Wry neck pullet ate too much grit?

[tlouiselle]

I have a silkie pullet that I am treating for wry neck. She is doing great and can eat on her own. She has everything available: crumbles, grit, water at all times. Then twice a day she gets a plate of her vitamins with scrambled eggs, milk/crackers, and a crumble/yogurt mash.

She seems to be going crazy pigging out on the grit though. Now, when I feel her crop in the morning (and all day), it feels like it is filled with grit. I don't trust her water intake so I am using a syringe to make sure she is getting water. When I do this, I massage the crop to mix everything and help it go down slightly...you can then feel that the water drained but the gritty material is still in there. This is the same when she eats everything else as well. Her crop will be full, then as she digests, it goes down, but never completely. You can feel the grit...I am assuming it is grit.

So far she seems to be fine...this has been going on for days now and she has been stable. Does it sound like I am doing the right thing and it will slowly digest? Should I take away her grit or do something else?

Aside from this odd crop thing she is recovering very well. She is active, eating, talking.

 

[rebrascora]

I would be inclined to soak the crumbles or better still ferment them (it's really easy if you haven't done it before) and then you shouldn't need to worry too much about giving her extra water as all her feed will be mushy anyway, so no risk of impaction. The grit is used in the gizzard mostly to grind down grains. If she's not getting whole grains then there is much less need for it and there will already be some grit in her gizzard at the moment which is retained there until it gets ground down itself fine enough to be passed, so going a few weeks without any will not do her any harm in my opinion.

Good luck with her. She does look a little sad with her head dropped like that. I read somewhere recently on this forum where someone made a neck brace out of a cardboard toilet roll inner with the ends cut and flared out. Don't know if that might be something you could experiement with for her.

 

[rebrascora]

I wonder if the grit size is a bit large and the wry neck is causing a reducing of the oesophagus meaning the grit can't pass. I would remove the grit for now. If she isn't being fed any grains (corn or scratch) then she doesn't need any at the moment.

Other than that, it sounds like you are going a great job with her. I hope the vitamins work and she makes a full recovery.

 

[tlouiselle]

THANK YOU! So with chick crumbles and the other food I am feeding her she does not require grit? Thats good to know! I took it away but was worried it was not the best thing to do.

At night she gets tired and tucks her head. She gets tuckered out. Other than that she holds her neck up and the top hangs over like a swan.

I am also wondering how much water she should have each day. She is about 4 months old. She really hates when I use the syringe. I just havent seen her drink though so don't want to risk it.

 

[tlouiselle]

THANK YOU! So with chick crumbles and the other food I am feeding her she does not require grit? Thats good to know! I took it away but was worried it was not the best thing to do.

At night she gets tired and tucks her head. She gets tuckered out. Other than that she holds her neck up and the top hangs over like a swan.

I am also wondering how much water she should have each day. She is about 4 months old. She really hates when I use the syringe. I just havent seen her drink though so don't want to risk it.

 

[tlouiselle]

Thank you that sounds great. I will look into that. For the most part she is in good spirits thank goodness. She also gets to live in the warm house too LOL.