Let's talk Wry Neck/Crook Neck

[babychicks7]

Sorry about your chicks. It can take some time before they/ if they recover from it. Lookout took a long time, and it was hard for her to eat on her own or drink, so I had to hand feed her scrambled eggs, baby formula and dip her beak in the water. Her's was twisted really bad. The day I told hubby I'd have to put her down I went into my office where I kept her with a heavy heart. Low and behold as I peeked in I saw her with her neck almost straight eating on her own. As soon as she saw me she started spinning circles and twisted her neck a little but once she stopped getting excited she straighted up. It took a while longer before she improved more but now she is almost normal almost a year later. She still will tilt her head from time to time and spinning circles when excited, but just looking at her you can't tell. I also found it to be hereditary, as 2 others were affected. One was too bad and never recover, the other got better only later to develop it again. Lookout is fine though, so it can be done, it just takes a long time and a lot of dedication and they have to have a will to live. I also made little foam neck braces out of foam and vet wrap, I only used it on her not the others and she survived, it may or may not help. It has to be very light or they will get stressed by it and I did not leave it on all the time. I did it at night, when they are more relaxed and sleepy.

my little roo was hatched with this he could eat and drink on his own, i started him on poly-vi-sol vit E and seleium for a few weeks then put him on poultry cell he got worse and couldnt stand now he is back on the other meds along with b complex he still cant stand and will spin him self in circles, i have to hand feed him i use eggs either scrambled or hard boiled mixed with vanilla yogurt and or apple sauce also been trowing in some chick starter/grower, he eats pretty well and is growing and is very fisty! he feels a little on the warm side to me when i go to feed him im going to try and make a brace for him as you did, he now it turning his head more to the other side ..opposite side he started out on.. im not ready to give up on him yet, i still hope to walk out there to the brooder where he is at and find him standing!

 

[babychicks7]

So cute! I hope the vet has some suggestions for you

how has lucky been doing?

 

[DirkDiggler]

how has lucky been doing?

Sorry, I didn't get a message that there was a reply. Lucky is still OK but not great. She is half the size of the rest. She is developing her feathers much slower than the others. I put a pot with food in it in her cage because she has to have something deep to dig in in order to get anything down her throat. She can drink water pretty easy because she puts her beak under and the bottom acts like a scoop. And she still gets poultry cell water every day so I can be sure she is getting nutrients. But eating is a whole different story. She digs in and flings her head back trying to swallow it and a few crumbs go down while 95% of it sprays out all over the place. As she gets older the beak gets more and more turned up.

She is a nice little one though. I like her because she is a fighter. I have a local vet here that right now is at an exotic species conference. When she gets back next week I'm taking her to her. She said that she may be able to do surgery on her and modify the beak in a way where it will make it easier to eat. She said she will have to look at the beak in person to see what can be done. She saw the attached photos I sent. Hopefully she shows the photos to the experts there at the conference to get other vets opinions on what to do.

 

[babychicks7]

Mine had that same problem. When she got excited she would run in circles and fall over.

You have to be persistent. Everywhere I have read online says they can even seem to take a step backwards a couple times on the way to getting better. For my little duckling after 2 weeks of getting nutrients every day I thought I was seeing some change. Now 3 weeks in I'm sure she is getting better as every once in a while it's hard to tell her from the rest. She will still hold her head sideways but not always. She will perk it up for a minute then it goes back sideways again. When starting out her head was never straight even for a second.

So you want to make absolutely sure that he is getting the nutrients. That he is drinking the water with the nutrients in it. It may be going in the beak and all falling right back out. You have to be sure its going down. If you have to manually put it down his throat, do what you have to do. I think mine was taking a while to take effect because with a sideways head it all just falls right back out the side before getting swallowed. So if you have to put a drop in the beak with a dropper than do it. That Poultry Cell mixes 2 tablespoons per gallon of water. So it wouldn't be more than a drop or two down the throat every day.

Another thing you can do is go to Lowes Home Improvement store and get a bag of sunflower hearts. Some places they call them hearts. Some places they call them cracked sunflower seeds, etc. But basically they are the seeds with no shell on the outside. Sunflower seeds are packed with Vitamin E and selenium. The two vitamins that a lack of cause this problem. I bought some of those seeds as well. I was giving my bird both the water with Poultry Cell in it as well as the sunflower seeds and some normal chick starter food. I would take the chick starter food out for a while only having the sunflower seeds in there so I was sure she would eat it.

Keep feeding the yolks. That seems to be having a good effect. But make sure you put a couple drops of the poultry cell in the yolks. I would put 3 drops mixed into 1 yolk if all of that yolk is getting eaten. Your bird getting these nutrients every day for a few weeks will work. Stay strong. I know how it's hard for you. This has been traumatic for me having to deal with because I really wanted my bird to live. And she has. She's doing great right now. But it took time and persistence. I was starting to lose hope because many people online say it in only 3 or 4 days their bird was better. Not mine it took 3 weeks. And she still isn't 100% but she's definitely at a point where I'm pretty sure she's going to survive now. And i have heard reports of up to a month and a half.

Add in some sunflower hearts. And keep in mind that these birds end up dropping a lot of what goes in their mouth right back out. Swallowing upside down or sideways isn't real easy for a bird. Stick with it and give us reports please.

my little roo is going backwards i am hand feeding him eggs yogurt and apple sauce he gets his meds in the morning when he is the most hungry also started putting some chick starter and grower in his food he still cant stand and has been that way for about a week now his head is turned the oppisite way that it was, not giving up yet, he does feel a little warm when i pick him up not sure if that is normal or not, i still hoping to walk out there to the brooder and find him standing again

 

[DirkDiggler]

Here's everyone outside one night while I was cleaning their brooder. All tucking their heads back under their wing. They are now 4 weeks old. All are starting to get some real feathers. I just switched them from Starter food to Grower. I contacted Metzer Farms to let them know that if they are going to send sick ducks out to people they should have very clear explanations on their website on what to have on hand to take care of them. No response from them as expected. This kind of thing may not bother some people but people like us who have them as pets, not food to kill one day, it's very stressful when you are trying to save them.

 

[babychicks7]

Sorry, I didn't get a message that there was a reply. Lucky is still OK but not great. She is half the size of the rest. She is developing her feathers much slower than the others. I put a pot with food in it in her cage because she has to have something deep to dig in in order to get anything down her throat. She can drink water pretty easy because she puts her beak under and the bottom acts like a scoop. And she still gets poultry cell water every day so I can be sure she is getting nutrients. But eating is a whole different story. She digs in and flings her head back trying to swallow it and a few crumbs go down while 95% of it sprays out all over the place. As she gets older the beak gets more and more turned up.

She is a nice little one though. I like her because she is a fighter. I have a local vet here that right now is at an exotic species conference. When she gets back next week I'm taking her to her. She said that she may be able to do surgery on her and modify the beak in a way where it will make it easier to eat. She said she will have to look at the beak in person to see what can be done. She saw the attached photos I sent. Hopefully she shows the photos to the experts there at the conference to get other vets opinions on what to do.

oh that would be great if she can do surgery to help the little baby she is so precious have you tried wetting her food, i have found that mine eat it better if it is wet she may be able to get more down her throat!

 

[DirkDiggler]

my little roo is going backwards i am hand feeding him eggs yogurt and apple sauce he gets his meds in the morning when he is the most hungry also started putting some chick starter and grower in his food he still cant stand and has been that way for about a week now his head is turned the oppisite way that it was, not giving up yet, he does feel a little warm when i pick him up not sure if that is normal or not, i still hoping to walk out there to the brooder and find him standing again

Gosh, poor little guy. That's got to be hard on him not even being able to stand. And the head turned the opposite way that's strange. My Hope always had her head the same way. Now I'm wondering if it's wry neck or neurological. It may be time for a call to a vet. My vet here was willing to let me text her some pictures of Lucky so she could get a quick look and give me her professional opinion if something could be done.

 

[babychicks7]

Gosh, poor little guy. That's got to be hard on him not even being able to stand. And the head turned the opposite way that's strange. My Hope always had her head the same way. Now I'm wondering if it's wry neck or neurological. It may be time for a call to a vet. My vet here was willing to let me text her some pictures of Lucky so she could get a quick look and give me her professional opinion if something could be done.

i have been wondering the same thing i have thought about giving her a call to see if she can possibly try some sort of medication, some say it can be caused by pressure on the brain so im hoping she may be able to give little hook something to reduce swelling. it is worth a shot i have tried just about every thing else!

 

[babychicks7]

i have been wondering the same thing i have thought about giving her a call to see if she can possibly try some sort of medication, some say it can be caused by pressure on the brain so im hoping she may be able to give little hook something to reduce swelling. it is worth a shot i have tried just about every thing else! i think his daddy may be the silkie we have and i hear its common in silkies

 

[DirkDiggler]

Very strange. I saw your post in my email this time regarding wetting the food. I'll give that a try. I haven't thought about that. However here on the forum I don't see it.

BTW, today I caught the girls on my porch stripping my cherry tomatoes off the plants. They sure did love those.