GREAT NEWS EVERYBODY!
I've posted here about my wryneck baby Taylor and recieved some truly excellent advice. In fact, to start, I'd just like to say thanks to everyone who supported me and helped me with her treatment. Having never treated wryneck before I don't think I'd have been able to hold out as long as I did giving her 1+ hours of care per day without all your encouragement.
These are some photos of Tay the last few days, usually post-feeding:
Even last night, she was not standing, moving, eating, or drinking on her own. I was filling her crop twice a day by hand. At this point between my poor sleep schedule, work, predator worries, and having to care for an additional 150 birds besides Tay, I was getting to wit's end. Part of me was even considering culling because the sheer time it was taking out of my schedule and the amount of frustration I was feeling just trying to feed and water her (she is not very cooperative during feedings), a part of me was even wondering if maybe culling was the best option at this point, with no signs of improvement.
I finished her night feeding last night at around one in the morning (I wasn't kidding when I said my sleep schedule is poor) and she was the same as always. Flip flopping around and trying to crawl backwards out of her bowl-nest with her head twisted upside down. You know, the usual Exorcist-deleted-scenes stuff.
This is how I found her when I uncovered her nest this morning:
And here she is at her morning feeding, eating and drinking on her own:
Now I'm not one to bandy about the word "miracle" - I'm a sometimes-stuff-happens-good-or-bad kind of girl - but this feels like a miracle if I ever saw one. Maybe just a miracle born of chicken's healing capabilities and my own (slightly frayed) sense of perseverance, but a miracle nonetheless.
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