Many things can cause this symptom (crookneck) ... a few most common you can read about here:
http://dlhunicorn.conforums.com/index.cgi?board=emergencies&action=display&num=1160928615
(I have combined articles on both "crookneck" and "limberneck" symptom in this thread (limberneck is where the head hangs DOWN) as many do not distinguish between the two).
When people first started asking about the Polyvisol (if it was ok to use the "with extra iron" formulation) I posted that it was best to avoid the extra iron tho I did so without an explanation of why: > not because of toxicity (some bird species are very intolerant to iron (called "Iron Storage Disease") > levels which are "normal"for other bird species such as poultry which can tolerate a level up to 1000 mg before it it is considered "toxic" according to the literature) but because of possible (negative) interactions which reduce the uptake of the vitamin E (which is advised for all neurological symptoms in general irregardless of the specific cause). See this article (a portion of which I have excerpted , but please do read the entire article as it also describes in fairly easy to understand terminology the issue ):
http://www.avianmedicine.net/articles/McDonald-ISD-vit A-Zoo-Anim-Nut-version 2.doc
(excerpt)
"....
f) Vitamin E
One factor that is often overlooked when formulating dietary rations is that of vitamin E content. Vitamin E is a potent antioxidant and any compound that induces oxidative stress is considered to have a potential negative effect on vitamin E concentration in both plasma and tissues (Surai, 2002). While a minimum of 10 mg kg-1 is generally recommended for poultry (Whitehead and Portsmouth, 1989) more recent studies suggest up to 100 mg kg-1 may be required (Surai, 2002) and it is possible that dietary requirements of birds susceptible to ISD are as high as 200-300 IU kg-1, although many commercial products fall well below these recommendations (Tables 7 and 8). These requirements increase with the addition of polyunsaturated fats to the diet (Bassler, 1991), common in some nuts and sunflower seeds (Figure 1), as well as environmental factors such as atmospheric pollutants, toxins, infectious agents and other stressors (Herdt and Stowe, 1991).
Iron and vitamin E are involved in electron transfer in redox-cycles, and a dietary surplus of iron decreases á-tocopherol concentrations (Lucesoli and Fraga, 1995; van Jaarsveld and Schulenberg, 1997; Pool and van Jaarsveld, 1998). It is possible that vitamin E is a useful antidote for iron toxicosis and that iron induced depletion of vitamin E plays a role in the pathogenesis of iron toxicity (Surai 2002). Therefore, any impact on vitamin E levels may reduce the protection of biological membranes against oxidation. ...."
If I have understood the original poster correctly, this bird was HATCHED with this problem? The bird has always had it? If so this would to my mind in all likelyhood indicate a severe nutritional deficiency of the breeder bird... is the bird in question a silkie?
Please note that the reference to prednisone is specifically to address the brain inflammation that occurs when silkies (or other crested breeds such as polish) have had an injury... do not use when this is not the case .
