Asymmetrical chicken

[skjoller97]

Hi! I recently noticed my parent’s hen is little lopsided. Anyone know what could be causing this? Her whole neck/head deviates to her left side and it appears her right shoulder (or what I’m assuming is her should sticks out). She doesn’t appear to be in distress and she’s been eating, pooping, drink and walking normally! I didn’t feel any lumps just felt her right shoulder jutted out.

 

[Lillith37]

It could be wry neck? There are multiple causes. You can give her some vitamin E supplementation and see if that helps — 400IU human E daily, usually they come in soft gels. Some scrambled egg will help with selenium for uptake. You can also give her 1/4 of a human b complex tablet daily. Do this for a couple of weeks and see if she improves. Make sure her crop is full in the evening and she isn’t getting bullied away from food. There are poultry specific vitamins you can get from feed stores if you’d prefer that.

How old is she? Any respiratory symptoms in the flock?

 

[skjoller97]

It could be wry neck? There are multiple causes. You can give her some vitamin E supplementation and see if that helps — 400IU human E daily, usually they come in soft gels. Some scrambled egg will help with selenium for uptake. You can also give her 1/4 of a human b complex tablet daily. Do this for a couple of weeks and see if she improves. Make sure her crop is full in the evening and she isn’t getting bullied away from food. There are poultry specific vitamins you can get from feed stores if you’d prefer that.

How old is she? Any respiratory symptoms in the flock?

She’s only about 3 months old. No respiratory symptoms and she seems to be eating fine! I did some research and I saw that chicken scoliosis is a thing also. But I’ll try out what you recommend, thank you!

 

[Lillith37]

She’s only about 3 months old. No respiratory symptoms and she seems to be eating fine! I did some research and I saw that chicken scoliosis is a thing also. But I’ll try out what you recommend, thank you!

Do a bit of reading up on Mareks too. It usually presents from that age and can cause wry neck and paralysis. Hopefully it’s not that. If you ever lose a chicken it might be worth getting a vet to do a necropsy to determine whether they carry Mareks virus. If one has it, your whole flock is assumed to be carriers due to the nature of viral shedding.

 

[Eggcessive]

I would used the vitamin E and B complex for thiamine daily along with a small bit of scrambled egg which has selenium. Vitamin deficiency, head injuries, and certain diseases can be common causes of wry neck.