Wry Neck with my Silkies...Again!

[Krisitne]

So I've now had three silkie chicks get wry neck this summer. The two in my blue, black, splash pen...I started to wonder if it was genetic. Then this past Monday my two month old rooster in my other coop wound up with it. He is Partridge, completely different line. He is in a coop with only his little hen friend so it's not like he sustained a peck to the head. They have good quality food and fresh water every day. Their coops are very clean (I scoop the poops every day). The blue, black, splash free range around my yard every day. They get Big ol Bird probiotics in their water. I cannot, for the life of me, figure out why ivenhad three with it this year. It's never happened before. It's HORRIBLE to witness. Does anyone have any opinions as to why this is happening? Thank you

 

[Matilda Belle]

It could be genetics, head injury, or vitamin deficiency. Have you tried giving them selenium and vitamin E?

How old are the ones with wry neck? What kind of food are you giving them?

 

[coach723]

Should be vitamin E and selenium.
Also might try giving some B complex tablet ground up in feed, B's can cause some problems too. Have you checked the labels on your feed to make sure nothing has changed, and the dates for freshness?

 

[Matilda Belle]

Should be vitamin E and selenium.
Also might try giving some B complex tablet ground up in feed, B's can cause some problems too. Have you checked the labels on your feed to make sure nothing has changed, and the dates for freshness?

My bad. lol I'll change my post. I just love me some Vit D.

 

[coach723]

Typo's happen!!

 

[Krisitne]

All have been around the two month mark when they've gotten it. They've been on a good quality starter, then layer. I had one pull through, feeding scrambled egg with some feed and water mixed. I add vitamin E, liquid B and a pinch of selenium. I'm doing the same for my little roo now.

 

[Eggcessive]

What is the name of your feed? How long does it take you to use a bag? Is it fresh dated? Is it homogenized throughout where each morsel has the same amount of nutrients, or is it a scratch and peck type of feed where they can eat the goodies, and possibly not get the powder with the vitamins? Have you thought about changing your feed to another brand in case there is a problem?

 

[Krisitne]

T

Here is a pic of the grower feed label. I just noticed it doesn't contain vitamin B. After the first wry neck case I started putting vitamins in the water, which contains vitamin B anyhow. I added a pic of that also. Thank you for the suggestion of getting another feed. The bag typically lasts a month. I keep feed in covered containers in our shop.

 

[Krisitne]

It is a crumble feed, containing no scratch. I think of scratch as "chicken crack".

 

[coach723]

For me, the red flag on the feed is that it doesn't actually list the ingredients, you have to go ask the manufacturer. With no label it's impossible to know what they are actually putting into it. Manufacturers will often change ingredients based on availability due to various supply issues. It's why many feeds have sewn on ingredient labels rather than printed on the bag - easier to change a small tag than an entire bag print scheme. I have used feeds for a while and then suddenly had a bird with an issue, and found that ingredients have changed on the label- more of something/less of something/something different. Since birds, like people, can have individual immune systems and everything else, some birds can have trouble with certain ingredients, so I like to know what's in there. That may or may not be a contributing factor, but just something to be aware of. And vitamins do degrade with time, so the actual mill date is important. If you use it in a month, that's good, but how old was it when you got it? I've seen REALLY old bags on the shelf at times.