Wry neck question

[tslaven]

I lost a chick, one of only two that hatched in my first incubation attempt, about a week ago. Its neck was bent to the left so that it was unable to keep its balance and would fall over. Since it hatched this way, and I am inexperienced, I assumed that it grew too fast and didn't have adequate room in the egg to develop properly.

I took felt and a glue gun and make a kind of neck brace to straighten it out and allow I to stand. It worked some but the chick did end up dying at about 3 days old. Could this have been wry neck? I'd never heard of it until reading some tonight on an old thread. Do chicks sometimes hatch with this? Her head didn't fall between her legs, it was stationary to the left.

How can I prevent chicks from hatching with this?

I have 21 eggs that should hatch in a week..I really want to be prepared this time.

 

[Noobchick]

Have you done any research on hatching? It seems like it's pretty complicated. There are a lot of things that can go wrong- too much humidity, too dry, too high/low of a temperature, etc. I can't offer any personal experience, but I'd suggest reading up on how to incubate eggs. (Assuming you haven't already.).

There's a good section on how to hatch eggs in "Chicken Health for Dummies" by Julie Gauthier

 

[tslaven]

Thank you for the response. I have actually read quite a bit about incubating..but there is a lot that I still need to learn. I'm mostly interested in symptoms of wry neck..do the necks typically droop down or it is likely that my chick with its off to the side bend could have had this.

 

[Noobchick]

I've had wry neck chicks with their necks to one side. Not sure if wry neck is possible sraight out of the shell though; as I said, I haven't hatched yet.

 

[realsis]

I'm nursing my bird with wry neck now
Wry neck can manifest itself in different ways. Yes head cocked to the. Side could be wry neck. Head backwards or between the legs is also wry neck. It all depends on how it manifests itself
Treatment includes vitamin E. Selenium vitamin B. Liquid children's polyvisol vitamins without iron and some use predinsone for brain swelling. The vitamin E must be used in conjunction with selenium for absorbtion. Just use selenium in small amounts at larger dose it can be toxic
Hope this helps. Best wishes.

 

[tslaven]

It does help. Thank you.