Strange Behavior

[Tex63]

Hi all. This is not an emergency more of a feel ideas and opinions. I have 4 week old bantam frizzle Cochin. I got her at a feed store and only because I felt sorry for her. I know chickens are livestock etc etc. I really up on a farm and I'm starting my own now while in vet school. I hate to see animals suffer and I knew if I left her there it would be a slow painful death. She was lethargic had a swollen eye and maxing half her feathers. She was a day old chick in a peen with 2 maybe 3 week old chicks and they were pulverizing her. So I brought her home kept her quarantined gave her antibiotics and hand fed her. She is now 6 weeks old she is good weight, active, earts, drinks doing well. Except she is either neurologically impaired or blind. She does this weird spinning circles thing specially when stressed, she also can't seem to tolerate new spaces bumps into everything shies away from other birds. I wonder if she doesn't have some brain damage from being beat up as a chick. She is already starting to get broody. I know she isn't sick so I put baby chicks in with her and she gathers them up under her wings. I have had her blood and fecal tested and no signs of parasite or disease. Just extremely odd and weird behavior. What do y'all think?

 

[Eggcessive]

It is possible that she has wry neck which is a neurological symptom that includes twisted neck, walking backwards, or turning in circles. It can be a symptom with a head injury, a vitamin deficiency, Mareks disease, and in other severe infectious diseases. Many use vitamin E and selenium orally to treat it. A poultry vitamin containing vitamin E, added to the water plus some chopped egg, tuna, or nuts daily can add selenium to her diet. Poultry Nutri-drench or Poultry Cell vitamins contain both E and selenium, and dosage is 1 ml per 3 pounds of weight daily by mouth. Hopefully she won't continue all her life to have this problem. We really can use your expertise her on BYC since you are in vet school. The importance of this forum is that many don't have access to a vet who treats poultry. My daughter is a vet, and said that she got pretty minimal teaching about chickens while attending vet school. Nowadays, since more people have backyard flocks, there could be more money to be made caring for poultry.
Here are a couple of links to read about wry neck:
http://www.browneggblueegg.com/Article/Crookneck/Crookneck.html
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/97121/lets-talk-wry-neck-crook-neck

 

[Tex63]

I look forward to offering whatever advice I can as I go through school. I have read up in the Mercks manual about wry neck and I have also looked online at many sites. I will check out your links as well. I know that the veterinary industry doesn't focus on birds unless you take the exotic route except prefunctory. Most people will just replace the chicken and cull do to cost of treatment versus cost of animal. I am focusing on large animal(farm animals) as there is a need alot of vets are going into small animal mediciine. I do however plan to do some specialization in poultry (chickens, geese, turkeys, ducks) as there is a need for more expertise in this area of the veterinary trade. I really don't think she has any diseases or parasites she has remained in the brooder because she can not be with the other chickens (I try to keep my biosecurity pretty tight) all new birds are quarantined for a minimum of 4 weeks before introduced to any of the current birds. I am fairly certain it is not a vitamin deficiancy although I had one chick that I administered vitamin E, B complex, and selenium because she did have a vitamin problem. I have a poultry finisher mix that contains high levles of viatamins, protein, and minerals that I add to all their feed. I am almost positive it is a neurological injury from when she was nearly pecked to death as a chick. I appreciate your input and look forward to any other input or ideas any one may have. She is healthy otherwise, eats, scratches, drinks and gathers up the young. It is just so strange she doesn't hold her neck funny or star gaze. It is just the bumping into things in a new place, and spinning in circles again only in a new environment. When she is in her private pen she does not exhibit these symptoms unless stressed. Very stange.