Wry neck in chickens

Ambergodwin84

In the Brooder
Sep 19, 2020
6
5
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Wry neck in a 2 month old EE. She is already separated and I have been syringeing water in her since yesterday pm. Giving poltery cell and nutradrinch. She cannot eat on her own. Best treatment and estimate recovery time. Or is it better to cull? Thanks in advance
 
Pictures or a video of the hen would be good. How long has she been acting like this? What feed is she on? Is she drinking? More info regarding the hen in particular, your setup, etc, would be helpful.

Wry neck is a symptom, not a disease itself, it can be caused by a wide variety of issues such as nutritional deficiencies, neurological damage, viral or bacterial infections, toxicosis, or metabolic diseases. Out of all of those nutritional deficiencies, and neurological damage is experienced most often, so I would try to treat for at least one of those first.

While Poultry Nutri-dench and poultry cell are high in vitamins, they just don't have the amount of vitamin E in them as much as we'd like. If I were you, I would go pick up some human 400iu vitamin E capsules, and give her one a day, orally or over treats. Either prick the capsule with a needle, or cut the top off with scissors and squirt it into her mouth.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...dications-to-all-poultry-and-waterfowl.73335/

Another vitamin the can cause neurological problems, is thiamine (B1), so you may consider either getting some B complex capsules, dissolving them in water, and giving her some orally, or using Cattle Vitamin B Complex, and giving her a few drops orally as well. Offering her mashed scrambled eggs would be good too, as it's high in vitamins, one being selenium which will help absorb the E better. Keep a close eye on her, and ensure she's getting enough feed and water. You may need to support her neck, and move feed/water in front of her face if she can not. If her neck is limp, and not able to support it on her own, I would suggest providing a very shallow water dish, so she doesn't accidentally aspirate.
https://www.fresheggsdaily.blog/2014/04/preventing-and-treating-wry-neck-in.html
 
Wry neck in a 2 month old EE. She is already separated and I have been syringeing water in her since yesterday pm. Giving poltery cell and nutradrinch. She cannot eat on her own. Best treatment and estimate recovery time. Or is it better to cull? Thanks in advance
Can you post some photos?
How long has she been like this?

As mentioned, Wry Neck is a symptom, so a lot of times it's hard to know the cause whether from disease (Marek's, Newcastle, etc.), injury, genetics or deficiency.

You have Poultry Cell and Nutri-Drench both of those have Vitamin E and B1. Personally I would use the Poultry Cell since it has more vitamins but either will work o.k. Dose at a rate of 1 cc per pound of weight orally once a day.

Not eating on her own you may need to tube feed her to sustain life, that is an option if you have the resources and time to care for her for a while. https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/crop-feeding.75454/

Recovery time - there is no way to know when or if she will recover. Some birds bounce back quickly (within a few days) if the symptoms are due to deficiency.
Some birds need longer term supportive care and still may not recover - it's like most conditions - you really don't know.

Culling is definitely something to consider. I know a lot of people will disagree. If you do put her down think about sending the body to your state lab for analysis so you have more information why she developed the Wry Neck. https://www.metzerfarms.com/PoultryLabs.cfm
 
Just for reference. Poultry cell contains 50 I.U of vitamin E per fluid ounce, the Nutri-Dench is 90IU per fluid ounce. Given that there is 29.5ml's in a fluids ounce and lets you say your bird was four pounds, and you gave 4 whole ml's a day. That would be around 7iu a day for the poultry cell, a day around 12IU for the Nutri-Dench. Thiamine content is not listed.
 
Just for reference. Poultry cell contains 50 I.U of vitamin E per fluid ounce, the Nutri-Dench is 90IU per fluid ounce. Given that there is 29.5ml's in a fluids ounce and lets you say your bird was four pounds, and you gave 4 whole ml's a day. That would be around 7iu a day for the poultry cell, a day around 12IU for the Nutri-Dench.
I get it, I really do, but the OP has that on hand. Not everyone can just run right out and snatch up what is recommended.
Use what you have and in the mean time work on getting something else.
 

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