severe crookneck overnight?

[rfrank1991]

Yesterday we found one of our ~4 week old buff orpington hens with her head almost completely between her legs and unable to walk forward at all-- whenever she tried to move, she'd end up walking backwards. There was no sign of an injury or anything, and all 10 of the rest of the flock are absolutely fine. We have been giving vitamin E, selenium, liquid bird vitamins and prednisone, which may be helping a little bit, and it's eating fine, but we just wanted to check if anyone had any idea what this could be. Do Orpingtons have the same crested head problem as bantams that make them vulnerable to brain injuries? Does it make sense for this just to be a deficiency when no other chicks have this problem? Could it be a more serious infection?

 

[Chicks_N_Horses]

This happend to one of my BCM chicks a week ago. I gave him all the vitamins and he seemed to be doing better on day 3 and he was the only chick out of 30 chicks I had do this. He died on day 4 during the night but I really believe he died due to the new lighting I put in the box with him. He was alot warmer and he got stuck I think and got too hot.

I hope your chick pulls thru!!!

 

[dlhunicorn]

It is possible (head injury) but in general no... a simple peck would not have induced such without leaving some kind of sign of injury I would think... might be that she has been bully (or too scared) away from feed or water.... separate her and make sure she eats and drinks sufficiently... start easing off the prednisone immediately as I doubt very much it will be helpful in this situation... it is reserved for use when you are almost certain of brain inflamation (usually only in crested breeds).