Wry neck and impacted crop? Related?

[rgolden1125]

Hi all,

I have a silkie, actually a frizzled sizzle. She's a little over 5 months old and about 1.5-2 pounds last time I checked. She's always been a little smaller than the other silkies I have. Anyways, a few days ago(Friday) I noticed her in the coop sitting/laying basically with her forehead to the ground, occasionally she would put her head between her legs so far she walked backward. It seemed to get better during the day and then got worse at night. Assumed wry neck and started her on Vitamin E and electrolytes in the water until I could get the polyvisol. This morning I noticed her crop was still hard so I took her off the food and separated her. She doesn't seem lethargic though she's pretty stationary and I think her neck is making her uncomfortable. As of today she is on vitamin E 400IU 2 times daily, 2 drops polyvisol (no iron) once a day, electrolytes and probiotics in the water. I didn't see her drinking so I gave her water several times today. I gave her a small amount of scrambled eggs with olive oil(definitely has an appetite lol) in the hopes to help her crop to clear. Also gave crop massages and it seemed to break up the what's in there pretty well when I did. Any other suggestions? or things I'm doing wrong? I've haven't run into either of these before. I'm assuming any treatment I do for the wry neck isn't going to help until I can get her crop emptied and moving As for poop, she hasn't really been passing today. Anything she does looked normal but miniature sized. Her last poop had a good amount of white and little solids.

I don't see any signs of trauma when this all started

I don't really have other chickens showing the same issues. I do have one chicken, also silkie, that recently started kind of tilting her head. Kind of like nodding off to sleep but she's not? It's hard to explain. I started giving her vitamin E and polyvisol just in case. I did open a new bag of chick crumbles (I give calcium on the side) last week. Same feed they've had and it looked fine...

I guess my question is how can I clear this impacted crop and anything I can add to the wry neck treatment? Could this and the wry neck be related? Maybe she wasn't drinking enough to pass food? Anything else it could be that I missed? Help? I really don't want to lose her. She's my favorite

 

[azygous]

You want to add a sliver of selenium to the vitamin E, and make sure the E is at least 400iu.

The impacted crop is probably coincidental and not directly related. You should continue to treat the wry neck symptoms regardless of the other.

I have had good luck treating impacted crop with coconut oil. Don't be stingy. Give a good healthy one teaspoon dose, massage, and follow up an hour later with another teaspoon dose.

Coconut oil in the solid form is so much easier to administer than liquid oil. After the second dose and if massage doesn't cause the crop to empty, administer a tablet of stool softener. I like Dulcolax or generic equivalent. Stay away from a stool softener that has a stimulant.

If the crop still fails to empty, your girl may have pendulous crop which hangs too low to allow the crop to empty. If this is the case, a support called a crop bra may be necessary.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I'm sorry to hear about your girl.

Her symptoms do sound like Wry Neck and you are giving vitamin therapy. The Wry Neck is a neurological symptom of vitamin deficiency, head injury/trauma and certain diseases like Marek's, Newcastle and Avian Lymphoid Leukosis. If it's due to a disease like Marek's, you may not see improvement, but it doesn't hurt to keep administering care like you have been doing.

The crop issue is most likely from not staying hydrated, but it could be due to illness as well. Try to get her drinking well, offer poultry grit (crushed granite) free choice, then see if she will eat (sounds like she will). Soft foods would be good, the egg is fine along with wet chick starter. If she is not laying eggs yet, then she doesn't need the oyster shell. http://www.backyardchickens.com/a/impacted-slow-and-sour-crops-prevention-and-treatments

You may find this video helpful on how to assist her with eating/drinking.

 

[rgolden1125]

Thank you both for replying!

Azygous-thank you for the coconut oil suggestion! I will definitely try that tomorrow and then the stool softener if it doesn't empty. I'm hoping it'll be empty tomorrow morning when we get up. I was thinking I had to add selenium but wasn't sure how to go about it since it's such a small, not quite measurable amount. I sliver it is.

Wyorp-great video! That's really helpful. Should I wait till the crop empties to give soft foods? Or is some ok?

 

[azygous]

Boiled egg or yogurt is a good food to give an impacted crop patient during and just following treatment.

You can just cut the selenium tablet in half or in quarters, and give her a "crumb" since she's a tiny thing.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

@azygous has given you some good advice.

Just a note - if you can't find Selenium in pill/tab form - the egg that you give her daily should have sufficient Selenium to help with the uptake of Vit E.

 

[rgolden1125]

Great thank you. Ill grab some if CVS has it.

She's not eating this morning and giving fluids is also really difficult. I'm terrified I'll put it down the wrong pipe. Any suggestions?

 

[azygous]

Are you tubing her? That's the best way to give fluids to a sick chicken. If you feed the tube down her right side of her beak, it will hit the esophagus and go into her crop.

How is the crop this morning? Still full and hard?

 

[rgolden1125]

Video? :/

Yes. She just ate some coconut oil with some stool softener. She's perking up a bit but still.

 

[azygous]

Give the stool softener time to work. Do a gentle massage in a bit, and the contents of the crop should break up and you will feel them empty out of the crop.

Afterward, offer water and some boiled egg. Her appetite should return when her crop is empty.