# Chicken with Wry Neck or Torticullis



## HombresArablegacy (Oct 12, 2013)

Try asking at Chicken Vet Corner's Chicken Talk (spelled exactly as written to search) on Facebook. Its staffed by vets who volunteer their time. You have to request to join, but that is usually approved fairly fast. Hope this helps.


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## egrogan (Jun 1, 2011)

I haven’t personally. Seems like it’s all over the chicken FB pages this time of year. And the recommendation is usually nutri-drench or other vitamin & electrolyte supplement (like you said, to push Vit E/Selenium) and maybe some help with water while treating to keep hydrated. Good luck!


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## Dreamcatcher Arabians (Nov 14, 2010)

Well, here's how it went last night. She's been off her feed but would drink if I would just gently push her beak into some water, apple juice or a probiotic/electrolyte vitamin mix I made for her. So last night I got a syringe and fed her by hand, made a wet mash of her food and also gave her the probiotic drink. After she ate all she wanted (hah, trust me when she was full and done she let me KNOW) and settled in my lap, I massaged her neck and she fell asleep. I let her sleep in my lap for a while and when she woke up, I put her back in her cage and her neck looked a whole lot better. So, I'm hopeful. We'll see how it goes. She is bright and perky other than her neck thing, so I didn't want to just cull her and was afraid she'd starve herself by not being able to eat.


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## Chevaux (Jun 27, 2012)

Subbing to hear the progress. Good luck!


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## Dreamcatcher Arabians (Nov 14, 2010)

I've started giving her water, probiotics, electrolytes and Kefir by oral syringe. Her head is on pretty much upside down but other than that she seems stronger today than the last couple of days. Vet's coming out tomorrow to draw up a bunch of Coggins and to geld young Master Joker, so while she's here I'm going to have her look at the chicken. She's getting some Vit. E & Selenium, I'm dissolving some of the horse crumbles in water and giving her 1 cc of that solution daily. I'm a little afraid to do more for fear of selenium poisoning. I suppose I shouldn't worry about it, she's either going to get better or she's going to die either way. I kind of suspect what the vet's going to say tomorrow, but until she does, I'm going to feed that chicken and hydrate her and give her lap time and all that. She has taken a real liking to sitting in my lap after a meal/water break and seems to enjoy having her little neck rubbed and being petted. So, we're doing it.


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## Yogiwick (Sep 30, 2013)

Subbing and hoping for a good outcome!

Off to google this!


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## Dreamcatcher Arabians (Nov 14, 2010)

Oh boy, went on line and found Poultry DVM and they had a "symptom checker". According to that it could be just about anything from low gas mileage to typhus. Jeez.....


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## egrogan (Jun 1, 2011)

Haha, I hate those kinds of website. I do think "Chicken Vet Corner" FB page is supposed to be pretty good.

My general feeling with chickens is that if it's not blatantly cruel to keep trying to treat them, it's worth it to me to try, so I'd be doing what you are. I think I've only made the wrong decision once, with the last of my original flock who was clearly suffering from ascites and I was holding out hope she'd just pass quietly tucked into a little straw box I made for her. Unfortunately it was the height of summer and she hung on a few days, developing fly strike, which I didn't realize until she died. I felt just miserable that my inability to act caused her that suffering. 

Anyway, that's neither here nor there for your chicky, and I really hope the vitamins help turn things around for her!


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## Dreamcatcher Arabians (Nov 14, 2010)

The vet will be here this afternoon, so we'll see what she says. I'm willing to keep her going if there's any reason to do it. If not, I don't want to be cruel and keep her going just because I can. If she's never going to be able to eat and drink on her own again, it's kinder to send her on her way. Right now, she's napping in my lap, we just finished the midmorning round of water, probiotics and Kefir. So at least she's comfortable for now, her little head is resting on my arm while I type. It's really sad because she feels good otherwise. She's a little feisty today, as feisty as a Cochin gets any how, and it took us close to 20 mins to feed her this time. LOL! I could "hear" her threatening to grow teeth as she clacked her little beak at us, and she glared with one red eye, promising to turn into a T-rex at some unspecified date in the future. I don't think she liked the way hubby squirted the stuff in her mouth, she was a lot more resistant to him than she is me. Funny little bird.


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## Dreamcatcher Arabians (Nov 14, 2010)

OK, vet says to give her injectable Vit E and Selenium and inject steroids for 4 days. Will either cure or kill her. Otherwise, time to cull.


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## egrogan (Jun 1, 2011)

Sounds like a plan! Good luck turning her around.


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## Dreamcatcher Arabians (Nov 14, 2010)

We'll see how she does. She's been very good natured about this whole thing. Amazing the trust, really. She fusses, decides she's had enough to eat, water, probiotics, whatever and she straightens out her legs and pushes hard with her feet. And then settles back down and lets me do another round. She has really settled into being a lap chicken, which I think is funny because while I like to handle them some and pet them a little, I don't make pets out of them as a rule because I think it takes the edge off of their survivor's wits. So to see her do a total turn around and enjoy sitting in my lap, getting massaged and petted, it's very different.


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## AnitaAnne (Oct 31, 2010)

I wish I'd known about this last week. I was gifted with a baby duck that was not acting right. It sounds like this is what he/she was affected with. Hand fed him for two days but he didn't make it :frown_color: If I could have held him the whole time, maybe would have lived. But I tried

I called him Lame Duck


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## Dreamcatcher Arabians (Nov 14, 2010)

I guess this happens quite a bit in spring time. I've never seen it before, hope I never see it again. The poor things are just so uncomfortable with their little heads on upside down. My understanding is, there are 3 primary causes.

#1 Vitamin E & Selenium deficiency, #2 Illness & stress, and #3 a brain injury. 

#1 is fixable if they haven't gone down too far when you treat it, #2 possibly fixable and #3, probably not going to be fixable. 

Since this little one is going on a week in her condition, and because we've been hand feeding and hand watering her, she may come through ok. I'll know in 3 or 4 days whether or not it's going to work. Vet said it will become real obvious.


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## LoriF (Apr 3, 2015)

I sure hope she pulls through. If she doesn't, it sure won't be from lack of care. Got my fingers crossed for your little hen.


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## Dreamcatcher Arabians (Nov 14, 2010)

Well, sad news on the chicken front. I fed her and gave her her injections this morning and when I left to do my errands, she seemed fine. However, when I came home after a couple of hours, she was DOA. Don't know why but I guess the vet was right, it became very obvious that she's not pulling through. Since it had been over a week already, I'd have to say her chances weren't great, but I'm always willing to try. RIP little one, at least your head is back on right side up.


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## egrogan (Jun 1, 2011)

Sorry to hear it Dreamcatcher. At least she went out as a pampered lap chicken, what more can they ask for? Still, it's never easy to lose one.


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## Yogiwick (Sep 30, 2013)

I'm sorry but you did what you could and sounds like she was one happy lap chicken! Seems more likely to be an injury of some sort for her to go downhill so quickly. I had a sick 8 month old lamb and when I asked if she might pass suddenly (some illnesses are more gradual or show end signs such as seizures or whatnot before death) the vet said it was possible, but if it happened so suddenly like that it was a sign that there was absolutely nothing we could have done to prevent it.

E/Selenium deficiency is the "easiest" options but as you've never had a problem and the others seem fine I assume maybe more likely to be something else. (We suspected the same deficiency in our lamb actually though it shows differently but it was the same logic of how likely was it?)


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## lb27312 (Aug 25, 2018)

I'm sooooo sorry to hear this... I was really pulling for her.


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## Dreamcatcher Arabians (Nov 14, 2010)

Yogiwick said:


> I'm sorry but you did what you could and sounds like she was one happy lap chicken! Seems more likely to be an injury of some sort for her to go downhill so quickly. I had a sick 8 month old lamb and when I asked if she might pass suddenly (some illnesses are more gradual or show end signs such as seizures or whatnot before death) the vet said it was possible, but if it happened so suddenly like that it was a sign that there was absolutely nothing we could have done to prevent it.
> 
> E/Selenium deficiency is the "easiest" options but as you've never had a problem and the others seem fine I assume maybe more likely to be something else. (We suspected the same deficiency in our lamb actually though it shows differently but it was the same logic of how likely was it?)


Of course, I'm sure it was something else now, though OK is well known for being very selenium deficient. Who knows for sure though, right? She really didn't have a mark on her but was obviously not well when I brought her in and away from the other birds. She seemed to respond to the antibiotics but ……. who knows? Maybe the torticollis was already starting and because I didn't know what I was looking at, I didn't catch it early enough. Again, who knows? I get the feeling that unless you're dealing with a vet who specializes in birds, we're mostly all kind of throwing our hands up and say, "Well, maybe I should try XXXX and see what happens.". I doubt seriously that I would ever miss it again. And you're right, the other birds are all fine. Eating, drinking and doing chickee things. 




lb27312 said:


> I'm sooooo sorry to hear this... I was really pulling for her.


Me too. But when they're ready, they go, no matter what we're thinking. 



egrogan said:


> Sorry to hear it Dreamcatcher. At least she went out as a pampered lap chicken, what more can they ask for? Still, it's never easy to lose one.


It's not easy but she did get pampered and petted and cared for this last week. All we can do is try.


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## Chevaux (Jun 27, 2012)

Darn, that is too bad. I’m sorry to hear that, Dreamcatcher, but nonetheless you are to be commended for your efforts in helping the little dear.


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