I have a little polish cockerel (polish#2) that's 3.5 months old or so. Got him about a month ago from the feed store, where he'd been picked on quite severely and was missing a bunch of his feathers. Brought him and his buddy home, and things were going great. Most of his feathers were coming back in, and he seemed to be getting along ok with everyone.
I went out of town for a couple days, and last night I got a panicked call from my chicken sitter. When she came to check on the birds, polish#1 was outside of the coop, frantically trying to get in. Considering our coop is pretty predator proof (four legged predators anyway), this was surprising. When she opened up the coop to put polish#1 back, she found that polish #2 laying on the coop floor, flopping about and unable to get up. My neighbor has been feeding him with a dropper every half hour, and I just barely got home and got him back.
He doesn't show any sign of being injured- no missing feathers, no blood, no wounds. He's holding his neck funny, kind of twisted. He also seems unable to stand.
Could this be wry neck or something else?
Here's how he looked when I got him from the neighbor, and how he's preferred position has been.
A couple of shots where I'm trying to show funny neck angle (sorry, this is surprisingly difficult with a polish). You can also see all the orange feathers coming in that had been plucked out (his topknot is still a bit ragged, but really improving).
After I took those shots, I put him back into the box, and he's trying to stay upright, but can't stand. (this really shows the weird angle of the neck)
What can I do to help him? I've been trying to decide whether or not to bring polish#1 in to be with him- they're pretty inseparable, but if this isn't wry neck, and it's contagious, I don't want her sick. Plus, I also worry about re-integrating her into the flock if I do remove her.
I went out of town for a couple days, and last night I got a panicked call from my chicken sitter. When she came to check on the birds, polish#1 was outside of the coop, frantically trying to get in. Considering our coop is pretty predator proof (four legged predators anyway), this was surprising. When she opened up the coop to put polish#1 back, she found that polish #2 laying on the coop floor, flopping about and unable to get up. My neighbor has been feeding him with a dropper every half hour, and I just barely got home and got him back.
He doesn't show any sign of being injured- no missing feathers, no blood, no wounds. He's holding his neck funny, kind of twisted. He also seems unable to stand.
Could this be wry neck or something else?
Here's how he looked when I got him from the neighbor, and how he's preferred position has been.
A couple of shots where I'm trying to show funny neck angle (sorry, this is surprisingly difficult with a polish). You can also see all the orange feathers coming in that had been plucked out (his topknot is still a bit ragged, but really improving).
After I took those shots, I put him back into the box, and he's trying to stay upright, but can't stand. (this really shows the weird angle of the neck)
What can I do to help him? I've been trying to decide whether or not to bring polish#1 in to be with him- they're pretty inseparable, but if this isn't wry neck, and it's contagious, I don't want her sick. Plus, I also worry about re-integrating her into the flock if I do remove her.
