Young silkie with possible wry neck

[candybeers2011]

A few days ago my 2 month old silkie suddenly began to hold it's head totally underneath it's body. The poor thing looks headless from the front due to the way it's bending it's neck totally under itself. I've talked to some who think it's wry neck, but my question now is about the position she's in. I keep reading about other wry neck situations and everyone says their chickens held their head backwards and above their body as if stargazing. Mine is doing the exact opposite of that and she also pecks at stomach area as she's in this position at times. I caught this issue the same day it began and immediately started to give her vitamin E, electrolytes, vitamin B and selium(probably spelled that wrong). She's always been indoors as I hatched all my chicks here and they stay in my heated garage. She's separated from her siblings right now, but I'm keeping her next to their enclosure so she can hear them and not feel so alone. Yesterday I thought she was better because she suddenly straightened out her neck, held her head perfectly up and was walking like normal so I put her back with her siblings. Sadly the next day she was holding her head underneath again so I separated her again. I'm having to help her eat and drink and do so many times a day. As long as I'm holding her with a towel around her body and place a container of food under her, she's able to eat by herself. It's really weird because she appears normal again and pecks at the dish just fine and then she takes sips of water from a cup with no issues; however, once in awhile she'll have a spontaneous jerking sensation and she tries to tuck her head under her body again. I just support her neck and head during these "attacks" and within seconds it goes away but she seems in a lot of distres when these things happen. After it's over, she seems perfectly content and even happy. She makes the cutest little happy trills when I feed her the boiled eggs as that's her favorite so far and she falls asleep as I gently massage her neck. It's day 3 now of this issue and I just hope I'm treating her for the right condition and it's not something more serious like an injury. There are no signs that she got injured and the chocks have been together since the start of life and never fight. They're 2 months old now and all the others are still perfectly healthy. I just need to know if wry neck can present itself with the chicken holding its neck and head underneath itself rather than looking upwards in the star gazing position like so many describe? I'll add some pics of her for reference and a video if it'll let me upload it. Thank you for any help!

 

[candybeers2011]

A few days ago my 2 month old silkie suddenly began to hold it's head totally underneath it's body. The poor thing looks headless from the front due to the way it's bending it's neck totally under itself. I've talked to some who think it's wry neck, but my question now is about the position she's in. I keep reading about other wry neck situations and everyone says their chickens held their head backwards and above their body as if stargazing. Mine is doing the exact opposite of that and she also pecks at stomach area as she's in this position at times. I caught this issue the same day it began and immediately started to give her vitamin E, electrolytes, vitamin B and selium(probably spelled that wrong). She's always been indoors as I hatched all my chicks here and they stay in my heated garage. She's separated from her siblings right now, but I'm keeping her next to their enclosure so she can hear them and not feel so alone. Yesterday I thought she was better because she suddenly straightened out her neck, held her head perfectly up and was walking like normal so I put her back with her siblings. Sadly the next day she was holding her head underneath again so I separated her again. I'm having to help her eat and drink and do so many times a day. As long as I'm holding her with a towel around her body and place a container of food under her, she's able to eat by herself. It's really weird because she appears normal again and pecks at the dish just fine and then she takes sips of water from a cup with no issues; however, once in awhile she'll have a spontaneous jerking sensation and she tries to tuck her head under her body again. I just support her neck and head during these "attacks" and within seconds it goes away but she seems in a lot of distres when these things happen. After it's over, she seems perfectly content and even happy. She makes the cutest little happy trills when I feed her the boiled eggs as that's her favorite so far and she falls asleep as I gently massage her neck. It's day 3 now of this issue and I just hope I'm treating her for the right condition and it's not something more serious like an injury. There are no signs that she got injured and the chocks have been together since the start of life and never fight. They're 2 months old now and all the others are still perfectly healthy. I just need to know if wry neck can present itself with the chicken holding its neck and head underneath itself rather than looking upwards in the star gazing position like so many describe? I'll add some pics of her for reference and a video if it'll let me upload it. Thank you for any help!

Trying to load a video but it's not letting me so far but here's some pics of how she looks as I'm holding her and she's able to eat and control her own movements most of the time when I'm holding her in a towel. She eats a lot and takes her own sips of water with no issues as long as I'm holding her but as soon as I place her back in her cage she immediately ends up with her head underneath again and not happy.

 

[Cloverr39]

I probably won't be much help with this, but good luck! I hope someone more knowledgeable will reply.
I had a chick with wry neck earlier this year. He kept his head sideways. He could still walk, eat and didn't get bullied, so I kept him with the other chicks. I added some vitamins in their water. I couldn't get vitamin e only, so I used one with multiple vitamins in it (including e). He got better slowly over a couple weeks. He was 3 weeks old when it started and was completely cured by about 8 weeks.
I only have these pictures of him. The last one is him later.

 

[coach723]

Continue the vitamins, some wry neck will improve quickly, sometimes it takes longer. When in with the other chicks she may not get adequate access to food and water, so until she's able to eat and drink normally, I would keep her in your setup where she separated but can still see them.
Wry neck can look different in different birds. Some do stargaze, others bend their heads under their bodies, some will wobble and wave their heads. All forms of wryneck. Vitamin deficiencies are a common cause and the first thing to try, vitamin deficiencies can cause all sorts of odd neuromuscular symptoms. With silkies head injury is also a possibility due to their vaulted skulls.

 

[Obsessed With Silkies]

I had a wry neck chick that held it's head under its body. I bought a vitamin and mineral supplement called Rooster Booster that you can get from Tractor Supply. I put this in the chicks water and it did so much better! There is a bigger version of the supplement that has lots more vitamins and minerals in it. Included are pictures of them. I'd keep watching her for a little while to see if she improves. Even if she seems to be improving, keep treating her with extra vitamins/minerals to make sure that this has passed. I have read that chickens that have had wry neck, that it can reoccur but at the same time it might not. Keep doing what you're doing and hopefully she will get better!

 

[candybeers2011]

I probably won't be much help with this, but good luck! I hope someone more knowledgeable will reply.
I had a chick with wry neck earlier this year. He kept his head sideways. He could still walk, eat and didn't get bullied, so I kept him with the other chicks. I added some vitamins in their water. I couldn't get vitamin e only, so I used one with multiple vitamins in it (including e). He got better slowly over a couple weeks. He was 3 weeks old when it started and was completely cured by about 8 weeks.
I only have these pictures of him. The last one is him later.

Mine is being very picky about what it'll eat. It'll barely drink the water I put the vitamin supplement in and it was loving the boiled scrambled eggs but now will only eat the chick starter feed. I've offered broccoli, leafy greens, and sun flower seeds smashed up and it won't touch those things. It is eating the chick starter and drinking water by itself as long as I'm holding it in a towel with the head propped up some. I'm glad it's at least eating but do you have aby tricks on how to get them to drink the vitamin water or another way to make it eat the vitamins in its food? Thank you for replying and I'm so glad your baby got better.

 

[Cloverr39]

Mine is being very picky about what it'll eat. It'll barely drink the water I put the vitamin supplement in and it was loving the boiled scrambled eggs but now will only eat the chick starter feed. I've offered broccoli, leafy greens, and sun flower seeds smashed up and it won't touch those things. It is eating the chick starter and drinking water by itself as long as I'm holding it in a towel with the head propped up some. I'm glad it's at least eating but do you have aby tricks on how to get them to drink the vitamin water or another way to make it eat the vitamins in its food? Thank you for replying and I'm so glad your baby got better.

Have you tried soaking the chick feed with vitamin water? I don't know if yours will, but my chicks love it when I add water to their feed to make it a little wet. Not to the point that it's liquid, but you know like porridge or something. I hope you understand what I mean. Instead of adding normal water add your vitamin water.

 

[coach723]

I use tablets or capsules, and just put it directly in the beak. For E you can poke a hole in the capsule and squirt it in the beak. Human supplements are often better, you can get a larger dose, which is often needed to reverse deficiencies.
This link has a video at the bottom showing how to help a bird eat and drink.
https://www.raising-happy-chickens.com/wry-neck.html