Strained Esophogas???

[Nancy P]

I am pretty new to raising chickens. My 5 month old Dominique pullet has a strange lump on her throat. At first I thought she had a bad crop so I did what was suggested to me and put her in a cage by herself and gave her 2 caplets of Dulcolax with 1cc of apple sauce. I did that for 2 days and the lump didn't go down. In fact I have been told that the lump is on the wrong side of her throat for it to be her crop and to high up. So then I thought maybe Cocidiiosis and gave her medicine for that with no significant improvement. Today I went to TSC to find some other antibiotic. The man told me to give her electrolytes. She has only been eating what I put in her beak. I have attached a picture. If anyone knows what is wrong with my poor little chicken please tell me what to do. I don't really want to think of the next step if she doesn't start eating. Thanks

 

[Nancy P]

I think I figured it out. I think she developed Wry Neck. I have given her Vitamin E and a vitamin. she is eatting again and drinking the electorlite water. Thanks for your help,

 

[Eggcessive]

Does the area on her left upper chest feel firm or does it feel like air under the skin? Sometimes chickens can get injured around the neck and chest, and develop a leaking air sac under the skin. That can displace the neck. Very rarely, tumors can appear in the same spot. Is she moving her neck around, up and down, or side to side at all?

 

[Nancy P]

Thank you for helping. The spot is hard. It feels like there are ridges when I rub it. She has not been moving her neck very much. I think it is Wry Neck. I brought her in the garage tonight and scrambled her an egg with Vit. E in it and a multivitamin ( I couldn't find any Selenium). I also gave her about 8 cc of Sav-a-Chick Electrolyte water. I was surprised that she gobbled up most of the egg. I'll find out in the morning if there's any improvement. I think there will be. Thanks again for helping.

 

[Eggcessive]

Egg contains selenium. Poultry NutriDrench and Poultry Cell vitamins also contain selenium, and dosage is 2 ml orally every day for treatment od wry neck. Let us know how she is doing tomorrow.

 

[Nancy P]

Thanks for helping again. I live way out in the country and I won't be able to get into town until tomorrow. I will look for Poultry Drench and Poultry Cell Vitamins. On the bottle of multi vitamins I have it lists Selenium at 22mcg so I don't think I'm in danger of OD'ing her. Thanks again.

 

[Nancy P]

Well, here is where we are now. I found some capsules with powdered Selenium (200mcg) and some Poly-vi-sol. For 2 days I have been giving her 1 scrambled egg, 1 cap of Selenium, 1 cap of Vitamin E and 3 drops of Poly-vi-sol twice a day. At first I had to pry the poor girls beak open to slip in the egg, then she started eating it herself, which was quite a relief. She is up and moving around instead of standing in one spot all day. She is still with the other chickens and they seem to be leaving her alone. They're not picking on her. She is much more alert. It seems that her neck is beginning to straighten out some. She has lost a lot of weight. My question is now, how long do I do this for? Will she get lazy and let me feed her for the rest of my life? Am I creating a monster? Thanks

 

[Eggcessive]

You only have to give a small amount of selenium daily. The egg has plenty in it, or you can give up to 50 mcg daily. The PolyVisol only needs to be given once a day. Poultry vitamins in the water, or the Poultry NutriDrench (which contains selenium) is in the proper dosage for a chicken. Is there a vet that could check for a possible tumor? That could be causing the weight loss as well. I just worry that the lump in her left side of her neck is something more than wry neck. Keep us posted.

 

[Nancy P]

Hi and thanks for the info. We have vets but they're strictly dog and cat. She seems to be doing better, she was eating out of the regular dish tonight and actually ran across the yard this afternoon. I'll take another picture for comparison in the morning and see if there really is a difference.

 

[Nancy P]

Thank you for your advice. You were right on the money about how to handle this problem. We went camping a couple of weeks ago, came back and her neck was just as straight as it should have been. She is starting to lay eggs and has put weight back on. She is just perfect and she is still attached to us a lot more than the others. Once again thanks for the help.