Possible broken neck?

Ndgoblu

Hatching
6 Years
Apr 9, 2013
6
0
7
I'm new to this so please excuse my ignorance in advance. I have a chick about 8 weeks old. She recently recovered from a weird issue with her legs, was wobbly, couldn't stand, couldn't walk, just laid on her side and pushed herself around. After supporting her for a few days food, water, and with vitamins, she recovered. She had been back with the others in a brooder type container for about 10 days, when I found her two days ago down on the bottom unable to get up. her head hangs somewhat, and my first thought was that her neck was broken, however, she is strong, eating and drinking from a syringe, is alert...knows when we are in the room, she starts peeping at us. She can move her neck, mostly she rolls it around and can't get it to straighten out, and it appears at times she is stretching it out. Her eyes open and close, her legs move, her wings move. We have kept her wrapped in a towel for support, and to keep her upright as she tends to roll over. She is pooping and it looks perfectly normal. Is there any disease, or disorder that could cause this, and is it something she can recover from, and what should I be doing for her? I'm struggling with continuing to support her, or to humanly euthanize her. I've been feeding her a mixture of egg yolk, yogurt, oats, and honey. I've been giving her water with vitamins, and electrolytes. There has been very little improvment in a 36 hour period. She is about 8 weeks, a RLW. Thanks for your help and advice.
 
Could be a lot of things but probably nothing she could recover from.
What are you using for litter?
Had they been on grower feed primarily or were they getting a lot of treats?
Dactylariosis, Encephalomalacia, Listeriosis, Arizonosis, are possibilities.

IMO broken neck is instant death.
 
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Thanks for the reply. I agree about the broken neck. I would expect her to have died from that too, much less have the ability to move it and her extremities. Some of her movements are voluntary, some are not. She was in with 6 other chicks on pine shavings. They have been eating a medicated chick starter. They have gotten scrambled and boiled eggs occasionally, and sometimes meal worms. When she was sick before, she had milk, and a small amount of cottage cheese. We haven't changed anything, litter, food, water is all the same. They have all been on the save a chick electrolytes for about 10 days. She is still eating from a syringe, and has plenty of strength. She's a hell of a fighter and I don't want to give up on her if there is something I can do to save her.
 

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