Silkie with severe crook neck for 3 weeks

[cinichicken]

I am now hand feeding my 5 month old silkie because she can no longer eat or drink. Her neck is shaped like the letter "S" and her head is turned to one side. She can only move backwards and in circles, dragging one leg. I have been giving her the PolyViSol drops twice a day and giving her vitamin e once a day but I do not see any improvement. Her beard appeared to have chunks of hardended cement but I believe it might be clumps of mite/lice eggs. Since they are rock hard and matted, I cannot get them out and am wondering if this is making her sicker. I coated them with vaseline to smother the eggs and hopefully soften them up enough to scrape off. I also bathed her applied mite/lice spray. I see her condition deteriorating every day but cannot end her life. Is she suffering? How do I know how much water to give her or how much food? Will she recover? Thanks for any advice.

 

[gpamela3499]

Help
I have a little chick with crook neck and I bought the $12 vitanmins but I don't know how to administer them. How do you do it in the water? Directly in the mouth?

 

[dnaroian]

I had a chick with this illness. She was much younger. When I gave her the drops(3 or 4) straight to the mouth and in the water, I did this every 3 to 4 hours. I would try bumping it up a little.

 

[gumpsgirl]

It is a vitamin deficiency and one that Silkies are very prone to. You need to be squirting a vitamin E capsule twice a day into the chicks beak. In a few weeks time, he/she should be straightened out.

 

[Fingers crossed]

We have the same problem with Silkie chick. She is just getting progressively worse... we've been trying with the vits with no improvement

I'm hoping she will pass on piecefully with no pain as i havnt the heart to cull her.. although it would probably be for the best

 

[gumpsgirl]

Here is a link to a good thread that was started with lots of good info. too.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=97121

 

[gumpsgirl]

Quote:
Have you been giving her any vitamins? This is due to a vitamin deficiency and if you do not treat it, they will die.

See my above post and the link the the thread I just posted.

 

[Fingers crossed]

Quote:
Have you been giving her any vitamins? This is due to a vitamin deficiency and if you do not treat it, they will die.

See my above post and the link the the thread I just posted.

Yes we have been giving her vitamins, but her head is upside down now and she just lays there. Reading up on it we think it may be a head injury... when we collected her from the breeder she was fine, a few hours after we got her home i noticed her head was slightly bent to the side but at that point she was still eating, drinking and moving around normally. Her neck is quite severe now... got gradually worse even with the vitamins. If i can find anything that will help her i will do it but right now i'm losing all hope.

 

[gumpsgirl]

Quote:
Have you been giving her any vitamins? This is due to a vitamin deficiency and if you do not treat it, they will die.

See my above post and the link the the thread I just posted.

Yes we have been giving her vitamins, but her head is upside down now and she just lays there. Reading up on it we think it may be a head injury... when we collected her from the breeder she was fine, a few hours after we got her home i noticed her head was slightly bent to the side but at that point she was still eating, drinking and moving around normally. Her neck is quite severe now... got gradually worse even with the vitamins. If i can find anything that will help her i will do it but right now i'm losing all hope.

Are you doing the vitamin E with Selenium capsules twice a day? I know you said you were doing vitamins, but I wanted to clarify what type of vitamins? The Poly-Vi-Sol won't fix the problem by itself.

 

[Smoky73]

I would be syringe feeding her a strong vitamin/water solution every few hours instead of once a day.