Wry neck?

SplashSilkie

In the Brooder
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Wry neck? I found my hen this morning with her head between her legs and got her head up. I have gave her two doses of vitamin E and baby vitamins and scrabbled eggs. I feel like she has shown improvement. She will be walking around fairly well but all of a sudden she will walk backwards and her head will fall back down and I've also seen some twitching. I thought her crop was compacted but now it feels more like a hard mass. Any ideas what could have happened.
 
I have a black Silkier Rooster who does the same thing. His condition has gone on for quite a long time... Perhaps more than two years now! As time has gone on, he is getting better at controlling his muscles. It is really only from the base of his neck up, that he has trouble. He sleeps, as you describe, with his head between his feet, and his butt sticking up. He kind of wedges himself in a corner to sleep, I guess so that he stays balanced. Anyway, when it first atarted, it was suggested to me that he might have gotten struck on top of his head, perhaps by a beak. I understand that silkies, polish, and other poofy-headed chickens, often have a thin, or partly absent,scull on top. This makes it much easier for them to get injuries to their brains. This makes sense, because "Fuzzy" the rooster used to get bullied a lot.

He now lives in my bedroom, in a wooden box, rather like a bassinet. He has good days and bad days. On the bad days, I help him to get situated so that he can eat and drink. He has to really focus and relax to get his neck ti stop whipping around. Like people who stutter, for instance, the more excited or agitated he is, the more pronounced his difficulty becomes. I just put my hands oñ either side of him, lime bumpers, to guide him and help him stay steady.

The aspect of his troubl3 that it took a while to recognize for me, is that sometimes he would get stuck head down while drinking. Not good, of course. I solved this by getting him a very heavy square vase, that is tall enough that he can't get his head very far into it. Certainly not far enough 5o tumble in. It has to be kept full, or he can't reach to drink

I have a friend who says that I am cruel not to have him put to sleep. But fuzzy fights for life. I have seen enough chickens just give up, that I know the difference! He wants to live, so I help him as much as I can.

8 have no idea whether your own breakdancing chicken has the same condition. But, if so, maybe this info will help. All the best to you both!!!

Patience
 
I have a black Silkier Rooster who does the same thing. His condition has gone on for quite a long time... Perhaps more than two years now! As time has gone on, he is getting better at controlling his muscles. It is really only from the base of his neck up, that he has trouble. He sleeps, as you describe, with his head between his feet, and his butt sticking up. He kind of wedges himself in a corner to sleep, I guess so that he stays balanced. Anyway, when it first atarted, it was suggested to me that he might have gotten struck on top of his head, perhaps by a beak. I understand that silkies, polish, and other poofy-headed chickens, often have a thin, or partly absent,scull on top. This makes it much easier for them to get injuries to their brains. This makes sense, because "Fuzzy" the rooster used to get bullied a lot.

He now lives in my bedroom, in a wooden box, rather like a bassinet. He has good days and bad days. On the bad days, I help him to get situated so that he can eat and drink. He has to really focus and relax to get his neck ti stop whipping around. Like people who stutter, for instance, the more excited or agitated he is, the more pronounced his difficulty becomes. I just put my hands oñ either side of him, lime bumpers, to guide him and help him stay steady.

The aspect of his troubl3 that it took a while to recognize for me, is that sometimes he would get stuck head down while drinking. Not good, of course. I solved this by getting him a very heavy square vase, that is tall enough that he can't get his head very far into it. Certainly not far enough 5o tumble in. It has to be kept full, or he can't reach to drink

I have a friend who says that I am cruel not to have him put to sleep. But fuzzy fights for life. I have seen enough chickens just give up, that I know the difference! He wants to live, so I help him as much as I can.

8 have no idea whether your own breakdancing chicken has the same condition. But, if so, maybe this info will help. All the best to you both!!!

Patience
 
Thank you for replying. My chicken is a black silkie hen and I just put her and animals there hen in with the rooster. For some reason I've only seen him mating with her so I feel it is head trauma. I leave her in with them at night but if I see this is a problem I'll get her out. She eats and drinks well right now in her own. She does have enough control to do that. She seems worse in the mornings. I think you're a good person to help him live. It takes allot of work and dedication to do that. Bless you both
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