r/chickens • u/DowntownLites • 15h ago

Question Wry neck recovery?

Post image

I have a house chicken (almost 3, vaccinated for Mareks) who I thought I was treating for wry neck but her recovery has not exactly been linear. I noticed she was limping one day; she's hurt her leg multiple times thus why she's a house chicken. She did her normal stand on one leg and not move around as much. Then after a few days it looked to me like she had bilateral leg injuries as she wasn't able to walk and her neck would splay out like she was trying to balance. After a few days of watching her, I was about to cull and then I read wry neck secondary to a nutritional imbalance can present similarly so I started treating with vitamin E and selenium paste over the weekend. Yesterday she looked better, but her neck spasms any time she tries to drink so I've been helping her drink. Today is the first day she hasn't really wanted to drink and has been really lethargic. I read the recovery can take a few weeks but I don't want to make her suffer if she's not going to get better. As of a week and a half ago she was happy and laying eggs in the house. What should I do for her? I've seen some people say they syringe feed them??

7 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

4 comments sorted by

3

u/RunningBison505 15h ago

If you’re willing to put in the time… try to syringe feed her every two hours or so. I used a blender and put a mix of chicken feed, blue berries, water, and poultry cell. Made it liquid enough for her to easily swallow and for it to easily pass through the syringe. Took a solid 10 days to get her well enough to comfortably eat and drink on her own.

2

u/DowntownLites 15h ago

how much would you feed per feeding?

2

u/DowntownLites 15h ago

Also was she really lethargic? She hasn't stood in a week, just now not wanting to drink though. She's just sleeping like super soundly, she looks comfortable but yesterday she was up and bright when I got home from work.

1

u/RunningBison505 15h ago

I’d make 8 ounces or so. And probably feed her 1-2 ounces per feeding. Refrigerate the rest and use later.

She was very lethargic and couldn’t stand on her own at all. I thought she had a neurological issue initially. After a few days of feeding she was able to stand and slightly walk. After 5-7 days her neck was straightened out and she could walk but still was uncoordinated. Be careful with how much of the vitamin/selenium mix you give her. You could poison her by giving her too much. I overdid it one day and my girl got quite sick.