Wry Neck in Polish

[mrs_organized_chaos]

I have Polish rooster that I have been treating for wry neck for a couple of months. He is in our garage in a dog crate so the other chickens wont hurt him. My question is this, has anyone ever had a Polish never fully straighten out?

He is eating a drinking fine, gets Nutri Drench in his water and also gets Vitamim E with Selenium. He is still shows signs of wry neck though. He can stand up and hold his head slightly tilted but will turn his head almost completely upside down and back up at times though. I am trying to figure out how I can manage this going forward

 

[azygous]

What is the strength of the E you use? Is it at least 400iu? How often? How about the selenium? About how much mcg do you give him. How often?

Did he have this issue as a small chick? How old is he now? Has he had any other health issues? Is he presently okay except for wry neck?

 

[mrs_organized_chaos]

I am giving him a vitamin capsule that is 400iu of Vitamin E and 50mcg of Selenium. I only give it once a day because I dont want to overdose him on the selenium. He is 7 months old and has not had any other issues. He was a healthy chick. He eats, drinks and crows as a normal chicken. Coloring is good on comb and waddles.

 

[azygous]

First keep in mind that being a Polish, he could have suffered brain damage as a chick. It's more common in Polish and Silkies.

Second, it can take as long as a month to treat torticolis.

Third, after two weeks and no sign of improvement, I suggest increasing the daily doses to two or three instead of only a single. And decrease the selenium to 25mcg. And I would stop the treatment regardless after two more weeks as there can be long term consequences of E and selenium buildup in his body if you go longer than 30 days.

He can survive with torticolis. You will just need to commit to giving him help eating and drinking, and protect him from the other chickens. He would be your special needs chicken.

But it's too soon to assume he isn't going to eventually respond to treatment. Give him two more weeks, and he may surprise us both.

 

[glassdragonfly]

He's such a pretty Roo! Hope he does well.

 

[mrs_organized_chaos]

Well my concern is that it has been 2 months. I will give it a couple of weeks and only give a straight vitamin E capsule twice a day to see what happens.

The doesn't need assistance eating or drinking, he does that with no issues now. My concern is him being away from the rest of flock and becoming lonely.

 

[azygous]

You could rig up his infirmary cage in the run during the day. I try to keep a sick chicken with the flock if at all possible. If he can see his mates, it could actually help him get better.

 

[mrs_organized_chaos]

You could rig up his infirmary cage in the run during the day. I try to keep a sick chicken with the flock if at all possible. If he can see his mates, it could actually help him get better.

We plan to move him back into the coop with the other chickens, but have to modify the cage so they cannot pluck his crest through it. We already did that once, unfortunately.

 

[Zach123]

I have a creve too that I suspect is part Polish and he went through a bad bout of wet neck a couple months ago. He would turn his neck so far around he ended up flapping around on his back. To make sure it wasn’t a head/neck injury I brought him into the vet who said there was no indication it was caused by an injury and said it COULD be caused by an ear infection and we had him on antibiotics. I also had him 2 doses of 400 iu of vitamin E per day. I would pop upon the capsule and squeeze it out on a piece of bread and he gobbled it down. I also clipped his crest feathers around his eyes so he could see better (his left eye was completely obscured by feathers.

The vet said he had less than a 50% chance of survival, but like yours, he was eating and drinking and seemed to be very much alive. After 2-3 weeks he snapped out of it and now goes about his business like nothing ever happened.

Another thing I did was when he would have an “episode” was I would let him go through it. He would do a barrel roll on the ground and once he had made the full 360, he would right himself and go on with his day. During the worst of it, he would do this many many times a day. Eventually it got to where he only did it a few times a day then it stopped altogether.

Now for the weird part: except for the few days that were the worst, he ONLY did this a night when the sun started to set and it would get dark and when he would go into the coop or the cat carrier he was sleeping in for a while. During the day when he was out and about with the other chickens, you would never know he was anything but a perfectly happy, healthy chicken.

Stay the course and you never know, he could go on to live a perfectly normal life.

 

[azygous]

Just this week my three-year old EE/Legbar rooster began showing symptoms of wry neck. He would suddenly tuck his head against his chest and start walking backward. At first I thought he was just getting into position to take a dirt bath, but he never got fully down, just head down near his feet and the backing up. After seeing this happen for a few days running, I started giving him Vit. E 400iu once a day with selenium. I did it for five days. So far he's not done it any more.

Wry neck has many different presentations and levels of intensity, from mild to severe. This isn't life threatening unless the chicken is unable to eat and drink. It's almost always curable with vitamin E and selenium. I just pop the gel cap right into the beak. Chickens do not have any problem swallowing pills.