wry neck only at night?

[ggroves]

I have seen a few posts that mention something that I am seeing in one of my hens: symptoms that look like wry neck or stargazing but only when she goes into roost at night. She moves around normall during day. Cleo, an Ayam Cemani, does this when she goes to roost with my other 3 hens. It seems to occur soon after she rests down instead of having straight legs. THis causes her to lose balance and land on poop board or even fall all the way down to floor. I have wondered if it were a neurological disorder instead of wry neck. I gave her vitamin E for several nights running and separated her from the other hens (brought her inside in a kennel). Also tried NutriDrench. We had to go out of town for a few days and neighbor looked after the animals so stopped the treatment but am ready to resume. Just want to see if it could be something else. I think it has been going on for longer than I knew, judging from the number of her feathers I find in the coop. She's not laying right now, unless she has found a secret place (she has done that before). Any more suggestions? I find it easier to give her a solid dosage form than liquid, though I may try giving her the NutriDrench in a scrambled egg. The girls seemed to avoid the water when I had added the Nutridrench.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

You can try giving 400IU Vitamin E and 1/4 tablet B-Complex daily to see if that helps.
I've seen a few folks mention this issue at night time, but unfortunately have not kept up with threads to see if the issue has resolved over a period of time.

I think @Shadrach may have had a hen like this, but could be mistaken.

 

[Shadrach]

I have seen a few posts that mention something that I am seeing in one of my hens: symptoms that look like wry neck or stargazing but only when she goes into roost at night. She moves around normall during day. Cleo, an Ayam Cemani, does this when she goes to roost with my other 3 hens. It seems to occur soon after she rests down instead of having straight legs. THis causes her to lose balance and land on poop board or even fall all the way down to floor. I have wondered if it were a neurological disorder instead of wry neck. I gave her vitamin E for several nights running and separated her from the other hens (brought her inside in a kennel). Also tried NutriDrench. We had to go out of town for a few days and neighbor looked after the animals so stopped the treatment but am ready to resume. Just want to see if it could be something else. I think it has been going on for longer than I knew, judging from the number of her feathers I find in the coop. She's not laying right now, unless she has found a secret place (she has done that before). Any more suggestions? I find it easier to give her a solid dosage form than liquid, though I may try giving her the NutriDrench in a scrambled egg. The girls seemed to avoid the water when I had added the Nutridrench.

Hopefully this thread may give you some ideas.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/nuerological-or-something-else.1318208/

 

[ggroves]

I thought I had replied already but apparently wasn't logged in! Right after I posted this, I added Vit. B1 (thiamine) 1/4 tablet daily along with the Vitamin E. She seemed to be doing better but I saw some evidence of thrashing in the coop this morning. I'm going to continue this regimen (or possible switch to a B-complex) for at least a week. I read about the B1 in an excerpt from Merck Vet. Manual. Also giving her some scrambled egg. My hens usually get raw sunflower seed kernels as a treat, which is supposed to be high in both selenium and B-vitamins, so puzzled that she would be deficient in those nutrients. I think I may overdo it on the treats...the girls are obsessed with them, so am pulling back on that.

 

[ggroves]

Hopefully this thread may give you some ideas.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/nuerological-or-something-else.1318208/

I enjoyed reading about Bracket. Since the nutritional supplements had no effect on my Cleo, I am at a loss to figure out how to proceed. I have stopped them for now. Her nighttime neck issue does seem trance-like. She is mostly sleeping on the floor of the coop now though she still tries to roost occasionally. Worst case scenario is that she falls off, there's a board now a few inches down so not far to fall (though that wasn't always the case). But when she falls and winds up feet up, I worry about her getting back upright. The thrashing around, even on the floor, seems to have cause a drooping wing last night. Most of the time, however, it seems that she has adapted to her situation. She is not laying eggs at all right now. She used to lay them in a secret place (which I found because she would disappear for long periods and I would go looking for her. It has been a good long while since I have found any of her eggs (I have only 4 hens so can recognize who is laying).
I am not inclined to cull her, either, while she seems to enjoy life. She is the lowest in the pecking order but that bothers me more than her, it seems.

 

[WingedWithLove]

Any further answers or developments?

I too went looking for answers 3 months ago, back in January, when one of my hens seemed to develop wry neck only at night (or when trying to look up to get into the hen house to lay) and would to the writhing around thing you mentioned too. I treated her for wry neck for a while (no effect), ruled out internal parasites/mites. It seemed neurological/in ear balance related to me.

Anyway, all that to say I still don’t know what her issue is, but she has been slowly improving and as of about 2 weeks ago she is finally able to get up to the top roost bars again to roost with the others and she seems unfazed by her condition during the day (although she still does a bit of head swinging, but not much of the backing up/writhing thing, when she’s laying her eggs).

Can you relate to these traits? One of these days I’d love to know what she’s dealing with. However, if our chickens are dealing with the same thing, I’d like to report that they seem to adapt and eventually show great improvements.

 

[ggroves]

Nothing new but I really appreciate reading about your experience. I placed her on the roost last night to see if things had improved for her but she didn't stay there long (went backwards), didn't have far to fall so she wasn't injured but I was close by and heard her thrashing and placed her back on the floor. I'm going to keep trying. And she is still not laying eggs: that would ease my mind because it implies some normality. But, the good part is that she seems to be perfectly normal during the day and I think she is actually eating better than previously. For some reason, I think she is improving slowly as well, but I don't have anything solid on which to base that. I will update her periodically, especially if improvement is seen.

 

[ggroves]

Think she is worsening, starting to see the star-gazing during daytime rarely, still happening mostly at night. Changed their feed, checking her ears, and restarted the vitamins (Vit E, B-1 ). She delays going into coop in evening as long as possible. If she continues to get worse, I will consider putting her down, but we are still exploring all possibilities. I just don't want her to suffer. I have fans on the girls at night, but I do think it is hotter on the floor of the coop versus the roost. Any suggestions are welcome.

 

[Otis Jackson]

Think she is worsening, starting to see the star-gazing during daytime rarely, still happening mostly at night. Changed their feed, checking her ears, and restarted the vitamins (Vit E, B-1 ). She delays going into coop in evening as long as possible. If she continues to get worse, I will consider putting her down, but we are still exploring all possibilities. I just don't want her to suffer. I have fans on the girls at night, but I do think it is hotter on the floor of the coop versus the roost. Any suggestions are welcome.

Any luck with this hen? I have a pullet with the exact same issue.