Wry Neck - Confused about treatment

[mamakat74]

First before we assume it's Marek's give me his symptom, what exactly is it doing? Is the neck between his legs, is he walking backwards, it is showing signs of dizziness. give the symptoms and a pic of what it looks like and what it's doing then we can proceed. if Marek's its not necessary going to die right away. You see the tumors inside have to grow, it could be months before death or it could be Instantly, depends on a number of factors... They could even recover putting the disease in sleep mode sort of speaking and live forever..

But before we assume its a disease, lets here about the problems its having, will try somethings if it doesn't seem better or getting better then we can exclude what it is one by one..

I'm actually not assuming it is Marek's. I was just hoping I could somehow rule it out. I will find a thread on Marek's to ask about containing it, since there's no way I can know for sure the cause of this. But my first responsibility is to the other chicks and chickens, to protect them JUST IN CASE.

I have limited info on this chick's particular case because I just got him yesterday (I went to buy others, and I could not leave this one there - figured I could at least give him a better shot than what he had). So I can only go by what the farmer told me. He claims he hatched this way about 3 weeks ago (I'd say he's a little under 3 weeks). I have no idea what the farmer feeds or anything, but I can pretty confidently say he was not treating him in any way. He was just allowing him to live and see what happened.

His head is basically crooked, off to the left, and sometimes it dips all the way down to where it's doing a 180 and he's looking at me upside down. He can get straight, and once he's accomplished that, he can move around and eat and drink. However, sometimes he seems to get "stuck" with his head down and begins to spin around. He does seem to sleep a lot. But he has done normal things like grooming and stretching.

I have researched wry neck and had decided to go with the treatment suggested on oureggbasket blog: Vit E WITH selenium, poly-vi-sol WITHOUT iron, and probiotics & electrolytes. However, I need to drive to Frankfort to pick up the E-with selenium because I could not find it here. I have found the poly-vi-sol. Now I need to figure out the amounts to give.

As for what I have on hand that I need to figure out what/if/how much to give:

At Tractor Supply I had picked up a water soluble vitamins & electrolytes mix yesterday, made by durvet. I'm putting that in the water for all the chicks & chickens. But if I'm going to give him probiotics as well, I should possibly not use that, and switch to a different mix I already had on hand. It's Rooster Booster brand Vitamins & Electrolytes with Lactobacillus.

I feel a little confused & overwhelmed. But I think once I decide on exactly what products I am giving, in what amount and how often, I will feel better.

 

[Lacrystol]

At three weeks give him a drop of Polivosol Three times a day, If you cant find the selenium don't worry about it, it just helps them absorb the vitamin E, however I have treated wry neck without it... Give him a FULL capsule of Vitamin E per day. And keep this in mind, they get worst before they get better. Do all this for a week to see if theres any improvements. It's possible he's got a head injury from coming out of the shell, some one may have peak at it. I would think he would be in really bad shape at three weeks with no treatment.

You should ALWAYS, keep new chicks separated from your original flock for at least a month if possible. Since you took him off the farm and into a new place, if it's Marek this kind of move will stress the chick out and cause the disease to progress FASTER. I would concentrate more on giving him the vitamins right now rather then worry about Mareks if this doesn't work or you don't see improvements, at least you can rule out wry neck..

 

[mamakat74]

At three weeks give him a drop of Polivosol Three times a day, If you cant find the selenium don't worry about it, it just helps them absorb the vitamin E, however I have treated wry neck without it... Give him a FULL capsule of Vitamin E per day. And keep this in mind, they get worst before they get better. Do all this for a week to see if theres any improvements. It's possible he's got a head injury from coming out of the shell, some one may have peak at it. I would think he would be in really bad shape at three weeks with no treatment.

You should ALWAYS, keep new chicks separated from your original flock for at least a month if possible. Since you took him off the farm and into a new place, if it's Marek this kind of move will stress the chick out and cause the disease to progress FASTER. I would concentrate more on giving him the vitamins right now rather then worry about Mareks if this doesn't work or you don't see improvements, at least you can rule out wry neck..

A full capsule of how many IU's? For instance, I take 1000 IU pills, but I picked up some 200 IU because 1000 is more than average human doses even (I do it because of a condition I have which needs the highest level).

 

[Lacrystol]

A full capsule of how many IU's? For instance, I take 1000 IU pills, but I picked up some 200 IU because 1000 is more than average human doses even (I do it because of a condition I have which needs the highest level).

500 so you can safely give him two of the 200 per day.

 

[mamakat74]

I know everyone in every thread I check on this issue seems to say "it gets worse before it gets better." But this chick (which is probably more like 2 1/2 weeks old) is now completely lethargic and passed out in a really, really odd position, looking dead, honestly. I got him out and held him and it was entirely too easy to get him to quiet down and go back to sleep. Put him back in his box, wrapped in a cloth, and again - entirely too easy and quick for him to pass out again. He had been pretty much persistently peeping rather loudly all these days, only quieting down if I would hold him just right or he could snuggle up with one of the cats. Now this afternoon he's suddenly like this. He's so tiny, I just don't know if he can make it. He had been eating on his own and I make sure he gets water and his vitamins, same as always.

 

[Fancychooklady]

I know everyone in every thread I check on this issue seems to say "it gets worse before it gets better." But this chick (which is probably more like 2 1/2 weeks old) is now completely lethargic and passed out in a really, really odd position, looking dead, honestly. I got him out and held him and it was entirely too easy to get him to quiet down and go back to sleep. Put him back in his box, wrapped in a cloth, and again - entirely too easy and quick for him to pass out again. He had been pretty much persistently peeping rather loudly all these days, only quieting down if I would hold him just right or he could snuggle up with one of the cats. Now this afternoon he's suddenly like this. He's so tiny, I just don't know if he can make it. He had been eating on his own and I make sure he gets water and his vitamins, same as always.

It's devastating when the little ones don't thrive. Sometimes there is simply nothing you can do. You should consider whether that constant peeping is driven by hunger, pain or temperature . If you feel that you can't make the little one comfortable and it is suffering, then it is probably time to euthanise it. Sorry, my heart

goes out to you.

 

[mamakat74]

Thank you. He just wants to be cuddled continuously I think

 

[Lacrystol]

Does he have a lot of weight lost? Does he feel boney? Can he hold his head up at all? Doesn't sound like wry neck, it maybe something internally. Culling is NOT an option for me. I will do my best to try and survive him. Is he pooping? Can he get his crop filled and does it empty each morning? Does his skin feel very warm to the touch? Like he's got a fever?

 

[Lacrystol]

Are there any improvements with the Vitamin treatment?

 

[Lacrystol]

OK, I just re-read your symptoms, and from it it does sound like a possibility of it being wry neck, the only problem is because he's 2 1/2 weeks old and probably has had this problem for a long time. It's going to take a while for him to recover. I would keep up with the Vitamin Treatment. Don't stop because then you will have to start all over again. Two drop 3x times a day with Polyvisol, Two full capsules of Vitamin E that is if it's 200,

Now if for some reason he quites eating give him the Liquid diet meal. But as long as he can eat, let him eat. Wry neck chicks will do that, they will hold there heads up for a few moments and then boom down and usually between there legs then comes the dizzle spell. there heads will start spinning. It's a horrible site to see, one of my silkies had it really bad, and it just made me cry to see him. But I kept up with the treatment and it took a week or so then BOOM, his head was up and he held it up not really good but I was happy to see it up. He just got better and better afterwards.