Silkie hatched with brains out *warning graphic pics*

[riftnreef]

Not to hi-hack this thread, but I seem to have missed some information somewhere along the way. I guess my first mistake was believing that "chickens is chickens"! Now that I have some Serma chicks in a brooder, and two silkies nearly grown enough to go outside, and 10 more viable silkie eggs in the bator, I need to get some more info. I was not aware that Silkies had issue with soft skull coverings? That is if I'm understanding this conversation correcly? If someone could point me to a resource that gives more details on the subject that would be very helpful...if not, PM me and "tell it to me like I'm 4"....lol

 

[destiny_56085]

Here is an article I found:


Cerebral Hernia
From the Dutch Poland Club
By Peter Jones


Breeders of fowl the world over have reported a condition that seems peculiar to crested breeds, particularly birds with heavier crests than others. The onset of the condition is described as a wobble in the head which can increase in severity to the point where the head twists right around. . In some cases the bird looses its balance and mobility altogether. This is commonly called ‘cerebral hernia’.

The Victorian Institute of Animal Science has conducted post mortems on breeds such a Polish and Silkies over the years. They confirm the existence of a mutation in the dominant gene for a crest. A mutation is a genetic copying error or mistake that occurs when the DNA from the parent bird’s meet and divide incorrectly in what is known as meiosis.

The skull of a crested fowl is unique. Unlike other breeds, it is dome-like in structure and, in heavily crested chicks, there is a tendency for the skull to be underdeveloped. Like the fontanels of a human baby, the skull of crested fowls has openings.

These are supposed to fuse in the normal way and usually do. However, this does not always occur and the result is exposure of the cerebellum (brain). Subsequently, a bird’s brain space remains venerable to the environment.

Certain lines seem more predisposed to this condition, whereas other lines are seldom affected. Unsurprisingly, it is rare in adult birds, as their skulls have had the time to grow and fuse over. It is more prevalent with young birds between 1 and 4 months of age.

Conditions and treatment.
Conditions
There are a variety of causal factors and distinct conditions each of which can display the symptoms described above.
Type One
Cerebral trauma or brain damage can actually happen to any young bird of any breed. It involves direct impact (ie a peck on the head) resulting in brain damage. Crested breeds could fare worse in such a situation. The brain is forced by the pressure of the impact and can ‘herniated’, swell or ooze out through the cranium.
Type Two
Cerebral oedema or swelling of the cerebellum is an internal reaction to the environment and can occur in at least two ways.

Firstly, as a response to hot weather and change, an excess of fluid builds up as in the brain cavity, placing pressure on the centers of the brain, which govern mobility. The bird experiences vertigo (spinning sensation) and consequently loses its sense of balance. If left untreated this can lead to permanent brain damage. On occasion birds may recover and live with a permanent, but slight head wobble, continuing to eat and live with certain normality.

Secondly, the same symptoms can occur with a respiratory condition. The immune system can respond to the invasion of bacteria or a virus by producing more fluid with similar results.
Treatment
Prevention
Prevention is better than cure. By ensuring that your birds are vaccinated and well managed the breeder can keep disease challenge to a minimum and avoid the third scenario. Identifying lines that have this propensity and breeding away will help avoid heartbreak. Controlling temperature in extremes of weather can prevent this condition to some degree and ensuring that no foreign objects pose a threat to the birds’ welfare (ie checking perches, feeders etc are secure are all good preventative measures).
Cure
There is no guaranteed cure if you have a bird with the condition. However, a vet friend administered an intramuscularly injection of cortisone with positive results. In this case the drug reduced the inflammation/swelling and the bird recovered.

Other breeders have found that administering broad -based antibiotics have worked. The problem is that without a postmortem, you cant always isolates the cause. By then it is probably too late anyway.

At the earliest detection of the condition I would use both cortisone and Baytril (antibiotic) to cover my bases. The longer a bird is left untreated, the harder it is to achieve recovery.
Fortunately, the problem is not common. Edan Montgomery claimed that out of over 600 birds bred last year, about 5-6 developed the condition. Sadly, it is usually the heavily crested potential champs.
By hatching in large numbers, line breeding rather than close in breeding, and practicing good management techniques, this condition is largely avoidable. Every breed has its hiccups. For crested breeds, this is one of them.

On a positive note, the rewards of producing a champion far outweigh the occasional disappointment linked with this condition. It also goes to show the largely detrimental nature of mutations. They are rarely if ever an advantage!

 

[destiny_56085]

and here is another article:


Silkies Have a Hole in Their Head
By Alan Stanford, Ph.D.
January 30, 2003

Silkies have a hole in the top of their skull. Kate learned this as she and a professor from the University of Wisconsin dissected a Silkie. As far as we know all Silkies have this hole in the head; perhaps the size varies from bird to bird. Our local vet claims there are other breeds with this odd feature.
Many breeders select for Silkies with a knob on the top of their head because they believe knobs give larger and rounder crests. This knob is brain bulging outside the skull. We call birds these birds round heads and birds without knobs flat heads. Although we do not select for the knob, our friend George Mihalik found 90% of our show birds had round heads. Maybe there is some truth to the theory of round heads having better looking crests; maybe round heads are a dominant trait. I have heard several stories of Silkies dieing from seemingly insignificant blows to the head. In 2001 Pedro (one of our cockerels) jumped and hit his head in a travel carrier. He died within an hour. After the 2002 Ohio National we found Attila the Hun (another of our cockerels) almost dead in a travel coop but I revived him with mouth to beak resuscitation. We guess he hit his head. I almost killed Attila a month later as I broke up a cockerel fight but once again I resuscitated him. I theorize that what we call crookneck and others call limber neck is caused by trauma to a Silkie's exposed brain. Birds with crookneck tuck their heads between their legs and their neck muscles are taught. In severe cases the birds back up, twitch their tucked heads side to side, and flip upside down.
A necropsy of one of Valerie Hirvela's birds with crookneck found nothing except some fluid on the brain. The vet suggested prednisone might help afflicted birds. Vitamin E and vitamin B complex seem to help Crookneck birds; these vitamins help the nervous system. All of this is consistent with my theory that an injury to a Silkie's exposed brain produces crookneck. Crookneck strikes birds of any age. I think I saw a correlation with more crowding of our chicks. I also suppose raising Araucanas with our Silkies produced more crookneck birds. I speculate that the feisty Araucanas were popping the Silkies on the head.

Although the connection between crookneck and the exposed brain is only a supposition, the exposed brain is a fact.

 

[SilverPhoenix]

Kind of a sad thing to hatch... Unfortunate. I hope the little one didn't suffer much. It's a good thing to post, though--now those of us who hatch eggs know it's an issue to look out for!

 

[canada-goose]

Wow. That's pretty grim. I'm sorry that you got such an extreme case of it!

 

[riftnreef]

So, what I'm understanding is that "wry neck" , and the problems with the Silkies are two very different things. Doing research on wry neck landed me some very ominous concerns...per Cornell University "wry neck" symptoms are more akin to ailments like:

vitamin E deficiency
chronic form of fowl cholera
Marek's disease
neurogenic strains of Newcastle disease
viscerotropic neurogenic NDV

So, I'm a bit relieved, and I thank you for the articles. I'm sure if I had encountered this with one of my chicks without knowing this, I may have had a serious melt down!

 

[The Sheriff]

I may be out of line here because you have probably more experience hatching and raising chicks than I do. But, why are they out of the incubator and into the brooder when they are still wet? His little face is in crumbles and poop. The little blond one on the bottom of the pile doesn't look dried and fluffy either and appears to be at risk for trampling. Mine dry off and fluff up much faster in the incubator. I think the stable, circulating, warm air probably helps them regulate their body heat while they are wet too. Not trying to start anything, just wondering. We all have our own ways of doing things.

I am sorry for your problems and hope the rest grow up healthy and happy.

Mary

 

[kathyinmo]

I was wondering the same thing as Mary.

Another thing I immediately thought was .... if they see something shiney or red, etc, they WILL pick at it. This little guy's shiney red head was probably irresistable to the others. It appears the little guy was targeted by curious chicks' pecking.

As far as vaults go ... it is really sad that they have no bone covering the skull.

 

[RooptyDoo]

 

[ultasol]

How could a chick like this make it? Even better question is, why would you want it to? Unfortunately, the exposure of the brain, or the brain's membrane, to the outside world is going to cause suffering for the chick. I know the (human) brain has very little in the way of pain sensors, however, with severe cases of human hydroencephaly where rupture occurs sepsis and infection are an inevitability.

Unfortunately, no matter what she had done, it wouldn't have made it.

I have very limited experience hatching eggs in an incubator, and I have been fortunate not to run into any exposed brains yet. In working with silkies I can only suppose that at some point I might have this issue.

Amy, I used the prednisone based on that article. I have a lot of personal experience with prednisone (unfortunately) due to my (human) lung issues, which is why I had some on hand. I did a short burst, starting strong and tapering off slowly. I gave the last dose I plan to give today, and am hoping the bird continues to do well.

I wonder if some of the shaking and twitching that you see in some silkies are related to the vaulted skull trait. In humans, hydroencephaly is accompanied by various degrees of disability (both physical and mental).

I guess considering some of the hare-brained things I've seen the silkies do, it makes sense that the vaulted ones (the majority of mine) are 'special'

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