Hey. So my sweet girl got injured yesterday/today. And it was my fault. 
I didn't find out until this afternoon, but last night when I went to check on my birds, and when shutting the coop door, she must have gotten caught and her neck was bent terribly and she was stuck until I opened their coop again today. It's a large coop with heavy framed 2x4 doors. There is like a 4 inch gap between the floor edge and door where there is a framed step up onto the coop floor (it's raised off our dirt barn floor). Anyways, she got stuck in the gap. Never had this happen before but weve had this set up for years. I think it's because she is a young pullet (14 weeks) and she likes to follow me so she was wedged. Anyways, I've had to cull many over the years I've got 120+ birds) for various things. But I really want to save her as she is special.
Here's what she is acting like:
Wiggly, trying to lift her neck to the proper position but it keeps wanting to flip back to the twisted position. Get tired out and then sleeps with it twisted and under her wing. She CAN hold her head up but only for a few seconds before she gets tired and it goes back. I can straighten her neck and she doesn't protest, but without holding it for her she can't keep it long. She can stand up for a bit but when her neck tires it goes back and she flops over. She is eating and drinking because I put a pile of food on the ground by her head and she ate her fill while laying on her side, with gravity helping her neck not curl the wrong way. As for drinking, she can't dip her beak and glug with her neck/throat, but I've given her a a bunch of syringes full of nurti-drench water while holding her neck and head up and she has drank it all. Her crop is nice and full.
I put some vet wrap with a cut down the front of her throat so it doesn't choke or prevent her swallowing. That barely straightened her neck so I followed it with a wrist wrap I had, which seems to be perfect for the job of bracing, and it's stiff but very loose. I can fit a finger up both sides and it isn't squeezed so I know she can breath fine. I currently am just holding her on my chest reclined back with her neck supported but straightened. She is resting but chirpy when I talk to her or shift her.
Any insight, or a better way I can help her?
I know the brace looks unforgiving and like it is gouging her, but it isnt. She just has feathers filling the gaps.
I didn't find out until this afternoon, but last night when I went to check on my birds, and when shutting the coop door, she must have gotten caught and her neck was bent terribly and she was stuck until I opened their coop again today. It's a large coop with heavy framed 2x4 doors. There is like a 4 inch gap between the floor edge and door where there is a framed step up onto the coop floor (it's raised off our dirt barn floor). Anyways, she got stuck in the gap. Never had this happen before but weve had this set up for years. I think it's because she is a young pullet (14 weeks) and she likes to follow me so she was wedged. Anyways, I've had to cull many over the years I've got 120+ birds) for various things. But I really want to save her as she is special.
Here's what she is acting like:
Wiggly, trying to lift her neck to the proper position but it keeps wanting to flip back to the twisted position. Get tired out and then sleeps with it twisted and under her wing. She CAN hold her head up but only for a few seconds before she gets tired and it goes back. I can straighten her neck and she doesn't protest, but without holding it for her she can't keep it long. She can stand up for a bit but when her neck tires it goes back and she flops over. She is eating and drinking because I put a pile of food on the ground by her head and she ate her fill while laying on her side, with gravity helping her neck not curl the wrong way. As for drinking, she can't dip her beak and glug with her neck/throat, but I've given her a a bunch of syringes full of nurti-drench water while holding her neck and head up and she has drank it all. Her crop is nice and full.
I put some vet wrap with a cut down the front of her throat so it doesn't choke or prevent her swallowing. That barely straightened her neck so I followed it with a wrist wrap I had, which seems to be perfect for the job of bracing, and it's stiff but very loose. I can fit a finger up both sides and it isn't squeezed so I know she can breath fine. I currently am just holding her on my chest reclined back with her neck supported but straightened. She is resting but chirpy when I talk to her or shift her.
Any insight, or a better way I can help her?
I know the brace looks unforgiving and like it is gouging her, but it isnt. She just has feathers filling the gaps.
