Wry Neck

[SilverKelpie]

I have a 16-week-old Dominique that developed wry neck. She stopped eating and drinking, and lost all of her energy, so I've been forcing all of the necessary food and vitamins down. She has improved significantly over the past week, can hold her head up again, and has barely any twist to her neck anymore. She has energy now, is preening herself again, and just looks pretty good (though not quite fully back yet), but...she still isn't eating (or drinking so far as I can tell). Has anyone run into a problem like this with wry neck? Any ideas when she'll start eating for herself again? Force-feeding her is not my favorite activity (nor hers, I imagine).

Also, any tips on re-introducing her to the flock? I let them all run around together outside today and two of the other pullets were pretty hostile. The Dominique ended up giving up and spending her time on her own.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Wry neck is a symptom of an underlying condition.

It can be something as simple as vitamin deficiency, or as life threatening as Marek's or Botulism.

With so many possibilities, it is hard to know what it could be. Being onset at 16 weeks of age, with lack of desire to eat, my thought is Marek's.

However, think back if this bird had any opportunity to get into spoiled or molded feed.

Treatment depends on the cause. For some it is simply clean food and water and vitamins. For others, like Marek's, the most you can hope for is recovery after TLC.

I'll link an article on Wry Neck below to help you sort through the possibilities and possible treatments.

As to re-introduction, I wouldn't attempt doing so until she is fully recovered as the other birds will target any sick bird for hazing.

Once she is recovered, assuming she does make a full recovery, then you can place her in a viewing area so that the others begin to get used to her appearance again, then slowly integrate in free range. Another trick, after viewing period (for a few days with separated fencing) is to place on the roost at night. Often they awake with a new attitude to each other and it makes transition easier.

Good luck with your hen. Sorry to hear she is suffering.
LofMc

http://www.poultrydvm.com/condition/wry-neck

 

[SilverKelpie]

Wry neck is a symptom of an underlying condition.

It can be something as simple as vitamin deficiency, or as life threatening as Marek's or Botulism.

With so many possibilities, it is hard to know what it could be. Being onset at 16 weeks of age, with lack of desire to eat, my thought is Marek's.

However, think back if this bird had any opportunity to get into spoiled or molded feed.

Thank you for the link and reply.

I thought about Marek's because she had a loss of coordination at the same time, but she is vaccinated, so it seemed less likely to me than a vitamin deficiency + head that was stuck in a sideways position. Botulism is interesting since she wasn't able to lift her head, but then, that could have been because of the wry neck itself. None of the other options in the link were as close as those.

I suppose she could have gotten into anything since I usually let them free range for an hour or two each day. Otherwise they just eat bagged chicken food.

Treatment depends on the cause. For some it is simply clean food and water and vitamins. For others, like Marek's, the most you can hope for is recovery after TLC.


http://www.poultrydvm.com/condition/wry-neck

I put her on the vitamin deficiency regimen and she is about 90% better after about a week, which is why the fact that she isn't eating is so frustrating. If she can preen herself (and run fast enough to be rather difficult to catch) again, why won't she eat? (That's something of a rhetorical question, but I was hoping someone might have a similar experience and could give me an idea of how much longer I'm going to have to force feed her.)

 

[Lady of McCamley]

I too hope someone responds who has been in a similar situation.

I agree it is very concerning that she is unable to eat on her own. Most vitamin deficiencies greatly improve after a few days of treatment and resolve fully in 1 to 2 weeks, although wry neck in particular is a bit more stubborn.

Marek's is still a possibility though. Vaccinations do not prevent infection. It is more like the flu vaccine. It only protects a bird from the major strains, and then not fully.

Marek's vaccinations are actually "leaky" in that a bird still acquires the disease but the vaccine helps the immune system fight off the tumors that grow....but again, for only major strains.

Marek's is morphing and changing, as viruses do, so the vaccines become out of sync as well as being "leaky."

I had a Silkie who showed classic signs of Marek's, unbalanced walk, dropped wing, weak foot, who I treated with a "shot-gun" style regiment in hopes it was something else. It appeared to work. She rallied in a few days and acted as if nothing happened. After a few weeks, I was stunned to find her floundering on the ground with wry neck. She soon died.

So wry neck can definitely be a symptom of Marek's, and may explain her unwillingness to eat if tumors are pressing on nerves in the neck such that she has neural-muscular weakness. Marek's also has an acute phase, a latent phase, and then a final phase.

Or it could be a brain injury.

If it is vitamin deficiency (which honestly is unlikely if you have been feeding her good quality layer feed), then she should resolve fully in another week or so. (I would also consider a calcium deficiency...if you are not using a layer feed, and she is free ranging, she may not have enough calcium...calcium shots can work....or a calcium liquid supplement).

If not, I would look to other issues behind her condition.

LofMc

 

[SilverKelpie]

Well, whatever it was, the Dominique appears to have gotten over it (hopefully I won't get surprised down the road). She started eating again yesterday and I spotted her drinking a lot today. She's acting like a chicken again instead of a zombie. She got to range with her flock all day and by the end of the day they seemed to be tolerating her again. I put her in the coop with them, and I'm optimistic that I won't wake up to a grisly murder scene tomorrow.

I'm honestly a bit surprised. She looked miserably ill for nearly a week and I wasn't at all confident that she'd pull through. And I'm thrilled not to be spending an hour each night shoving scrambled egg/honey, pedialyte/chicken-feed mash and vitamins/selenium down her throat anymore. She's no doubt thrilled about that, too.

Oh, for what it's worth, I'm currently feeding them DuMOR Grower/Finisher.

Thank you for all of your help.



ETA: Is there a way to find out if it was Marek's? Obviously I'd want to know if she is going to be shedding virus for the rest of her life, since I don't want to expose flocks belonging to others to her (or my other chickens, or anything in my yard) if she did get it and is shedding it everywhere.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

I'm so glad she is showing improvement and is back to ranging. Hopefully she will be fine from now on.

I know of no way to detect Marek's other than through necropsy which detects the tumors. There is no blood test, and even if there is, most birds would test positive for it. The question is whether the tumors are growing in the body. It is the tumors that do the damage.

Resistant birds fend the tumor growth off with their immune system. Susceptible birds succumb to the tumor growth be it follicle/skin, eye, or internal. Some strains simply produce a slow wasting.

Be aware that often Marek's presents in an acute then latent stage to rear again later when the animal's immune system is lowered.

Chances are your flock has thoroughly been exposed already, so there is some reason to integrate those that are showing health with the healthy. Resistant birds will remain okay.

Do all the good husbandry things to help keep their immune systems strong...clean environment, plenty of stress free room, good food, maintain against parasites, and good gut care (ACV in water, probiotics).

Good luck with her.
LofMc