Spondylopathy?

[Noah Way Farm]

5 week old Jersey Giant chick - I noticed about 2 days ago that she has a significant curvature of her neck. Though a clutch mate DID have a nutritional deficiency of some sort last week, I don't believe this is why neck - she has NO other deficiency or symptoms, eats and ambulates just fine. I did start her on supplemental vitamins just in case.
What do you all think? I don't plan to cull her - she's fine otherwise, but any chance she'll outgrow this or anything I can do to help her straighten out?
Currently, the neck can not be forced into a normal position.

 

[Noah Way Farm]

Supposed to say wry neck, not why neck.

 

[Noah Way Farm]

This is the direction her neck goes. The arrow in pic #2 indicates the direction it *should* go.

 

[Noah Way Farm]

Also, the corner of the bend in the first pic is where the vertebra actually change direction. The part that should be her esophagus is actually there.

 

[Eggcessive]

I still think that is wry neck (torticolis, crook neck.) If it was a spondylopathy I think the chick would need to be older to tell, since the spine and or keel bone might be curved. The usual treatment for wry neck is 400 IU of vitamin E, plus a chick vitamin with some thiamine (B1) and give a small bit of cooked egg or shell-less sunflower seed for selenium. Poultry NutriDrench 1 ml daily has all that, but you still need some extra vitamin E, which sunflwer kernels also have.

Wry neck can look a lot of different ways with twisting to the side, in an “S,” turned down, or looking upward. It is a neurological symptom of several things, such as a head injury, a vitamin E or B1 thiamine deficiency, and can be seen in older chickens in Mareks disease and a few others. Make sure the chick can get enough to eat several times a day by adding some water to a small amount of feed with cooked egg. Here is a good article about spondylopathies with pictures:
https://www.merckvetmanual.com/poul.../noninfectious-skeletal-disorders-in-broilers

 

[Noah Way Farm]

I am really happy to hear you say that, as hopefully something can be done for her. I am supplementing her with Poultry Cell and Derm Caps (this is a fatty acid supplement for dogs, but it's high in Vit E, and was all I had on hand). I will try to find an actual Vit E with selenium supplement today.
Not sure why this has happened to two of ten chicks now. They are being fed PLENTY and they are all eating, active and apparently healthy. I spend, quite literally, hours every day with them.
They have been getting a vitamin supplement right along. The other chick responded within hours to vitamins, and was normal the next day, and has been very normal since. I have never seen Marek's, but was under the impression that they rarely recovered.

I still think that is wry neck (torticolis, crook neck.) If it was a spondylopathy I think the chick would need to be older to tell, since the spine and or keel bone might be curved. The usual treatment for wry neck is 400 IU of vitamin E, plus a chick vitamin with some thiamine (B1) and give a small bit of cooked egg or shell-less sunflower seed for selenium. Poultry NutriDrench 1 ml daily has all that, but you still need some extra vitamin E, which sunflwer kernels also have.

Wry neck can look a lot of different ways with twisting to the side, in an “S,” turned down, or looking upward. It is a neurological symptom of several things, such as a head injury, a vitamin E or B1 thiamine deficiency, and can be seen in older chickens in Mareks disease and a few others. Make sure the chick can get enough to eat several times a day by adding some water to a small amount of feed with cooked egg. Here is a good article about spondylopathies with pictures:
https://www.merckvetmanual.com/poul.../noninfectious-skeletal-disorders-in-broilers

 

[Eggcessive]

The Poultry Cell is good to use, so I would just increase the vitamin E. If the Derm Caps has enough, then that is fine. The PC already has selenium, and only a small amount of selenium is necessary. Too much is worse. You can buy a bag of sunflower kernels at Walmart and grocery stores, and just a few a day have E and selenium. Did you hatch these chicks? It seems a lot of home hatched chicks have problems with wry neck and leg problems, at least from what I have seen here. Good luck with your chick.

 

[dawg53]

It looks like Roach Back. Roach Back is a deformity of the spine. It is genetic.

 

[Eggcessive]

Here are some pictures of chickens with spondylopathies (roachback, lordosis) to compare with yours as it grows:

 

[Noah Way Farm]

The Poultry Cell is good to use, so I would just increase the vitamin E. If the Derm Caps has enough, then that is fine. The PC already has selenium, and only a small amount of selenium is necessary. Too much is worse. You can buy a bag of sunflower kernels at Walmart and grocery stores, and just a few a day have E and selenium. Did you hatch these chicks? It seems a lot of home hatched chicks have problems with wry neck and leg problems, at least from what I have seen here. Good luck with your chick.