Wry neck treatment

[Eggcessive]

Yes that should work. Normally most give 400 IU of vitamin E. Thiamine or vitamin B1 in a poultry multivitamin can be helpful, since some wry neck is from a thiamine deficiency. I would follow the advice to use food such as egg, tuna, or seeds for the small amount of selenium necessary to increase the uptake of vitamin E. Thiamine food sources are liver, ground beef, egg, nuts, seeds. Only small amounts are necessary.

 

[KootenaiRiverChick]

Is the amount you give above per kg of food?

I don't mix it with food, I give it to her orally straight from the dropper. That way you ensure she's getting the proper dosage. I'm in the U.S. so I don't know what a UK equivalent would be. Also, my hen is an adult, about six or seven years old.

 

[ellenscoop]

Wry neck is a symptom, not a disease. Although vitamins E or B may help in certain cases, I think it is important that you try to figure out the cause. Here is some more info on it - http://www.poultrydvm.com/condition/wry-neck

 

[KootenaiRiverChick]

Wry neck is a symptom, not a disease. Although vitamins E or B may help in certain cases, I think it is important that you try to figure out the cause. Here is some more info on it - http://www.poultrydvm.com/condition/wry-neck

Thank you, that information is very helpful. Newcastle disease was detected in our county in August, and a local newspaper article about it had stated that a bent or twisted neck was a symptom only caused by Newcastle disease, which is obviously incorrect as I recently learned. Anyway, our flock was tested for Newcastle in October and results were negative.

As an update, my wry neck hen died the night before last. She was in really bad shape but I was hopeful the vitamins would work. Another learning experience in chicken keeping.

 

[Kris5902]

You have to be extremely careful with selenium... overdosing is very easy, fatal and painfully slow, at least in sheep! I would only try to increase selenium in a chicken through diet. As they are omnivores that should be fairly easy feed some eggs