Wry neck?

[KRob86]

The chickens didn't die quickly. She said the first one died slowly, of starvation and dehydration would be the obvious guess. And, the second one did no die on it's own, it was culled on day 2.

 

[TheNuttyChick]

Thank you so much, I'm still fairly new at this and I don't want any of them to suffer. I'm still learning and it is trial and error. I just wish I had caught it sooner.
I really do love all of my birds and care for them as much as possible. Maybe we shouldn't have culled her but I want to make sure none of the other girls get it.​

 

[KRob86]

I don't think mine were caused by infections, I believe it was nuerological, maybe head trauma when being shipped, or getting rowdy in the brooder and running into a wall or the waterer. I've read that some breeds are more suceptable to head injuries which result in wry neck, especially silkies, mine were both Plymouth Barred Rocks. These are my first 8 chicks, and I know how hard it can be, especially watching one suffer.

 

[TheNuttyChick]

That is why I posted this. I don't want any to suffer and I don't know if it is painful for them but I didn't want to see another go through that. It was very hard for me to make that decision (to cull) because they are so very sweet. I just found it odd that they were both Orloffs. Unfortunately I was at work and my husband had no idea what to do (I wish he would have called me but that's in the past now).​

 

[PollyC]

I had a chick(buckeye) that I hatched out here and at one and a half weeks old developed wry neck. I had no idea what it was so researched on it and it is said to be caused by a vitamin deficency . So gave it vit e from a capsule and baby vitamins in its water. It took a week but you would never know that there was ever a problem. I would have to place it in a dish with its food and it could eat and place it near the water to drink, it could only go backwards because it head was bent up under itself.

 

[TheNuttyChick]

I'm still learning. If it ever happens again and I pray that it won't, I will know better.​

 

[LizzieJ]

Its all a learning curve, I lost one of my girls around 6-7 weeks ago to similar symptoms, she was 12 months old approx at the time and just getting her feathers back after her first moult. For a few days she isolated herself from the rest of the flock remaining in the nest boxes, so i put food and water next to her to stop her starving or getting dehydrated (assumed she was broody because nothing would budge her from the nest box) a day or so later we went to check on them and found her having what looked like a seizure, so we immediately isolated her from the flock and force fed her fluids drop by drop to prevent her getting dehydrated. we made her warm and comfortable and watched her around the clock but unfortunately within 12 hours of the first seizure she passed away. Following this we had the remaining flock thoroughly checked by our vet who is a rural vet and quite used to dealing with livestock as well as pets, nothing was found to be wrong with the remaining flock but as a precaution we heavily disinfected the hen house and run and took every precaution we could to prevent the spread of any disease we may have missed signs of. The remaining flock still remain healthy and happy but have stopped laying eggs............hoping they will get over the trauma of a lost flock mate soon. we still have no idea what was wrong with our girl but we think it was neurological....................Its trial and error in the first stages of starting a flock and maintaining health, you can only learn by experience and advice from others, im sure you did what you felt was best for your bird at the time. I hope you find an answer soon xx

 

[TheNuttyChick]

Thanks so much for the kind words.
So sorry to hear about your girl.
It was a difficult decision to make, and I did try to keep the first girl fed and hydrated but she wasn't interested and this one also wanted none of that either.
They are such sweet critters with silly antics. I don't want any of them to suffer.​