Wry neck and curled toe paralysis

[Wyndi Fosh]

Oh my gosh, where do I start.
I want to put this out there for the info and for advice. I have gotten some very good advice via BYC Facebook, but need more.

My favorite tame hen started acting weird three weeks ago. She's stumbling. I take her to the vet. Vet puts her on antibiotics to combat an "ear infection". She's on antibiotics for 4 days and we find her laying down in the coop. She can't even stand up.
I bring her into the house, and she can't eat, drink, or stand. I go into survival mode to save this bird because she's the bomb. She acts like a dog. I love her.
I read everything I can find on the internet. She has wry neck. Her head is flipping around some kinda way, and her entire left side quit working. It looked like she had muscular dystrophy. Everything on her curled, her head, her feet, her body.
I started syringe feeding and watering her....tuna fish, spinach, banana slushy, polyvisol with every meal, antibiotics, expensive CBD oil, rubbing her legs with vitamin E oil. Ordered the goat vitamin E and selenium gel. I've been giving her that for 2 days now. I even made her a therapy chair. It's been 9 days. I even hired a chicken sitter to feed her during the day while I am at work, explaining she must feed her one drop at a time so as not to asphyxiate her. The neck twisting has calmed down immensely, and she's still eating and drinking well from the syringe. She still doesn't have enough strength to eat on her own. I've offered.
Now, I'm trying to get her to uncurl her toes, but I think I am dealing with curled toe paralysis. I started her on avocado and banana vitamins for the B2 until the B complex I ordered gets here.

My question is do these two diseases (deficiencies) go hand in hand? I read about everyone else's birds having wry neck but being able to eat and drink on their own (and nothing about their feet curling). I had one lady tell me it took her a month to nurse her bird back to health, but she did it, and the bird is fine. i am very willing to do whatever it takes, as of course this is the favorite bird. The other 21 birds are outside happy and healthy (and it's warm in South Florida). I keep telling myself to give her a month. She's responsive and opens her beak for the syringe. Sometimes she talks, but not often (she was very vocal before). There's no egg laying, but I read that was normal when a bird has an illness.

I am going to make her chicken sandals to try to straighten out the feet and hope she can regain strength enough to stand up the next time we are outside, and it's dry. (which may be a day or two)
She is usually in a kennel propped up on her side. She brings in her legs and balances on her haunches. Other times, she falls over and is caught by a rolled up towel I've stuck in their to keep her upright. She gets comfortable either way and sleeps a lot. She gets excited when she sees somebody coming to get her. She poops once every other day, and it's a lot, and it's runny....usually all over me when I'm sitting with her on the floor.
I have a video I'm going to try to upload from Facebook so you can see her responsive but on her haunches.

Anybody else had these issues TOGETHER? (Or is it just me....)

 

[ChickNanny13]

How old is she? What do you feed her normally? How's her poop? Could you post some pictures of her and her feet? Have you added any new birds recently?

Hoping not Mareks @Ravynscroft @rebrascora @dawg53 @Wyorp Rock @WVduckchick @Eggcessive Your expertise is needed Thank you

CTP/Curly Toe Paralysis - Riboflavin deficiency; Poly Visol without iron, Vitamin B Complex, Nutri Drench, foods rich in riboflavin (eggs, ground raw almond, beef liver, fortified cereals, etc )
Wry Neck - Vitamin E 400IU & Selenium 25mcg 2 - 3x day, NutriDrench, Thiamine/Vit B1, tuna, liver

You may want to update your profile, responders have an idea of your time zone, climate, predator possibilities, availability of supplies ... Read thru your post, see you're in So Florida.

To upload a video, you first need to download to Your Tube prior to uploading here. Let's see if I can get a pic of the Chicken Chair/Sling (you can use a plastic storage container & cut out lid with a towel sling)

 

[dawg53]

It always possible a chicken can have more than one malady or sickness going on at the same time.
@Wyndi Fosh I think you're doing all that you can do to treat and provide comfort care to your hen.
@ChickNanny13 mentioned the proper treatment for crooked/curled toes, riboflavin. Although it doesnt mean the curled toes will go back to normal. I'm thinking that you might be dealing with a latent genetic issue.
Did the vet mention anything else about the ear infection other than giving you antibiotics? Did he say if it were related to a respiratory problem...fungal, viral , bacterial, or ear mites?

 

[Eggcessive]

I would worry very much about the posssibility of Mareks disease, unfortunately. But curled toe paralysis needs to be treated right away with riboflavin to make a difference if it is a riboflavin deficiency. Just a little extra is needed. Her main diet still needs to be chicken feed, and you can wet that if she will take it better. Hamburger, liver, plain yogurt, chopped almonds, and cooked beans are good sources. Human bitamin B complex is sold in most grocery stores and Walmart. Dosage is 1/4 tablet daily crushed into a bit of egg or yogurt.

Wey neck or torticolis is a neurological symptom which can be caused by heredity, a head injury, vitamin B1 (thiamine) or vitamin E deficiency. It also is seen sometimes in Mareks disease and some other diseases that affect the brain. Usually vitamin E 400 IU is given daily, plus the B vitamins.

Mareks can cause curled under toes and wry neck among the many other possible symptoms. Those can include paralysis in a leg or wing, tumors on nerves, organs, or skin, eye changes, wasting, and decreased immunity. The best method for identifying Mareks is to get testing during a necropsy after death. There are other methods such as blood tests and testing of a feather shaft, that may have false negatives.

 

[Eggcessive]

Here are a couple of links to read about Mareks:
https://extension.psu.edu/mareks-disease-in-chickens

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/the-great-big-giant-mareks-disease-faq.66077/

 

[Wyndi Fosh]

I brought this up first to the vet. I have 22 (23 at the time) birds that free range all day, and not one of them is showing any symptoms. It's been about 3 weeks since I noticed this bird first "star gaze". The vet said that if it were Marek's, another bird would have shown a sign. Plus, her legs aren't splaying at all. She has control of her legs, just not enough strength to get up, and the toes are curled. I just now starting giving the B vitamins. She's been curled for a week. Am I too late? I also made her some "sandals" that tape her toes straight on little cardboard shoes. I will continue to try for at least a month.

 

[Wyndi Fosh]

Did the vet mention anything else about the ear infection other than giving you antibiotics? Did he say if it were related to a respiratory problem...fungal, viral , bacterial, or ear mites?

She checked her from head to toe for mites/lice, and listened to her lungs for a long time to rule out respiratory issues (New Castle Disease). This hen has no breathing problems at all....and I've bathed her several times in her year of life....always checking for bugs. She's never had any. I even bathed her when this all started looking for ear mites myself. She thought it was inner ear by the way the chicken was losing her balance. We finished the week's worth of antibiotics and nothing changed, so that wasn't it. In fact, it only got worse. That was when I hit the internet figuring out what to do.

 

[Wyndi Fosh]

How old is she? What do you feed her normally? How's her poop? Could you post some pictures of her and her feet? Have you added any new birds recently?

She's a year old. I feed her fruits and veggies in the morning, layer crumble is always available, another sunflower and corn mixture on the ground at dusk as a snack, plenty of clean fresh water everywhere. Everything is organic. Coop is super clean, as we are still in warm weather, and we burn the hay poop every 2 weeks. Her poop is runny (it was awful with the antibiotic...we were both getting baths daily after breakfast) and is green due to the fact that I am feeding her spinach and avocado and banana smoothies. She is starting to snap at bugs again when she is on the ground. She actually caught a gnat flying around her head (we cheered). No new birds, and I've raised all 22 birds by hand since 2 days old. All of them very spoiled and tame.

This particular barred rock hen (Squeaker) has a sister, Z. They look different. Z looks like a regular ole chicken. Squeaker has always looked like her head was wider, flatter, if you will. Her whole body has always looked like somebody stepped on her and she spread out. We use to joke that she had special needs, but she may actually be disabled.

I will post pictures of her feet tomorrow. I just put on the shoes and want her toes to stay straight for a night.

Would this type of showing wait until now for a break down in the immunity to show it's ugly head? I don't want to put her to sleep. She's very much a pet in the house. She's the chicken that runs to us when the car pulls in the driveway.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

She poops once every other day, and it's a lot, and it's runny....usually all over me when I'm sitting with her on the floor.

I'm sorry to hear about your hen.
I do hope she starts to recover. It sounds like you are doing all you can for her.

I have to agree, it sounds very much like Marek's. It can present in so many ways. Most people associate that a bird has to have the splits or that more than one has to be sick for it to be Marek's, but often that is not the case.

One thing you mentioned that really stands out to me is she only poops every other day?
You may want to learn how to tube feed her and see if that makes a difference for you. It might be easier than syringing drop by drop and you can use a formula that gives her more nutrients as well.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...ng-guide-pictures-under-construction.1064392/
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/updated-go-team-tube-feeding.805728/

 

[Wyndi Fosh]

Well, for the 9 days she's been sick, it was every other. Tonight she pooped again, so that is 2 days in a row! Maybe she's showing progress?
I literally give her half a blender of food a day. She hasn't seemingly lost weight, either. She WAS really fat, though. The rest of the flock isn't as fat as she is.

i will store away what you said about Marek's. I am hopeful though because of the fact none of the other birds are sick. And it's been at least 3 weeks since this started. All my birds are at least a year, too.

The only way I will be able to tell if it is indeed Marek's is a necropsy if I put her down. I'm going to give her a month to recover. It's long and tedious and expensive, but if she can recover, I want her to.....it is becoming increasingly obvious that vets don't really know much about chickens....unless they specialize in them (and she doesn't, just exotic)