Really sick chicken, wry neck? Please help :(

AlliBunny

In the Brooder
6 Years
Jul 22, 2013
20
0
22
Hey guys, so all of a sudden my sick little chicken Peach got wry neck (I think) really badly and I have no idea why. She's been sick for a few weeks, but she didn't have wry neck before and she was getting a lo better and then all of a sudden she just got super sick with this. I'll just tell you all the whole story to make sure I'm clear because I really want to help her the best I can so sorry if it's incredibly long, and thanks so much for taking the time to read it if you would because I'm really really worried and Peach is the sweetest little bird and I'm really hoping she can recover. :(

So around two weeks ago, my buff Orpington hen started sleeping just all the time to the point were she wouldn't get up to eat right away and wouldn't run around the yard with my other 2 chickens, she would just slowly walk around by herself. So we took her to the vet and the vet said she hadn't been eating anything at all (even though we thought she was) and the vet kept her there for like 5 days and fed her with a tube and was giving her antibiotics but then eventually said they just didn't know what was wrong with her. They gave her a cortisone shot before we picked her up. When we got her she was even worse than when we brought her in and she couldn't stand at all and all she would do was sleep on her side.

The same day we took her to another vet to get a second opinion and the vet said there were so many things going on with her (Bacteria in digestive track, couldn't feel her legs, wasn't eating, could barely see) that she said she would guess is was some kind of neurological problem, but they could only be more sure of what it was if they took a MRI or something but they were afraid if we tried the stress would just kill her. They gave me the option to put her down or just take her home, and I got them to give me some antibiotics and then I took her home.

On the bright side though, while she was home at first I force fed her and my gave her the antibiotics (clavamox) and she actually started getting better! We kept her inside, in the bathroom with towels during the day and by my bed at night. After like a week she was walking around and eating/drinking on her own and was acting pretty normal and I thought she was close to being recovered. The only thing was she was still wobbly on her feet and would walk sideways sometimes, but she was acting curious and active.

A few days ago though, in the morning before I left for school she was fine and eating on her own all happy and stuff. But when I got home, she was sleeping on her side and didn't respond/get excited right away when I came in. I helped her stand up but she started shaking her head a lot and put it underneath her, and the did a front flip onto her back and then she just layed on her back. From what I read she has wry neck now because she keeps doing that, but she didn't have it before.

Right now she keeps her eyes closed most of the time and her face looks kind of swollen, and she does the flip on her back thing when she tries to stand up. She usually just lays down on her side though and goes to sleep and would probably do that all day if she didn't have to poop or I didn't try to get her to stand. She also will not eat on her own, so I've been giving her smoothies and if I put her beak in them she'll slowly eat them. I'm also still giving her clavamox, and I've also started giving her vitamins B and E and selenium. I've read that wry neck is usually because a lack of vitamins or a neurological thing or genetics, which since the vet thought she had a neurological problem before could that be why all of a sudden she got this? I was reading mostly only silkies got wry neck because of head injury though and she's an Orpington... She's 7 months old right now so I don't know if it was genetics if she would of had it when she was even younger? She's always been kind of clumsy (Falling over, tripping over her own feet, laying on her side every once in a while) but when she was littler she was also bossy and would be the first to go run around and jump on things, which right now she can neither run and I haven't seen her jump or attempt to in a very long time. So I'm not sure what's causing it, would any of you have an idea? The thing I don't get is she was sick before with different symptoms, and she was recovering really well and then all of a sudden in less then a day she completely plummeted in health with wry neck or whatever she has now.

If anyone thinks they know what more specifically she might have, or any advice on how to help and treat her please please please help. I am so worried, I would do anything for her to get better. :(
 
Botulism or Mareks disease could cause some of her symptoms, Botulism comes from a toxin in decayed animal or fish carcasses, maggots, or vegetation that has been eaten by the chicken out free ranging. Weakness or paralysis of the feet, then legs, moving upward to wings, and then the neck causing the neck to be resting on the ground. Mareks also can cause leg and wing paralysis, and may be on one side, but the chicken may eat and drink normally. I'm sorry that your chicken is so sick, and hope you can find an answer. Here is some reading: http://www.thepoultrysite.com/diseaseinfo/19/botulism
http://www.avianweb.com/botulism.html
 
Thanks, Mareks disease looks like it could be a possibility, but when we took her to the vet when she was acting sick they didn't find any tumors so do chickens with it always develop tumors/can they not be noticeable? And I don't know what she could of ate that would cause botulism, because I live in Oregon (so it's not very warm) and I don't feed her any meat/haven't seen dead animals or anything like that, but I guess she could of ate some mud or bugs that were bad... But if she did I would assume my other chickens would of ate it too, and we live right next to a wetland area with tons of ducks an geese and I've never seen any of them sick or dead.

Also, my other two chickens were around her a lot when she was acting sick and live in the same place and eat they same stuff she did, but they're like the picture of health...
 
I was just looking up how to treat Mareks disease and it said there was no cure, only vaccinations when they were chicks. So I looked up where I bought my chicks and it says their chicks are vaccinated for mareks disease. I would assume they did this too when I bought my babies 7 months ago? So is mareks disease not a possibility then, or can they still get it when they have a vaccination?
 
It's interesting that you live near wetlands and ducks. Ducks are very prone to getting botulism since streams can flood and trap fish on dry land. Even the mud can be contaminated. Chickens who are vaccinated for Mareks can still get it, but the vaccine usually will keep them from getting the tumors. With Mareks, since there are 4 types, some chickens will just get 1 or more of the symptoms. I'm really not an expert on it, but here is another link from someone that knows more, plus a thread where you can ask questions:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/the-great-big-giant-mareks-disease-faq
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/741957/not-an-emergency-mareks-in-the-flock
 
There's not really fish in the pond, just like guppies and tadpoles that I know of, I don't know if that makes a difference...

I read the articles and now I'm just hoping what she's going through isn't Mareks. :/ But if it is, can she still survive if it's not severe...? And from what I've read it sounds like my other two are already effected then too, does that mean they'll get really sick later or can they live the rest of their lives acting healthy and stuff? Sorry for the questions, I was just kind of confused when reading the article. Part of I made it sound like no matter what the chickens with the disease would die but then some parts made it sound like flocks could live with the disease...
 
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I mostly only noticed that her face looked different when she opened her eyes because it looks like there's bags around them or something... Sorry the pictures are bad, it took me awhile to even get a picture with her eyes open. (The brownish stuff on her face is just food, btw)
 
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