A change in your bird’s behavior is cause for concern. If your bird’s neck is hanging down then this article will be of use to you.
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Chicken hanging head down:
Chicken ailments can affect your bird’s behavior in a big way, if your chicken’s ailments are not treated they can kill your bird. If your chickens head is hanging down, then the bird may have a wry neck or botulism
Wry neck:
Wry neck usually affects chicks but it can also affect fully grown chickens. Other common names for wry neck include crook neck, twisted neck, and stargazing. The medical name for this ailment is torticollis.
Wry neck is generally caused by a vitamin deficiency, namely a lack of vitamin E. It can also be caused by a fungal infection.
Wry neck keeps the chicken’s neck from being able to support its head, If a bird has wry neck then the bird’s head won’t seem to be able to balance on the bird’s neck properly.
A bird with wry neck may also have difficulty standing and the bird’s head will face backward or face towards the sky. In addition, a bird suffering from wry neck won’t be able to eat or drink properly because of its condition
What to do:
This condition is easy to treat as long as you catch it, and treat the ailment, in good time. Here is how to treat wry neck in chickens:
Isolate:
Start off by isolating the bird, isolating the bird will keep the bird from becoming stressed as it recovers from this condition. Isolating the bird will also keep other birds from pecking at the ill bird out of curiosity.
You can leave the bird in a dog crate to keep it isolated. Give your bird access to its own food and water while in isolation.
Supplements and feeding:
Add vitamin E supplements as well as selenium supplements to your bird’s diet. Giving the bird selenium supplements will help the bird absorb the vitamin E better.
You can give chicken supplements to your bird but try to avoid giving them human supplements. Human supplements have not been tested on chickens so we wouldn’t recommend giving these to chickens.
Feed supplements to your bird for about 2 weeks, even after the bird’s condition improves.
Giving the bird foods high in vitamin E, and selenium, during their recovery and after the bird recovers, will also be helpful. Foods rich in vitamin E and selenium include sunflower seeds.
You may need to help the bird eat while it is in recovery, the bird won’t be able to eat on its own because of its wry neck.
Botulism:
This is another condition that can cause your bird’s head to hang down. Other names for this disease include western duck sickness, bulbar paralysis, limberneck, and alkali disease.
Botulism is caused by the bacteria Clostridium botulinum. This bacteria, when exposed to the right conditions, (a warm, moist and aerobic environment) releases a neurotoxin which when eaten, attacks the bird’s nerves.
Birds will get this disease if they eat rotting meat, moldy food, decaying plant matter, larvae, or drink stagnant water that contains the neurotoxin.
One of the symptoms of botulism in chickens is a floppy neck, paralysis in other parts of their body may develop as well.
A bird with botulism may also develop droopy eyelids, a weak tongue, and will have difficulty swallowing.
What to do:
You’d need to start off by isolating the sick bird, you can put the bird in a cat carrier or a dog kennel as a way to keep it isolated. Give the bird its own sources of food and water while it’s in isolation.
Keep the bird’s stress levels down while it’s in isolation, this will help with recovery.
You’d need to give the bird an antitoxin to treat its botulism, you can get this from your vet. Taking your bird to the vet to be examined and diagnosed is also recommended.
The vet may also suggest that you give the bird supportive care in the form of antibiotics and vitamins, these can sometimes be helpful.
Giving your bird activated charcoal is also recommended, this will help to remove some of the toxins from your bird’s body. Activated charcoal is known to be very good at absorbing toxins in humans and in animals
Prevention:
Make sure that your birds only eat clean and fresh food, keep the birds away from compost heaps, clean up spilled feed once a day, keep birds away from rotting vegetables, and keep birds away from standing water
In addition, because your chickens can get this disease from eating the decaying bodies of their dead flock mates you’d need to remove your dead chickens as soon as they die.
You can dispose of these birds by burning them or by burying them at least three feet deep into the ground.
If you enjoyed this article then you may also be interested in other chicken related articles. Here are some articles that you may be interested in: Chicken Is Spinning In Circles, Sick Chicken Head Twitching, How To Tell If A Chicken Has Internal Bleeding, Lime Vs Diatomaceous Earth For Chickens, Chicken Preening Or Itching