Possible Newcastle case?

[kproffer]

…So it’s been two weeks… the black spots have cleared up, leaving her with a very pale comb and wattles. The respiratory symptoms are completely resolved. No improvement in the wry neck symptoms though, even with the vitamins. She will stand for short periods and kind of walks slowly in circles but falls backwards if she’s startled. Not sure if that’s just a balance issue because her head is upside down? She will eat and drink a little on her own, but not enough. If it were related to vitamin deficiency should I be seeing improvement by now? Any other suggestions?

 

[Aunt Angus]

Let's see what the more experienced folks say when they come on.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

…So it’s been two weeks… the black spots have cleared up, leaving her with a very pale comb and wattles. The respiratory symptoms are completely resolved. No improvement in the wry neck symptoms though, even with the vitamins. She will stand for short periods and kind of walks slowly in circles but falls backwards if she’s startled. Not sure if that’s just a balance issue because her head is upside down? She will eat and drink a little on her own, but not enough. If it were related to vitamin deficiency should I be seeing improvement by now? Any other suggestions?

There's no way to know what has caused the symptom of Wry Neck, whether it's trauma, deficiency or something else.
Vitamin therapy is the only thing I have ever seen recommended as treatment for the symptom to see if subsides, but there is no timeline of when you may see improvement.

It's up to you to decide if you want to continue with therapy and give her more time. If you feel she's not improving, is in pain, quality of life is not that and there's no use continuing on, then putting her down would be a practical step to take. If you do, then getting a necropsy may reveal the initial cause of the symptom(s) you have been dealing with.

 

[kproffer]

Ugh. My gut tells me she would have improved if she were going to, but I’m not sure I have the heart to put her down yet. Thank you for the advice

 

[Folly's place]

Once we had a chick with wry neck, who was the only chick out of dozens we had at the same time. She was necropsied, and had multiple lesions in her brain secondary to vitamin A deficiency. Not recoverable, and probable an individual who had a greater than normal need for that vitamin.
It's when we didn't check mill dates and dumped the feed into garbage cans, so we had no way of identifying the age of the feed or it's code. Never again!
Mary

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Ugh. My gut tells me she would have improved if she were going to, but I’m not sure I have the heart to put her down yet. Thank you for the advice

I'm sorry she's not improving.

 

[kproffer]

Once we had a chick with wry neck, who was the only chick out of dozens we had at the same time. She was necropsied, and had multiple lesions in her brain secondary to vitamin A deficiency. Not recoverable, and probable an individual who had a greater than normal need for that vitamin.
It's when we didn't check mill dates and dumped the feed into garbage cans, so we had no way of identifying the age of the feed or it's code. Never again!
Mary

I don’t usually buy more than a month of feed at a time just due to storage space, but I’ve never thought to pay attention to the mill dates. Are you saying you think the issue with your bird was possibly from quality degradation?

 

[Folly's place]

I'll never know. Only one chick out of nearly fifty we had at the time, so probably it was just her. If the feed was older, it might have lost some value, and could have made a difference.
I've seen feed six months or older at feed stores, never good.
We considered it a lesson learned, and since then have fresh feed, by mill date. in the original feed bags, in those garbage cans. Dumping it into the can gets 150 pounds in each can, and keeping it in it's bag from the store only holds 100 pounds per can. Worth it, IMO.
Mary