Wry neck chick! How often to give her food and water, and how much at a time

[Anime2lover]

I have a little 5 month old cross beak wry neck chick. She was eating just fine yesterday, then today, when I went out there she has a severe case of wry neck. Cannot stand or eat on her own. How often should I feed and water her, and how much. Also what can I give her to help her through this? She has had nutrical, and vitamin-b already.

 

[Lizzy733]

I have a little 5 month old cross beak wry neck chick. She was eating just fine yesterday, then today, when I went out there she has a severe case of wry neck. Cannot stand or eat on her own. How often should I feed and water her, and how much. Also what can I give her to help her through this? She has had nutrical, and vitamin-b already.

Could she have eaten something toxic? This can also be a cause of wryneck.

As for feeding....

An adult standard hen's crop can hold around 100ml - when tube feeding, I generally stick to around 60ml at a time and make sure the crop has emptied between feedings. 2 times a day would be typical for supplementary feeding. Even as little as 1 a day if their crop is slow to empty.

Getting it down them is the other concern. My personal feeding kit includes:
12 ml syringe
Puppy/kitten feeding catheter cut down to 2"
- these are good for fluids and loose slurries of vitamin powder
60 ml syringe
Silicone tubing - sized to fit the syringe and cut down to 3" with ends rounded by melting the edges (I use the kind meant for plumbing and potable water systems)
This is for the heavy duty full feeds, which generally consist of ground pellet, vitamin powders, and warm water. (Never cold - it's too much effort for a sick bird to warm it up for digestion)
This larger tube needs to be lubricated - olive oil is great for this - in order to smoothly get down the throat.

It's important not to go all the way into the crop as this can cause injury or cause crop sensitivity. 3/4 down the neck is fine and you can feel the tube through their neck to confirm how far youve gone.

It's best a 2 person job - one person to hold and another to do the feeding.

When inserting the tube, you want to avoid the airways at the back if the tongue and make sure the neck is straightened. You'll be holding the bird's body horizontal and stretching their neck upwards.

Push down the plunger in pulses if around 5-10ml at a time and kink the tube if you can when pulling it out (makes them less likely to reguegitate, though I've never had this happen with a chicken)

I've copied this from another post, but it's the best pic for pointing out the airways so you know where 'not' to let that tube go. The trachea is clearly visible at the base of the tongue.

 

[Little Baby Bean]

@azygous do you know anything about wry neck feeding?

 

[Anime2lover]

Could she have eaten something toxic? This can also be a cause of wryneck.

As for feeding....

An adult standard hen's crop can hold around 100ml - when tube feeding, I generally stick to around 60ml at a time and make sure the crop has emptied between feedings. 2 times a day would be typical for supplementary feeding. Even as little as 1 a day if their crop is slow to empty.

Getting it down them is the other concern. My personal feeding kit includes:
12 ml syringe
Puppy/kitten feeding catheter cut down to 2"
- these are good for fluids and loose slurries of vitamin powder
60 ml syringe
Silicone tubing - sized to fit the syringe and cut down to 3" with ends rounded by melting the edges (I use the kind meant for plumbing and potable water systems)
This is for the heavy duty full feeds, which generally consist of ground pellet, vitamin powders, and warm water. (Never cold - it's too much effort for a sick bird to warm it up for digestion)
This larger tube needs to be lubricated - olive oil is great for this - in order to smoothly get down the throat.

It's important not to go all the way into the crop as this can cause injury or cause crop sensitivity. 3/4 down the neck is fine and you can feel the tube through their neck to confirm how far youve gone.

It's best a 2 person job - one person to hold and another to do the feeding.

When inserting the tube, you want to avoid the airways at the back if the tongue and make sure the neck is straightened. You'll be holding the bird's body horizontal and stretching their neck upwards.

Push down the plunger in pulses if around 5-10ml at a time and kink the tube if you can when pulling it out (makes them less likely to reguegitate, though I've never had this happen with a chicken)

I've copied this from another post, but it's the best pic for pointing out the airways so you know where 'not' to let that tube go. The trachea is clearly visible at the base of the tongue.

View attachment 2871543

Tube feeding? We got her to swallow mouth fulls of mash with a syringe, but she can't pick up and eat the food herself. What about getting fluids into her? She has it in her mash, but can't get up to drink herself. Should I find some way to get her sitting upright??

 

[Anime2lover]

 

[Lizzy733]

Tube feeding? We got her to swallow mouth fulls of mash with a syringe, but she can't pick up and eat the food herself. What about getting fluids into her? She has it in her mash, but can't get up to drink herself. Should I find some way to get her sitting upright??

If you can get food down her without tube-feeding, that's good - keep to that.

For fluids, the best you can do without a tube is a 1 ml syringe, which isn't ideal. A smaller tube and 12+ ml syringe would be better and then it's done in one go.

As mentioned in my post, I use a puppy/kitten catheter tube that I got from a local vet and cut it short. It's very non-evasive and perfect for getting fluids or electrolytes down without having to worry about asphyxiation. It only really needs to be long enough to get well past their trachea.

For sitting upright, roll a towel into a tube and put it around her in a 'c' shape , or better yet - use a neck pillow if you have one.

I've only had limited interactions with wryneck specifically - at bird rescue, they typically come in the form of 'icu' ducklings which tend to be put down. We use the above to stabilize them and monitor while keeping them in an incubation box with regulated heat and humidity, but the vets don't tend to invest very heavily in them, unfortunately.

 

[Anime2lover]

If you can get food down her without tube-feeding, that's good - keep to that.

For fluids, the best you can do without a tube is a 1 ml syringe, which isn't ideal. A smaller tube and 12+ ml syringe would be better and then it's done in one go.

As mentioned in my post, I use a puppy/kitten catheter tube that I got from a local vet and cut it short. It's very non-evasive and perfect for getting fluids or electrolytes down without having to worry about asphyxiation. It only really needs to be long enough to get well past their trachea.

For sitting upright, roll a towel into a tube and put it around her in a 'c' shape , or better yet - use a neck pillow if you have one.

I've only had limited interactions with wryneck specifically - at bird rescue, they typically come in the form of 'icu' ducklings which tend to be put down. We use the above to stabilize them and monitor while keeping them in an incubation box with regulated heat and humidity, but the vets don't tend to invest very heavily in them, unfortunately.

Got no experience with tube feeding. The tube goes down the left side when the bird is facing you right? right??

 

[Anime2lover]

If you can get food down her without tube-feeding, that's good - keep to that.

For fluids, the best you can do without a tube is a 1 ml syringe, which isn't ideal. A smaller tube and 12+ ml syringe would be better and then it's done in one go.

As mentioned in my post, I use a puppy/kitten catheter tube that I got from a local vet and cut it short. It's very non-evasive and perfect for getting fluids or electrolytes down without having to worry about asphyxiation. It only really needs to be long enough to get well past their trachea.

For sitting upright, roll a towel into a tube and put it around her in a 'c' shape , or better yet - use a neck pillow if you have one.

I've only had limited interactions with wryneck specifically - at bird rescue, they typically come in the form of 'icu' ducklings which tend to be put down. We use the above to stabilize them and monitor while keeping them in an incubation box with regulated heat and humidity, but the vets don't tend to invest very heavily in them, unfortunately.

I don't have a small enough tube right now so i'll have to syringe it I to her... Also try and thicken up her feed into a thicker mash that I can shape.

 

[Anime2lover]

If you can get food down her without tube-feeding, that's good - keep to that.

For fluids, the best you can do without a tube is a 1 ml syringe, which isn't ideal. A smaller tube and 12+ ml syringe would be better and then it's done in one go.

As mentioned in my post, I use a puppy/kitten catheter tube that I got from a local vet and cut it short. It's very non-evasive and perfect for getting fluids or electrolytes down without having to worry about asphyxiation. It only really needs to be long enough to get well past their trachea.

For sitting upright, roll a towel into a tube and put it around her in a 'c' shape , or better yet - use a neck pillow if you have one.

I've only had limited interactions with wryneck specifically - at bird rescue, they typically come in the form of 'icu' ducklings which tend to be put down. We use the above to stabilize them and monitor while keeping them in an incubation box with regulated heat and humidity, but the vets don't tend to invest very heavily in them, unfortunately.

I think I got most of the 12 ml into her. I think I got the crop about 50℅ full.

 

[azygous]

Keep doing what @Lizzy733 has told you. You shouldn't need to tube or syringe feed for more than a couple days as long as you're giving vitamin E 400iu each day. Most chickens with wry neck respond very quickly to the vitamin E. Many chicken vitamins do not contain E, though. Get some at your people pharmacy in the vitamin section.

Give one whole capsule right into the beak each day. If you give it with egg, it will work faster.