but is having trouble keeping water down. She seems very thirsty and I use a dropper when she just can’t. As you can see in the video(darn! Can’t load them. Pics, I guess), she will stop the head grinding and figure eights to eat and can semi-control herself for a couple of minutes. When she has a spasm it’s head down and kind of a backward movement that looks more like a loss of balance. I do feel like these spasms are lessening.

Initial treatments were:
Nutri-drench 3x daily
400 IU vit e 2-3x daily
Quiet room, covered crate

Current treatment:
Quiet, warm
Calf liver 2-3x daily
Raw spinach
Sunflower seeds plus 400 IU of E
Tuna(she won’t touch scrambled eggs)
Normal feed moistened so she can easily consume.

Poop is normal, she has laid three times without much trouble, color is good, eyes are bright and clear. I don’t *think* I’m seeing signs of Mareks, but I’m still a newbie. Not vaccinated for it.

 

[aart]

As you can see in the video(darn! Can’t load them.

Upload vids to youtube then link here.

 

[Eggcessive]

Sorry about your pullet with wry neck symptoms. Wry neck or torticolis can be a neurological symptom of several different conditions. Those can include head or neck injury, vitamin E or thiamine deficiency, Mareks disease, exotic Newcastles disease, and a few others. I would go back to mostly feeding chicken feed unless she doesn’t eat it well. You are providing more than enough vitamins. I would drop down to 400 IU of E once a day. The NutriDrench in 2 ml daily includes E, thiamine, and selenium, in which only a small amount is needed for E uptake. It can take time to see improvement. Has there been any weakness of the wings or legs, or an imbalance?

 

[Heres2U_MrsR]

Sorry about your pullet with wry neck symptoms. Wry neck or torticolis can be a neurological symptom of several different conditions. Those can include head or neck injury, vitamin E or thiamine deficiency, Mareks disease, exotic Newcastles disease, and a few others. I would go back to mostly feeding chicken feed unless she doesn’t eat it well. You are providing more than enough vitamins. I would drop down to 400 IU of E once a day. The NutriDrench in 2 ml daily includes E, thiamine, and selenium, in which only a small amount is needed for E uptake. It can take time to see improvement. Has there been any weakness of the wings or legs, or an imbalance?

I would say imbalance has been an issue. Less so as the days go on. Some toe curling maybe, but she finds the perch and is able to stay on without a problem.

 

[Heres2U_MrsR]

Videos:
If you hear chicken talk in the background, it’s from my son walking around with our roo - not this girly.

 

[Eggcessive]

The videos are helpful, and show that he is definitely having neurological symptoms. Hopefully, it is not Mareks disease, but something else causing possible inflammation in his brain. Curling toes under is another neurological symptom. If you have vet care, they might want to try prednisolone, a corticosteroid.

 

[Heres2U_MrsR]

The videos are helpful, and show that he is definitely having neurological symptoms. Hopefully, it is not Mareks disease, but something else causing possible inflammation in his brain. Curling toes under is another neurological symptom. If you have vet care, they might want to try prednisolone, a corticosteroid.

I thought I’d give an update on how treatment has gone and how she’s doing now. Initially started 12/23/20 and at this point she sleeps in a crate at night so she doesn’t get injured by the others. Particularly, our rooster who favors her. She is MUCH improved now and is being re-integrated into the flock during the day. She’s super active, very vocal about wanting to eat/be noticed, and is laying 4 eggs weekly.

We gave:
Vit e, spinach, beef liver, tuna or salmon, and rooster booster/nutri-drench, yogurt, and turmeric daily. When we added the turmeric we started seeing big changes within 2-3 days.

She does have *some* permanent damage, but not so much that I’m concerned about her being in the flock. If startled she sometimes starts turning in circles, and she isn’t able to put her head up to get water down as well as she could. We take turns making sure she’s getting some water down. If there’s not some supervision she will drink until it’s coming back up/out her nose. I will continue to separate her at night so she isn’t re-injured and have some chicks that will probably hang out with her in a few weeks. Stronger by the day though! I appreciate the feedback and help!