Neck injury? Pullet acting lethargic.

Smccau3

In the Brooder
7 Years
May 4, 2012
66
2
41
1) What type of bird, age and weight (does the chicken seem or feel lighter or thinner than the others?) 8 week old Barred Plymouth Rock pullet, she seems to be the same weight as the rest.
2) What is the behavior, exactly. She is holding her head strange. It seems like she can't (or won't) lift her head up normally. She holds her head close to her body (it almost looks like her neck is curved) and often turns her head backwards and lays down as if to fall asleep. She has not been hanging out with the other girls, which is unusual. I fed her watermelon yesterday, and she only was able to peck off tiny chunks, when the other chicks got big chunks. She also almost seemed to not be able to find it unless I held it up to her beak, and event then, sometimes she would miss it (like she couldn't see it)
3) How long has the bird been exhibiting symptoms? About 2 weeks.
4) Are other birds exhibiting the same symptoms? No
5) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other signs of trauma. Not that I can see.
6) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation. My dog nipped at her when I was bringing her outside. I was unable to tell if he got her at all, though if he did, it would have been her wing area.
7) What has the bird been eating or drinking, if at all. She has been eating and drinking the same food and water as the other girls. I have seen her both eat and drink multiple times.
8) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc. Normal
9) What has been the treatment you have administered so far? I added worm treatment to their water one day last week. I also checked for lice and mites.
10) What is your intent as far as treatment? I will be treating her myself.
11) If you have the picture of the wound or condition, please post it. It may help. No picture
12) Describe the housing/bedding in use She is in the coop with an attached run outside. We are using sand as the bedding.

Any advice you can give would be greatly appreciated.
 
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*Update*
Apparently, about 2 days before we noticed her acting like this, my dad had found a large piece of wood in the brooder. It may have fallen on her and injured her.

I also just found her, and believed she was dead (thankfully, she's not). She was laying face down in the dirt, not moving. I have never seen her sleep like this.
 
Could you post an update on your chicken please? I have a Barred Rock exhibiting the exact same behaviour, only difference is today she was sleeping with her head on her back twisted around. I had some egg and she did not come, I nudged her with my finger and she started having a seizure-like episode, she twisted and rolled around out of control, then stopped and layed back in the position with her head on her back.
 
We ended up culling our hen. She got progressively worse and worse.

At the end, she couldn't really stand up. She kept losing her balance and falling over into everything. She was clearly suffering.

I have come to believe it was cocci. I don't know if treatment would work for your hen, it was too late for us.
 

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