Taking Care of Swirls, the Wry Neck Silkie

[NubbyRyuu]

Sorry that she is acting poorly again. I hope that she feels better. You could try half of a low dose aspirin twice a day in food, or put 325 mg in 240 ml of water to drink it.

She seems to be doing a little better from this morning. Maybe she isn't a fan of yogurt... Can't blame her; it's a bit of an acquired taste, haha.

 

[Eggcessive]

Mine like it better mixed into feed.

 

[christwodog]

Stick with it! It's a frustrating (at times) and drawn out deal with wry neck. With mine, I would put the drops of vitamin E on little pieces of bread, which she loved so I knew for sure she was getting all the vitamin E necessary.

 

[NubbyRyuu]

Starting to think I'm an idiot with chickens. So I know all about a bird's digestive system from my cockatiel: food goes into the crop then into the stomach. What I'm starting to learn is how the crop is a holding tank for food before it goes through the rest of a chicken's system. I made a scrambled egg for Swirly for dinner and noticed her crop was fairly full (I let her eat breakfast and lunch on her own today). She took a few bites of the egg and is now sleeping.

Usually when I see the adult hens and Slim the rooster, they're pecking at whatever throughout the day, and find places to relax or dust bathe. Chicks seem to share this behavior, but Swirly is my first. Today it seemed like she was stretching out her food instead of going for it. Googling how the crop works (at least in chickens) reveals how everything really works. Instead of grinding everything and the food just passing on through, it just sits there as it's broken down before being passed onto one of the two stomachs.

So if I want her to get the protein from the egg, should I give that to her in the morning instead of the food cocktails? I could still add in the vitamins and turmeric. With this being the case as well, should I hold off giving her food for overnight or still offer it?

 

[christwodog]

I fed my wry neck chick 3 times a day with a little snack at bedtime. Then nothing over nite, until her 5:30 am feeding. I gave her hardboiled egg, mixed with her chick crumbles for all the feedings and the vitamin E/polyvisol separately. Water was always available to her, but she couldn't really eat or drink on her own for a couple weeks, so I had to administer water with an eyedropper at each feeding. They won't get up at night to eat, so I feel it's not necessary to provide food during the overnite hours. When it's dark, they will sleep.
The days that they seem to regress can be disheartening, but eventually the good days will outnumber the bad days.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Starting to think I'm an idiot with chickens. So I know all about a bird's digestive system from my cockatiel: food goes into the crop then into the stomach. What I'm starting to learn is how the crop is a holding tank for food before it goes through the rest of a chicken's system. I made a scrambled egg for Swirly for dinner and noticed her crop was fairly full

Today it seemed like she was stretching out her food instead of going for it. Googling how the crop works (at least in chickens) reveals how everything really works. Instead of grinding everything and the food just passing on through, it just sits there as it's broken down before being passed onto one of the two stomachs.

Googling how the crop works (at least in chickens) reveals how everything really works. Instead of grinding everything and the food just passing on through, it just sits there as it's broken down before being passed onto one of the two stomachs.

So if I want her to get the protein from the egg, should I give that to her in the morning instead of the food cocktails? I could still add in the vitamins and turmeric. With this being the case as well, should I hold off giving her food for overnight or still offer it?

The food goes into the crop which is like a pouch, then it goes to the Proventriculus, then through the Gizzard (Ventriculus) from there it goes to small intestines, etc.
(See the link below, it has a good description and illustration of the Avian digestive system).

The crop really doesn't break down that much food, think of it as a holding pouch.
Feed her normally throughout the day. Chickens do take breaks but as the crop empties, they will eat.

NOW...since she has Wry Neck and we are not sure of the cause...the crop could be what we call "slow" meaning that something else is going on. If the Wry Neck is caused by a disease like Marek's then that can impact the function of digestion.
Just a thought there.

 

[NubbyRyuu]

The food goes into the crop which is like a pouch, then it goes to the Proventriculus, then through the Gizzard (Ventriculus) from there it goes to small intestines, etc.
(See the link below, it has a good description and illustration of the Avian digestive system).

The crop really doesn't break down that much food, think of it as a holding pouch.
Feed her normally throughout the day. Chickens do take breaks but as the crop empties, they will eat.

NOW...since she has Wry Neck and we are not sure of the cause...the crop could be what we call "slow" meaning that something else is going on. If the Wry Neck is caused by a disease like Marek's then that can impact the function of digestion.
Just a thought there.

It's amazing how all that works.

We're pretty sure she got injured when we were transporting them to the coop, since she was fine before hand. Hm, dunno if it's slow to be honest, she seems to eat fine. Maybe the crop just slows down closer to evening?

 

[NubbyRyuu]

I fed my wry neck chick 3 times a day with a little snack at bedtime. Then nothing over nite, until her 5:30 am feeding. I gave her hardboiled egg, mixed with her chick crumbles for all the feedings and the vitamin E/polyvisol separately. Water was always available to her, but she couldn't really eat or drink on her own for a couple weeks, so I had to administer water with an eyedropper at each feeding. They won't get up at night to eat, so I feel it's not necessary to provide food during the overnite hours. When it's dark, they will sleep.
The days that they seem to regress can be disheartening, but eventually the good days will outnumber the bad days.

Oof, 5:30am, I could never do that again, haha! I feed her first thing in the morning around 7:30, and when she's done I'll clean out the bowl and leave food for her (I also have a horse and goat, so if something happens, at least she has food). I make sure it's nice and mushy so she can eat and get water in her system. I've been mixing in very little turmeric, Vitamin E (morning only), and 4 drops of Vitamin B Complex. She also enjoys the very small amounts of roasted sunflower seeds (broken up as small as possible), brazil nut shavings, and coconut flakes (again broken up as small as possible). Hm, maybe I should try hardboiled...

 

[Eggcessive]

I would give her a balanced diet all day long with chicken feed, then spike it with egg, a bit of yogurt, but mostly chicken feed. The extras are to make it more appealing, and I like to offer food when they are getting ready to go to roost and sleep, so they have a full crop at bedtime.

 

[NubbyRyuu]

Had a better morning today! Made her a scrambled egg, and mixed in the Vitamin E, Vitamin B, and turmeric. She ate till her crop was full, and as a bonus, she held her head up near perfectly! Of course, she made a nice mess, lol!