sick chick

[jennhorton]

My 5 week old rhodie is doing the same thing. It just started yesterday. After reading the threads and symptoms, I too beleive it is wry neck. I started her on a dropper of polyvisol last night but I am very worried. I also put some poly in her water source. I separated her out of caution from the other chicks because Im not sure if it is some disease. Any other advice or suggestions would be much appreciated! I am a first time chick owner and it really devastates me to see her like this. She bends over holding her head between her legs and will sometimes just flip over and lay there. She will also walk backwards holding her head on the ground. I put some food in my hand and held it up to her to eat but she only took like two bites and wouldn't eat anymore. I work full time and I'm worried that she will sit there all day and not eat or drink water. Please help!

 

[sog1997]

I can only pass on what the vet said. First he checked her and said she is not diseased or sick. He suspected a vitamin deficiency, his thoughts were it is usually b and a, giving e and selenium helps with absorption. The first day I had no vitamins on hand other than adult multi. I gave her straight shots of 'chick drench' basically a supplement for newly hatched or shipped chicks. I drenched a small amount of feed in it and tried to encourage eating ( she was not too interested at first ) I wouldn't worry about that too much unless it goes on for more than a few days. I bought a liquid b complex at our drug store and a liquid e and straight fed both for the next day, she began to be interested in food and i soaked her feed in the b and the e. ordered polyvisol online, still waiting for shipment. she is getting pedialyte in her water as well as the chick drench. this regiment was for 4 days. We saw the vet on day 5. she has improved yet still does end up in a corner upside down ( almost a head stand), the vet said her brain is misfiring, it may improve or it may not BUT, he said 3 or 4 days is not long enough to know. Give it a good 12 days and then what you see is what you have. Then he said I may make a quality of life decision.
I made a 'quality of life in my bedroom, in a wire crate', or in the coop separated. This am she went into the coop next to her 40 chick mates, she is in a mesh crate. I found she did better with a roost to hang onto. She would still have her little seizures, but did not end up across the cage when she finally hit a corner. She was able to stay holding on and it seems as if the seize is lasting for shorter duration. This evening she went in with her crew. The normal pecking order was going on but no one really gave her a hard time specifically. I notice an increase in this seizing with stress and so have tried to keep it down to a minimum. Covering her cage when she was in it, keeping movement around her to a minimum ( me being up and down out of bed ). I wont diagnose your chick as not sick or with any other ailment. I can say I am hopeful for her recovery ( other chick-owner experiences), I am a chicken owner for just over 2 years. Not a 'chicken farmer' as it seems I cannot jump to euthanizing every time something comes up( there have been days I wished I were!). If your chick is vitamin deficient I expect she will start to eat and drink on her own. If she is ill she probably wont. I dont think I have ever heard of them starving themselves, especially in a day. Just be sure she has it available while you are at work. As I said mine was not very interested in eating for a few days, after that she ate like a little piggy! Do make sure she is getting fluids even if she isnt taking feed. Thoughts are with you and her for an improvement and a recovery!

 

[SCchickens2011]

My 5 week old rhodie is doing the same thing. It just started yesterday. After reading the threads and symptoms, I too beleive it is wry neck. I started her on a dropper of polyvisol last night but I am very worried. I also put some poly in her water source. I separated her out of caution from the other chicks because Im not sure if it is some disease. Any other advice or suggestions would be much appreciated! I am a first time chick owner and it really devastates me to see her like this. She bends over holding her head between her legs and will sometimes just flip over and lay there. She will also walk backwards holding her head on the ground. I put some food in my hand and held it up to her to eat but she only took like two bites and wouldn't eat anymore. I work full time and I'm worried that she will sit there all day and not eat or drink water. Please help!

my Rhodie is doing much better now, she is not even crooking her neck anymore! I didn't do much of anything other than get them out into a temporary coop with an 8x3 foot run, they have almost all of their feathers at this point and they are doing fine out there, she has made a drastic turnaroud though! I have also given them a chick waterer full of unflavored off brand Pedialyte (Parent's Choice electrolyte), it was cheaper, anyway just straight electrolyte to drink as well as a tub of regular water next to it, and her neck isn't crooked anymore and she doesn't back herself up anymore, she sits on the roost inside the hen house (ex-bachelor pad) and snuggles right up along the others. no balance isues at all! in fact she and one of my Barred rocks got to share a worm last night! I found a gigantic earthworm crawling along the ground and so i picked it up and fed it to them, she and the Barred both grabbed it and then played keep away from the others in order to maintain their prize! It was funny to watch. I assume it is just something that some will just grow out of in time. But adding the vitamins and electrolytes will help them along quicker.

 

[jennhorton]

It's been about a week and a half since my post so I wanted to give y'all an update on my chick. She is 100% BETTER!! I followed others BYC reader's advice and gave her polyvisol & vitamin E oil. I couldn't find vitamin E oil with selenium so I just used regular Vitamin E oil . For the first 3 days I gave it to her by the dropper and I force fed her but that got real messy. At the end of the 3rd day, I was taking a few tablespoons full of the medicated chick started and mixing it with water. Then I would put about a half dropper of polyvisol and about a teaspoon of vit e oil and mix it all up. Then I would hold the chick (Lucky) in my lap and let her eat out of the bowl. She liked this process a whole lot better. I also gently massaged her neck some which she seemed to really enjoy. I also began putting a dropper full of the poly into the water source for all my chicks to drink. I figured it couldn't hurt. On the 7th day I only noticed her do the head tuck once and now on day 10 she isn't doing it at all. It does take some time and special attention, so don't give up on your chicks. If I had not painted her toe nails red to tell her apart from the others, I wouldn't even know which one was her. She is also eating and digesting food fine. I orginally separated her from the others on the first day but once I found out wry neck isn't a disease, I put her back with the others so she wouldn't be lonely. Good Luck to anyone out there going though this!

 

[SCchickens2011]

It's been about a week and a half since my post so I wanted to give y'all an update on my chick. She is 100% BETTER!! I followed others BYC reader's advice and gave her polyvisol & vitamin E oil. I couldn't find vitamin E oil with selenium so I just used regular Vitamin E oil . For the first 3 days I gave it to her by the dropper and I force fed her but that got real messy. At the end of the 3rd day, I was taking a few tablespoons full of the medicated chick started and mixing it with water. Then I would put about a half dropper of polyvisol and about a teaspoon of vit e oil and mix it all up. Then I would hold the chick (Lucky) in my lap and let her eat out of the bowl. She liked this process a whole lot better. I also gently massaged her neck some which she seemed to really enjoy. I also began putting a dropper full of the poly into the water source for all my chicks to drink. I figured it couldn't hurt. On the 7th day I only noticed her do the head tuck once and now on day 10 she isn't doing it at all. It does take some time and special attention, so don't give up on your chicks. If I had not painted her toe nails red to tell her apart from the others, I wouldn't even know which one was her. She is also eating and digesting food fine. I orginally separated her from the others on the first day but once I found out wry neck isn't a disease, I put her back with the others so she wouldn't be lonely. Good Luck to anyone out there going though this!

that is wonderful news! i can only tell my girl from the other two rhodies because to me her neck looks skinnier and where her head meets her neck sems slightly more curved than the others, but she is just as normal as the rest now. They all flew out of their coop this morning when i opened their door, one by one like planes taking off from a carrier very funny. they are entertaining aren't they?

 

[sog1997]

My barred rock seems to have recovered. She has not had a seizure in over a week, she is eating very well and has gained all her weight back. She is undersized at the moment but I am not worried being she had a spell of ill health. Her name is Misfire and she is working her way back up the pecking order