Wry Neck....Neck Wound

[MichyA]

Hi everyone.
I have a young Silkie Polish Cross who I’ve been treating for wry neck. (Vitamin E, selenium, poly vi sol drops, Nutri Drench and prednisone) Nothing seemed to be helping and the weather was freezing so I made the decision to bring “Birdy” in the warm house while I attempt to nurse her back to health. I thought maybe the cold weather was impacting the healing process.

Today when I was looking carefully at Birdy I noticed a wound on the side of her neck. It’s usually hidden by her neck tilt so I didn’t notice it before. It looks like it’s healing but I’m wondering what it’s from. Could it be a tear in the skin from her neck tilting?? Or is it an injury caused by her balance being off? What does everyone think? Thank you.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Sorry your bird is having issues. That is a suspicious wound. But it does look to be healing and not infected, so that's good. Could have been caused by any number of things.

I don't know the levels, but want to mention that I'm pretty sure I saw E on the Nutri drench label. Being a fat soluble vitamin, it is one that you can overdose.

I don't really have the answer you seek, other then asking what would cause the deficit? I like to try and understand the roost cause. Were they being bullied away from a formulated feed, fed too many treats, worm load, genetic malfunction?

Cute bird. How old?

How long have you been treating her for? What are you feeding including treats? Is your poly vi sol with NO iron?

Being too cold can definitely diminish healing. The body has a harder time regulating it's temperature when under the weather. There are varying levels of freezing. For us it's very mild if ever. But I think it is probably helpful that you brought "her" in.

Hope she feels better and recovers quickly.

 

[MichyA]

Thank you so much for your info! Been treating about 3 weeks now with not much improvement. I didn’t know about the vitamin E overdose...thank you so much for making me aware! I’ve been mixing the meds in a little bowl and feeding with a syringe.

Birdy is about 6 months old. She was born early summer. She gets along really well with everyone in the flock...I do have one rooster but he grew up with her and treats her well. Funny because I did notice when she was much younger late summer early fall a very slight head tilt. I knew nothing about it...being new to chickens I just thought it was a no big deal funny neurological thing. Wasn’t until about a month and half ago that it got worse and I realized it was wry neck. So she’s probably had it way longer than I knew.