Wry neck, Botulism poisoning, or something else?

[AngelOnFire23]

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Bantam hen, older (9-10+ years old)
About a week & a half ago I noticed one of my older hens was having some trouble breathing, but figured it was because of a high pollen count here, humidity, and the change in weather…or that it was just old age related and that she would be passing soon. About 2-3 days ago, my dad had noticed that she was in the outdoor enclosure laying down in the doghouse (old doghouse the chickens like laying in). He passed by a few times, then figured she was dead because she wasn’t moving. When he went over to pick her up with the shovel, she was still breathing. Her neck was twisted upwards. When he went to take her out, she would move her wings and open her eyes, and her head would move a bit. We put her in a nesting box overnight thinking she’d pass peacefully there. None of the other chickens bothered her. She’s still alive. Today, we took her out and gave her some water, she opened her eyes a bit and was very thirsty. Her neck was still twisted. She can’t stand or move much aside from spreading her wings apart, and almost flopping. We couldn’t get her neck in a proper position. She also had poop stuck to her butt, which we cleaned off. (When she was born she had a clump of poop stuck to her butt and we would do warm baths which resolved the issue. So, we named her Poopy Butt…don’t judge please). We put her in a box we had made when we had chicks years ago, put some shavings down and newspaper. We put a grate on top of the box and put her back in the chicken coop (she’s still isolated, but not alone at least).

None of our other chickens are exhibiting any symptoms. The only thing we’ve noticed the past month+ is that they’re all not really eating their grain pellets (they’ve eaten the same kind pretty much their entire life and hadn’t had an issue, but only eat the corn.

I did a Google search and it looks like wry neck. I also spoke to a friend of mine who’s a very experienced chicken owner. She doesn’t think it’s wry neck since my hen can’t stand or really move.

My dad really doesn’t want to have to put her down. I don’t want her to suffer. We’re trying to make her as comfortable as possible.

Any thoughts on what it could possibly be or what we can do to help her? I may try and get a picture of how she looks to see if that helps you guys.

 

[azygous]

Wry neck can produce death due to starvation from not being able to position the head and neck to eat properly. Your hen has wry neck and is close to death from starvation weakness.

If you wish to save her instead of allowing her to die, first syringe some warm sugar water into her beak. Do this every hour all day until you go to bed. At the same time, pop a vitamin E capsule into her beak with a little sliver of selenium.

Tomorrow, give her soft boiled egg and another E capsule. If she still cannot eat on her own, You may wish to give her raw egg by oral syringe. This is how you do it so you don't end up squirting it into her airway and killing her. You want to avoid that large hole behind the tongue.

 

[missmimz]

One of my four year old hens was displaying very similar symptoms. Couldn't walk, wasn't eating or drinking, rolled on her side in the coup, moving but head was twisted all the way to her side. She kept trying to eat but couldn't pick up food. I think she had some kind of neurological issue going on, i had to cull her this morning because it was clear she wasn't going to recover