Marek's or Wry Neck?

[SmithsCoop41]

Hello y'all,

Well, it's been awhile since I've had to post, which is a good thing, but I do have a situation that I'm needing some advice/input on. I added some new roosters to my flock a few days ago, and I have the new ones all in the same pen together. I will add that I got all (3) roosters from the same person all at the same time; I got them together. Well, everything looked good, and they looked beautiful, healthy. The three types I got were: an Ayam Cemani Rooster, hatched in May of this year - so around 5 months old, a Black Frizzle Rooster with green iridescent sheen to his feathers, kinda like an australorp has, and a Black polish mix, that also had the green iridescent sheen to his feathers as well, and the frizzle and polish mix were hatched in April this year, so roughly 6 months old. Well, I went out back to my coop area yesterday evening to check on everyone like I usually do, and noticed the polish was kinda looking a little strange. So, I picked him up and noticed he had his head cocked to one side, to which at first I thought he was just looking like roosters sometimes do, but I noticed something about the way he looked just didn't look right, like he was kinda compromised and couldn't help it? Well, I kept watching him trying to figure out what may be wrong, and none of the other chickens acted that way. It then came to my mind that maybe it was "wry neck"? And I've never had any of my chickens to have it, so I'm reaching out to fellow chickeneers to see if there is anything I can do to help him, and if that is what it actually is. When I started researching it, I read that wry neck could possibly be a symptom of Marek's Disease, and I've also never had Marek's disease in my flock, so i don't know. I read that Marek's disease sometimes can have the symptoms of paralysis usually in one leg, labored breathing, weight loss, diarrhea, and possibly starvation and death. He doesn't seem to be paralyzed in either leg as he can still get around pretty good, not really sure about weight loss since I just got him this week, doesn't seem to have any labored breathing, I can't really say anything about diarrhea since I'm not sure if he had been able to eat much since he was in the pen with the others roosters-until I noticed his behavior and took him inside with me anyway. I did mix up some Vitamins & Electrolytes Plus that I happened to have, and he did seem to do pretty good with that, although when I first gave him the water electrolyte solution, it seemed to leak out of his mouth some, and another thing I noticed was after he would get some water, he would shake his head. Other than that, he's really alert, seems to be able to walk pretty good, and compared to some more severe degrees of the head tilts I've seen online, his isn't as bad as those. I watched him for a bit and let him drink some of the electrolyte water, and then put him outside again, but in a pen by himself. I mixed up some Kalmbach poultry feed, with super scratch grains, with cracked corn and he seemed to eat with little issues, and put the electrolyte water in the pen with him also. Also, when I researched treatments and all for it, it said sometimes it could be from vitamin deficiency, which could be treated with poultry cell. Y'all please help, I don't wanna lose him

 

[Eggcessive]

Do you know if the roosters had been kept together in a pen before they came to you? I wonder if his wry neck could be related to a head injury. That is one of several possible causes of wry neck or torticolis. Vitamin E or thiamine (B1) deficiency and certain viruses including Mareks, Newcastles and other can be other causes. Did they peck out any of his head feathers? Polish are sometimes targets for that.

I would get some human vitamin E softgels and get 400 IU plus vitamin B complex or super B complex 1/2 tablet daily. You can get inexpensive generics at Walmart. Poultry Cell has small amounts of those vitamins but not enough to treat wry neck. I would use them for at least 2 weeks to see if they help. You can pop them into his beak or crush and empty them into a small bit of watery feed, canned cat food, or cooked egg. Let us know how he gets along.

Besides a possible head injury, the other cockerels might be keeping the Polish from eating and drinking enough. I had that experience when I kept 3 different breed roosters in a bachelor pen one year. Two of them picked on the meekest one. He was not allowed to eat, and he stayed on the roost all oof the time.

 

[SmithsCoop41]

Do you know if the roosters had been kept together in a pen before they came to you? I wonder if his wry neck could be related to a head injury. That is one of several possible causes of wry neck or torticolis. Vitamin E or thiamine (B1) deficiency and certain viruses including Mareks, Newcastles and other can be other causes. Did they peck out any of his head feathers? Polish are sometimes targets for that.

I would get some human vitamin E softgels and get 400 IU plus vitamin B complex or super B complex 1/2 tablet daily. You can get inexpensive generics at Walmart. Poultry Cell has small amounts of those vitamins but not enough to treat wry neck. I would use them for at least 2 weeks to see if they help. You can pop them into his beak or crush and empty them into a small bit of watery feed, canned cat food, or cooked egg. Let us know how he gets along.

Besides a possible head injury, the other cockerels might be keeping the Polish from eating and drinking enough. I had that experience when I kept 3 different breed roosters in a bachelor pen one year. Two of them picked on the meekest one. He was not allowed to eat, and he stayed on the roost all oof the time.

No no sign of physical injury to his head that I can see, but yes the polish and frizzle were kept together in same pen, but I think the cemani was in different pen

 

[SmithsCoop41]

Ok, update!!!!

Eggcessive,

I went and checked on him during my lunch break, and to me, he seems to be doing better! Walking around and bock-bocking like chickens normally do. LOL
I went and got some poultry cell yesterday and gave him some in some water last night, he drank a little bit. When I put him back outside last night, I made sure to keep him separated in his own pen, and put some poultry cell water mix and feed in the pen with him.
Yesterday/last night he was tilting his head to the right,
but now, looks to hold it pretty much straight. I will try and get a video of him over the weekend, and upload it later.
I'm sorry but I do not have a "before" video of him for comparison, but once you watch the video, let me know what you think judging from his current state, as far as behavior, head position and all.
Just a side note...he had a little "accident" while he was inside with me last night, and it looked normal.