Wry neck not going away…please help ☹️

[Lilchimp]

Hi all, this is my first post so please forgive any errors. I work in an after school program and my students completed an embryology project a few weeks ago. Five healthy chicks and one that had trouble hatching…I read all the forum content and decided, after 48 hours of pipping with no progress, to aid by gently peeling the inner layer around the pip hole. It seemed to work and our 6th chick was born…with one minor problem: wry neck.

The chick was born with a twisted neck so it almost looked like it was folded over on one side. After doing a lot of googling, I heard that wry neck is pretty common. I isolated the chick 24 hours after hatching (the others were attacking it). I immediately started dosing of Poly-Vis-Sol (without iron) in the water. I give the chick 3 daily doses of Vitamin E gel with selenium. I’ve given it some scrambled egg to boost protein. The chick is now 2 weeks old and is otherwise healthy, except the neck has not improved one bit. This is my very first exposure to hatching chicks and I feel a bit out of my depth. I’ve been nursing the poor chick at home but I can’t keep him long-term. Any ideas on things I can try to correct his neck? I’ve attached some pictures for reference.

Thank you!

 

[CoopBoots]

Nothing but solidarity from me. This is Noodle:

I also thought wry neck and tried supplements but was unable to get results after a couple of weeks (selenium, e, and some b as well). I never saw any improvement at all. However, I'm not confident my dosage was exactly right, either. It's possible Noodle had a physical injury or deformity from hatch that I didn't know about (got her from another farm.) You'll get much better advice from the experts around here!

For what it's worth, Noodle is a big strong egg laying girl now; she was always able to eat on her own and I only assisted a little with moistened food once a day and ensuring her more upright hatchmates didn't trample her. She's completely independent these days!

Best of luck with your baby!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I immediately started dosing of Poly-Vis-Sol (without iron) in the water. I give the chick 3 daily doses of Vitamin E gel with selenium. I’ve given it some scrambled egg to boost protein. The chick is now 2 weeks old

Welcome To BYC

Since she hatched this way, it may be some type of spinal condition instead of Wry Neck.

I'd work on getting her to eat. Wet soupy feed may be easier to eat than picking at dry crumbles. See that she's drinking well.

Vitamin therapy for neurological symptoms is 400IU Vitamin E and 1/4 tablet B-Complex daily. Egg is a good to give for the uptake of E.

I understand some do give Poly Vi Sol, but you would give it by drops orally instead of mixing with water which can be dilute.

Vitamin E Gel with Selenium...not a fan of it. You'd have to give a lot in order to get to 400IU Vitamin E, then you go way over in Selenium which could in time be toxic...

Below is a post I made explaining the Gel vs just giving Vitamins.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/wry-neck-help.1603690/post-27296424

Looks like Wry Neck which is a neurological symptom. Some common causes of Wry Neck are Marek's disease, trauma and vitamin deficiency.

I would try vitamin therapy.


Go to your Walmart, CVS, etc. and buy a bottle of Vitamin E (400IU) and B-Complex. Give her 1 vitamin E pill and 1/4 tablet B-Complex daily for a couple of weeks. Offer him a treat of egg or tuna to help with the uptake of E.


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I would not use Goat Vitamin E and Selenium.
You would have to give 4ml to get 400IU Vitamin E and that would put you at 46.4mcg of Selnium which is way too high of a dose. Max Selenium dose is 25mcg for poultry, but it can be toxic in large quantities. Vitamin B1 is also a support vitamin for neurological issues and the goat vitamin does not contain that, so you would need to buy vitamins anyway.


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[realsis]

Selinium can be ordered from Amazon. From my own experience (going through this now) it takes a solid 4 weeks to show improvement from wry neck. Mix the vitamin together in her food and make a mush with the food by adding water. Remember Selinium is used to help the bird absorb the vitamin E. It can be toxic so use just a small amount, just a slight dust of the selenium. My bird actually had two defiencys going on. She was unable to stand or walk doing vertical splits with curled toes. That is a B2 defiency. After about a month she was walking again whe. Wry neck hit. A vitamin E defiency. I'm currently treating with squeezed out vitamin E caps on her food with the tiniest dust of Selinium. Since I'd already been treating her with vitamin her wry neck only comes on at night and early morning. It takes patience for sure but it's worth it on around week four. Mine started standing about then. Don't get discouraged I understand it's hard but you will be so glad as she returns to normal about week 4. In the meantime make sure she's feed and watered by hand as she can't do it herself. Best wishes and hope this helps. Ps. I got my selenium off Amazon. I got capsules. I pull them apart and use just the smallest amount a fine dust really. It can be toxic so keep that in mind. It will help the chick properly absorb the vitamin E. Good luck and don't loose hope! Best wishes