Presented as wry neck - now I'm not so sure.

[OrpiMama]

We received 17 chicks (9 Buff and 8 Lavender Orpingtons) on Friday afternoon, by Saturday morning, it was apparent that one of them wasn't quite right. All the signs of torticollis, easy enough - Segregate, Nutri-Drench, Vitamin-E, B-Complex, Selenium - done. After a day, there were improvements; She was walking straight-ish, pecking, and making content little chirping sounds. Sunday comes, more improvements. Less wobbly on her little legs, neck straight, drinking and eating on her own. Monday and Tuesday - still treating - she's doing great. Tuesday evening... Complete reversal, and then some:

• Her neck is now bent forward, rather than backward, and when she attempts forward movement she ends up flipping onto her back.
• Her little head is always on the bedding in her little Chicky ICU when she stands.
• She walks only backward while distress chirping and trying to get her head lifted or turned.
• She tries to sleep, but sleeps only for brief periods (5-10 minutes) before she wakes up, backs up into the side of the container, doing the above.
• It takes effort to get her to eat and drink more than a couples of "bites" at a time.
• She hasn't grown anywhere near as much as her flock mates have in the past week.

I'm getting distressed, and a bit discouraged. I don't want to put her through the stress if this is a no hope kind of situation, as we've never had this happen previously and I'm having a chicky-mama freak out.
Should I be concerned about this being something OTHER than torticollis?

 

[picklestheduck]

I’m so sorry this is happening. I am unsure since I’m not experienced with this particular thing, but to me it doesn’t sound too good. Hoping others chime in soon who have more experience. Oh also can you post some pictures of the bird?

 

[Eggcessive]

How much vitamin E are you giving? Are you giving the vitamins directly into her beak? Selenium can be easily overdosed, so I usually recommend just giving a little cooked or raw egg. Try mixing a little feed with water, and getting her to take that every hour or two. Is she with the other chicks for company or are they trampling her? Sometimes wry neck can take a week or two to treat, but she may have other problems that may prevent her from surviving.

 

[OrpiMama]

How much vitamin E are you giving? Are you giving the vitamins directly into her beak? Selenium can be easily overdosed, so I usually recommend just giving a little cooked or raw egg. Try mixing a little feed with water, and getting her to take that every hour or two. Is she with the other chicks for company or are they trampling her? Sometimes wry neck can take a week or two to treat, but she may have other problems that may prevent her from surviving.

I'm giving her the filling of a 180mg capsule per day, mixed with a little scrambled egg, half of a powdered b-complex tablet, all mixed with a mash of her starter feed, and the nutri-drench.
She is segregated, as she was being trampled, and pushed away from food and water. But she is able to hear the others, as I didn't want to run the risk that I was something infectious and leave her in the brooding box. Though, they would have been exposed by that point in time anyway.
She does seem a bit more alert this morning, ate heartily instead of just picking tiny bits, and chirped the entire time she was eating. I'm taking it as a positive sign, but I'm still concerned by her lack of growth. The size difference from her flock mates is quite a lot, they're about 3 times her size and weight.

 

[OrpiMama]

I’m so sorry this is happening. I am unsure since I’m not experienced with this particular thing, but to me it doesn’t sound too good. Hoping others chime in soon who have more experience. Oh also can you post some pictures of the bird?

I thank you for that. We're all pulling for the little fluff.
I will post some pictures shortly.

 

[Eggcessive]

Okay that is 400 IU of E, so good. Wry neck in new chicks is usually nothing infectious. I would try to have some supervised visits with the others when you have time. Hopefully she will start eating better. I hope that she gets better.

 

[OrpiMama]

I'm giving her the filling of a 180mg capsule per day, mixed with a little scrambled egg, half of a powdered b-complex tablet, all mixed with a mash of her starter feed, and the nutri-drench.
She is segregated, as she was being trampled, and pushed away from food and water. But she is able to hear the others, as I didn't want to run the risk that I was something infectious and leave her in the brooding box. Though, they would have been exposed by that point in time anyway.
She does seem a bit more alert this morning, ate heartily instead of just picking tiny bits, and chirped the entire time she was eating. I'm taking it as a positive sign, but I'm still concerned by her lack of growth. The size difference from her flock mates is quite a lot, they're about 3 times her size and w

Okay that is 400 IU of E, so good. Wry neck in new chicks is usually nothing infectious. I would try to have some supervised visits with the others when you have time. Hopefully she will start eating better. I hope that she gets better.

Thank you. I'll try that. Maybe that will help.

I thank you for that. We're all pulling for the little fluff.
I will post some pictures shortly.

 

[BastyPutt]

how did this chick do?

 

[OrpiMama]

After about 5 weeks she was fine, but very small compared to her flock mates. Integrating her back into the flock fully has been a chore, but she's done quite well since!

 

[Eggcessive]

So happy the chick survived. Hopefully, she will continue to grow.