Silkie chick with wry neck

[AlpineChick]

Hi there,

I have a two-week old baby white Silkie that seems to have developed wry neck. She has spasms in her little neck that bother her, resulting in her tucking her head between her legs and scooting vigorously all around the brooder. She seems to be doing that less and less, but her neck still twitches and seems to irritate her. I have been giving her Vitamin E with selenium, which may be helping a little but it's hard to tell.

In my research I found out that Silkies are really prone to wry neck b/c of the shape of their heads/brains, which I wish I had known sooner. Uggh. One of my Silkies died within a few days of receiving her, so my luck with Silkies has not been good. So sad!

The white Silkie with the wry neck is definitely not growing at the rate of my blue Silkie chick (or all the other breed chicks, for that matter), but she seems to be eating and drinking right along with the flock.

Does anyone have any info or suggestions or experiences to share with me? I have researched past threads and gleaned some info from those, but I thought it would be good to get some info directly from you guys. Is wry neck something that will kill a chick? Is it something that will eventually go away on its own? Should I isolate her to protect her from the others, or will she be upset to be away from the flock? Poor little Silkie!

Thanks so much!

Jamaica

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

I haven't dealt with wry neck, but I wanted to make sure that you didn't miss the "let's talk wry neck" thread. Also did you see the browneggblueegg.com crookneck article?

 

[lazy gardener]

Hi there,

I have a two-week old baby white Silkie that seems to have developed wry neck. She has spasms in her little neck that bother her, resulting in her tucking her head between her legs and scooting vigorously all around the brooder. She seems to be doing that less and less, but her neck still twitches and seems to irritate her. I have been giving her Vitamin E with selenium, which may be helping a little but it's hard to tell.

In my research I found out that Silkies are really prone to wry neck b/c of the shape of their heads/brains, which I wish I had known sooner. Uggh. One of my Silkies died within a few days of receiving her, so my luck with Silkies has not been good. So sad!

The white Silkie with the wry neck is definitely not growing at the rate of my blue Silkie chick (or all the other breed chicks, for that matter), but she seems to be eating and drinking right along with the flock.

Does anyone have any info or suggestions or experiences to share with me? I have researched past threads and gleaned some info from those, but I thought it would be good to get some info directly from you guys. Is wry neck something that will kill a chick? Is it something that will eventually go away on its own? Should I isolate her to protect her from the others, or will she be upset to be away from the flock? Poor little Silkie!

Thanks so much!

Jamaica

Add some multi-vits: I used Nutri-Drench, others use Poly-vi-sol without Iron. Is she eating well? If not, you might need to hand feed her. Kaytee makes a hand feeding formula for baby birds (you can find it at the pet store) or you might make a gruel out of warm water and chick starter. Keep an eye on her crop to be sure she is taking in an adequate amount and emptying her crop. You may need to massage her crop to help her empty it if her crop motility is poor. I dealt with this with one of my chicks and had good results. Check out the "crazy chick disease" thread, or Vitamin E encephalopathy. My chick went from being unconsious when I first noticed that something was wrong, to the point that I couldn't tell her apart from the others 2 weeks later. Don't separate her unless she is being injured by the others.