Rooster Wry Neck. Need Help.

[Poultryslave]

My first post: I have a Barred Rock Rooster. About 13-14 months old. He was acquired through a poultry seller locally. Nice as can be but was a little rough shape along with the hens I got from the same person. Hens are same age and are now fat and healthy but still not laying. That’s a question for another thread. My Rooster developed a bad case of wry neck almost overnight about 6 weeks ago. Have daily doses of VE/Selenium, B12, along with many other natural supplements of proteins and fruits. He began showing some improvement until a hawk attack 7 days ago. The hawk was scared off almost immediately. But it somehow made the wry neck worse than ever. He has shown slight improvement since then. But the first couple days we had to feed and water him manually. He can eat and drink on his for the most part now but cannot move around. He will only stay in a 2-3 foot area due to not being able to figure out how to operate his legs in a straight line. He is alert but the wry neck itself isn’t getting any better. And we’re moving into week 7 now. We have applied hours upon hours with him. His hens do not pick on him and still choose to follow. I have to remove him from the coop each day and place in the run. He ends up on his back if not and has already broken most his wing feathers from falling and getting stuck in that position. I’m having a difficult time finding a vet that can offer anything other than cull. My question is, when is it time to cull? We’re trying everything not to but quality of life is discussed and frankly, we need him to fill his role as a rooster for our hens. They get along very good with him as well as our family. Any advice is appreciated.

 

[Eggcessive]

Sorry about your wry neck rooster. Did the hawk hit him pretty hard? Wry neck is a neurological symptom, and can be seen with vitamin deficiency, head or neck injuries, or brain inflammation related to certain diseases such as Mareks and others. A lot depends on your ability to tend to him, as to how long to treat him. Some chickens do not ever get better. It is up to you whether or not to cull him, but if you do, I would consider getting your state vet to do a necropsy and test for Mareks. Hopefully, it isn’t that, but just some other reason. If you keep treating him, you might want to make him a chicken sling chair, where he can be upright and close to his food and water. Here is a link for chicken slings and for the state vets:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/versions-of-chick-chairs-please.1166308/

https://www.metzerfarms.com/poultry-labs.html

 

[Smileybans]

I haven’t found this mentioned anywhere in any of the research I did but I think stress is a factor. I have a showgirl rooster that had wry neck a couple months ago. With vitamins he got better. He got wry neck again but this time the vitamins seemed to help some days. He would be better one day then not the next. No one else in my flock is sick or exhibiting any signs of wry neck. So i brought this rooster inside. Away from the flock and with a hen to keep him company. Within a couple weeks he’s better. When he was outside it was a struggle to get him better. Even if he was isolated and not near any of the other chickens it was a struggle.

Since he’s been inside the only time I see signs of wry neck, an uncontrollable bop of his head, are when the cats are around him. I think when I try to put him back out with the flock he’ll be back to square one. Just as you describe it. Sitting on his head not able to walk. He has had more good days inside the house than he has outside the house.