Wry neck or broken neck?

[Zeth]

Hey i have a.. 3 monthish old chick that i found yesterday hiding under the coop, exactly as described in this thread here

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/i-think-one-of-roosters-broke-my-hens-neck.628224/

however, i have noticed on her neck theres 2 lumps, like sharp bends and it seems shes in pain when you gently press these 2 points, her eyes will squeeze
im thinking of just ending her tomorrow but could this really be wry neck?

we have a bunch of roosters that hatched along with her and theyre of course trying to assert themselves all the time and some older chickens that also wanna make the pecking order clear
is there any tell-tale signs i can look for to decide whether to give her some weeks in our bedroom to recover or to just put her out of her misery? shes barely giving off one very low peep per hour even handling her, shes struggling to even give a hint that something is bothering her

she has all wry neck symptoms along with sharp kinks or bends on her neck, lower and upper neck

one thing, the day i found her i noticed they had run out of water- but its not warm here

 

[coach723]

First off I would make sure she's hydrated and drinking. You may need to help by holding water up to her so she can drink. If you can post pictures or video of what she is doing it would be helpful. If she can't feed, you may need to help with that as well, until she improves.
For wry neck I would give a vitamin E capsule once a day, along with some sunflower seeds, or canned tuna for selenium, which will help with the uptake of the E. See if that helps, it may take some time. I would also give a b complex tablet or capsule once a day (human ones, brand doesn't matter). Deficiencies are not uncommon, especially if they are being kept from feed by others. You may need to add more feeders and waterers to increase access, some birds will guard them and run off lower pecking order birds.

 

[Zeth]

vitamin E capsule once a day, along with some sunflower seeds, or canned tuna for selenium

i got selenium supplement but how much to give a young silkie? ill look for vitamin E in the store tomorrow for her as well. im thinking oatmeal should be easy for her to chew down, both water and food since shes very weak

we put her back in box and she was just kinda stretching her neck a bit, its hard to tell when shes too weak to put her neck back up, she usually keeps her head up on the back between her wings resting like that, her neck seems twisted

i have B complex, that can work too- but, a whole pill?

you may be right on feeders, the other chickens are of course very dominant but they have a lot of space so i assumed when the others go out they will go and have a feast.

she can drink water but its probably painful for her, were letting her eat some honeywater from syringe, sac seems half full still so shes not starving

 

[coach723]

If you are using a selenium supplement, then just give a tiny sliver. It only takes a tiny bit, and that one you do need to be careful not to give too much. The b complex is very safe, and they can swallow frogs, so a pill is not usually an issue. If needed you can cut it in half, or you can grind or empty if it's a capsule and mix in a small amount of moistened feed, but she's got to eat it. The b's have a strong taste that might put her off. It's easier to just put it in the beak, push back a little, and she'll swallow it. It would be better to give her moistened feed by mixing her crumbles or pellets with water to make a mash. Oatmeal is actually hard for them to digest and doesn't contain the nutrients she needs. Based on your description, it does sound like wry neck. It can manifest in slightly different ways, sometimes the head/neck flips back so they are looking up called star gazing, sometimes it twists, sometimes they bend their head/neck downward like they are looking backward between their feet. I would start supplementing as soon as you can, the earlier you start, the better the outcome usually is. Once it's reversed, they can usually maintain their vitamin levels with their feed after that, if they are getting a good balanced diet without too much extra stuff.
More on wry neck here:
https://www.raising-happy-chickens.com/wry-neck.html

 

[coach723]

Is there any possibility that she may have gotten a head injury? Silkies are more susceptible to head injury due to their vaulted skulls, and that could cause similar symptoms. I would do the vitamin therapy and see if it helps. Silkies are also more prone to wry neck from that as well.

 

[Zeth]

Oatmeal is actually hard for them to digest and doesn't contain the nutrients she needs.

hmm, oops i went with oatmeal since its easy to turn into a mush, grinded a b complex pill into it and added a bit of honey too, yes they prefer wheat grains and should get mainly that, rye and oats should be only a part of that. i have soy flour as well i could mix into it, perhaps i could take some bread and mix with nutrients for her, the selenium supplement i have is in liquid form, ill see how much i have to dilute it down to avoid giving her chemical imbalances

0.3 milligrams per kg, shes probably not even a whole kg, but ill assume shes deficient already. the liquid i have turns out to be exactly 0.3mg per milliliter, aha. ill go with that then.

and yes its possible she got a head injury, we dont have a roost for them to sit on and, i have some nesting boxes about half meter up but they can usually navigate around without issues, if anything i think one of the larger hens or perhaps one of the young roosters could have injured her, perhaps a neighbours cat could have chewed on her a bit? i let them out to walk around outside fence the day prior to finding her struggling. i see it may take a week or more for her to really start improving so ill keep at it and hope for the best.

 

[coach723]

Where are you located, generally, in the world? Is a balanced chicken feed available? It's very hard to feed them a balanced diet by mixing your own grains, that provides all the micro nutrients they need.

 

[Zeth]

Where are you located, generally, in the world? Is a balanced chicken feed available? It's very hard to feed them a balanced diet by mixing your own grains, that provides all the micro nutrients they need.

oh im in europe, we have farm supply stores that carry all sorts of stuff here. im planning to mix my own chicken feed and roughly make it accordingly to the chickfeed products they do have, its a lot of money to save. generally i just feed them wheat seeds and a bit of mealworms, earthworms. trying to get a good amount of mealworms growing but its a bit hard with the cold weather here. adding in macronutrients wouldnt be very difficult, vitamins may be more pricey - but everything gets cheaper when you buy large amounts

 

[coach723]

I do understand cost. But as said before, mixing yourself is far more complicated than you may realize, and very difficult to meet all their nutritional needs. If vitamin therapy improves your bird, then you will know that a deficiency is going on. That may be a result of insufficient vitamins/nutrients in your feed mix. Protein content is also important, too much or too little can cause problems.

 

[Zeth]

I do understand cost. But as said before, mixing yourself is far more complicated than you may realize, and very difficult to meet all their nutritional needs. If vitamin therapy improves your bird, then you will know that a deficiency is going on. That may be a result of insufficient vitamins/nutrients in your feed mix. Protein content is also important, too much or too little can cause problems.

yeah its a handful of stuff to buy home- which, again gets cheaper with quantities

i decided to wash her today because there was a strong smell in her box, put her in a small plastic tub with warm water and the water quickly turned completely murky and then suddenly i think i found out what she has been struggling with, a huge poop plug dislodged and the rectum was plugged and seems prolapsed, very strange. she wasnt pooping the first day we had her in but was the other days
her neck is a full spiral round at this point and shes shaking quite badly after washing her even under heatlamp, my hope is dwindling

could seem as shes virtually adult that she had some kind of infection causing it, we did lose one chick months ago due to overfilling their cage with hay causing mold to grow on the bottom of the hay, but where we keep them now they have plenty space
maybe she ate some poop from another chicken and got infected?

as for her shaking she seems to be really struggling and ill give her relief if she doesnt stop shaking by the end of the day. she seems uncomfortable however i put her