twisted neck

[czgarcia]

What can be wrong with my chicken? Her neck is twisted and she has been like this (off and on-sometimes she gets it right and walks around with the others just fine) for weeks now. She seems strong (except sleeps alot) and perks up for corn. No nasal discharge or runny eyes or sneezing or any other symptoms I can see except excessive sleeping and twisted neck. Anyone?

Edited to add she's a Begian Bearded Duccle and 1.5 to 2 years old.

 

[CoyoteMagic]

Has she always had a twisted neck or is this something that has occurred recently?

 

[ruth]

Hi czgarcia - I sent you a reply to your e-mail. With Ruth I believe it was a matter of not getting enough to eat, especially protein and vitamins. As I mentioned in my posts, and in my e-mail, I now feed her separately from the rest and give her lots of meats, cheese, cat food and veggies, along with a vitamin E capsule and some liquid bird vitamins. She has really perked up and become a pet. Though she is in the pen and coop area with the rest of the flock, she is 1/4th their size and still appears to be stunted but she stays in the coop until she hears me and then comes flying out and runs up my legs or flys on my arm or shoulder to be escorted out for her private one-on-one outings. I still massage her neck which can still get bent into an S-shape but when she relaxes and I'm massaging it, it returns to normal. She no longer sleeps constantly or has to be constantly prodded to eat. Before she would lean over to take a bite and fall head-down asleep before she got to the dish. She would lay on the floor of her pen sleeping all the time. I would have to hold her to get her to eat and move her after every bite to keep her awake. Good luck with your chick. Give her lots of protein, hand feed her if you have to. I initially had to force feed Ruth a liquid mush with a medicine dropper because she was so far gone before I noticed anything.

 

[czgarcia]

Ruth, thank you so much for the info in the emails. I see the difference between mine and yours now. But I'd like to try the vitamins and see if that helps at all. And massage.

Coyotemagic, it's only been several weeks since she started with the twisted neck. It seems to go almost all the way upside down now, but she can straighten it when i rouse her and massage it, though only briefly. She does get up and follow the others, though sometimes she's behind a bit because she sleeps more and doesn't seem to notice when they all leave for another area to forage in.

I'm just at a lose as to what is wrong. I've had chickens for 6 years now and none have ever had this problem. They have all been hatched here as well.

Thanks again for any help!

http://s181.photobucket.com/albums/x217/czgarcia/?action=view&current=chickensmaller.jpg
http://s181.photobucket.com/albums/x217/czgarcia/?action=view&current=chickensmaller1.jpg

 

[CoyoteMagic]

Sounds as if she has injured it some way. My chick was injured at a week old and has been living like this for 12 weeks. Tessy does sleep a lot more than the others. I'm not sure if it's because she has to work extra hard just to keep up. Tessy rarely leaves the run to go range with the others.

I don't know what you can do with her except make her comfortable. As long as she isn't showing any outward signs of stress and doesn't seem to be in pain I'm sure she will be ok.

 

[czgarcia]

pictures added for a better idea of what she looks like. Poor girl..

 

[BeckyLa]

I have a little crested with the same problem. She was born "not quite right", almost like she was weak in her neck. But, after a couple months she seemed to have grown out of it so I put her and the others from that hatch out in a pen. Mistake. She now seems to have the twist permanently.

So she's back in the brooder. But she seems to be getting stronger. I feed her every day or two some mashed hard boiled egg yolk mixed with a little yogurt and cornbread. She seems to be getting stronger. She has no trouble eating or drinking and is growing fine. I guess she'll always be a special needs girl but she should live a full life with one or two friends. I think that upping her protein has helped with her neck muscles getting stronger, maybe it'll help your girl, too. As for the cause, I don't know. I did hatch her in my bator and I had a lot of problems with that hatch because of humidiy so it could be a birth defect I suppose.

 

[czgarcia]

Thanks Becky. I think the strangest thing is that it just started out of the blue. Remember, she's over a year old and well past babyhood. I just don't get it. She seems to be getting worse. I'm going to give her some of the high protein foods and some vitamin e and see if I can perk her up. She may be having a hard time eating, though I saw her pecking scratch with the others yesterday morning. You can look out one minute and she's laying there, the next she's with the others and you have to search hard to find which one is her, then she's laying there again. I'm baffled..

 

[czgarcia]

I just gave her a mixture of boiled egg (mashed) and fish oil capsule (I don't have any plain e) and heavy cream. She gobbled it up. I tried to put a little water down in her too, then put her back in the pen in a nice sunny spot. I hope she perks up a bit later...

 

[czgarcia]

I don't think she's going to make it. She's much worse the last couple of days. She doesn't get up anymore, but she eagerly eats when I bring her inside and give her food. Then she goes back to sitting there. I don't know what to do for her and I can't even think about the humane thing to do....