Wry Neck, Limberneck, or...?

[dbblaine]

Hi all,

Thanks for any advice you can offer.
I have a 2.5 year old buff orpington who I recently discovered was limping and having trouble standing. Now this has evolved to the point where her right leg is lame- no movement or response to being touched or bent. Her left leg is totally fine.

Her neck is floppy like she has lost control of the muscles, but she is still able to hold her head up to eat when I offer her food. She has a great appetite still, and she’s drinking water via a pipette. Sometimes when I go get her out of the crate we set up for just her, I notice her right or left wing will be splayed out.

What is really interesting is that right when I noticed the limp, I gave her an epsom salt bath in case she had a strain or pulled muscle. During the bath I discovered a large black hard patch (scab?) near her right hip, same side as the lame leg. The black patch is under downy feathers. Picture included.

So far I am giving her Polyvisol, selenium, and liquid vitamin E and I notice she perks up some after I give this concoction to her. Her comb and wattles are all bright red. She seems tired and closes her eyes alot.

Right before all this happened I noticed the chickens acting strange and hiding in or under their coop for a week or so. Is it possible this chicken was attacked and has developed wry neck due to hiding in the coop for several days?

Thank you for reading! Any advice appreciated.

 

[Mvan42]

Try vitamin B.. others may know more

 

[Eggcessive]

Sorry about your chicken. With many of the symptoms, Mareks disease comes to mind. But since there may have been an attack and you found a scab on her, an injury from a predator may well be the problem. The vitamins and minerals you are giving are spot on for a neurological problem, so I would make sure that she is getting food or water. Time will tell what is wrong. If someday she gets worse and you should lose her, it would be good to get a necropsy to look for Mareks. But for now, I really hope she gets better. If you would be able to collect a blood sample through your vet, this lab will perform a Mareks test on live birds for about $20:
http://www.vetdna.com/

 

[Katejc]

If you look under my profile you can read through my post about my wry neck silkie as I have been dealing with this for the past month. He is only spending his first night back in the coop tonight! Its a long road and I am not sure what we did that worked. I last updated the post when he had made a recovery but sadly it only lasted a day. He is recovered now though and has gone back and right up until the day before he went back in the coop he seemed like he was never going to get better and then one day he just was. Thank goodness yours is eating on her own that is great!

 

[Doreeno]

Hi all,

Thanks for any advice you can offer.
I have a 2.5 year old buff orpington who I recently discovered was limping and having trouble standing. Now this has evolved to the point where her right leg is lame- no movement or response to being touched or bent. Her left leg is totally fine.

Her neck is floppy like she has lost control of the muscles, but she is still able to hold her head up to eat when I offer her food. She has a great appetite still, and she’s drinking water via a pipette. Sometimes when I go get her out of the crate we set up for just her, I notice her right or left wing will be splayed out.

What is really interesting is that right when I noticed the limp, I gave her an epsom salt bath in case she had a strain or pulled muscle. During the bath I discovered a large black hard patch (scab?) near her right hip, same side as the lame leg. The black patch is under downy feathers. Picture included.

So far I am giving her Polyvisol, selenium, and liquid vitamin E and I notice she perks up some after I give this concoction to her. Her comb and wattles are all bright red. She seems tired and closes her eyes alot.

Right before all this happened I noticed the chickens acting strange and hiding in or under their coop for a week or so. Is it possible this chicken was attacked and has developed wry neck due to hiding in the coop for several days?

Thank you for reading! Any advice appreciated.

 

[Doreeno]

If you look under my profile you can read through my post about my wry neck silkie as I have been dealing with this for the past month. He is only spending his first night back in the coop tonight! Its a long road and I am not sure what we did that worked. I last updated the post when he had made a recovery but sadly it only lasted a day. He is recovered now though and has gone back and right up until the day before he went back in the coop he seemed like he was never going to get better and then one day he just was. Thank goodness yours is eating on her own that is great!

I just wanted to let everyone know that I fed my girl tuna in oil, scrambled eggs with vitamin e added and she had full recovery.

 

[Eggcessive]

That is wonderful that she has recovered. Thanks for the good news update.

 

[CatWhisperer]

Fabulous, so happy for you both!