Wry Neck
Wry neck refers to a chicken’s inability to hold her head up, so it just flops over and rests on the ground. Left untreated, she will die of starvation.
In my experience, wry neck presents at two points in a bird’s life: either as a freshly-hatched chick or when they hit puberty around 3-4 months old. It is usually brought on by either a lack of Selenium in the diet or in a bird’s individual inability to take up the Selenium provided.
The immediate response is to provide concentrated Selenium which I find in a Goat and Sheep Selenium supplement and to then add Black-Oil Sunflowers and Spinach to that hen’s diet. Of course, she has to go to the table egg flock now, as I don’t want to her Selenium-impaired genes in my breeding pen.
You can see the before and after Chick version here: Stella Stargazer and today ‘s pullet below.
Fun fact, the Instagram post on the pullet with wry neck went viral with 350K views and rising. You can see it here.
Scaly Leg Mites (SLM): painful, itchy, and depletes the birds of resources.
Pullet with flopsy curvy neck + Selenium gel = Surprise!
Which Natural Farm Feed Product Should I Buy For My Chickens? Layer? Premium Layer? Broiler? Premium Broiler?
Dalia Monterroso, local resident and President of Chickenlandia, just published a book: “Let's All Keep Chickens!: The Down-to-Earth Guide to Natural Practices for Healthier Birds and a Happier World”.
”Readers will learn how to plan their flock, how to raise baby chicks, what to look for in a chicken coop, how to keep chickens healthy naturally, and more.”
I have been contacted dozens of times in the last few weeks by people wanting pullets and laying hens, and with the price of eggs, I understand. The trick is, that here at Flower Feather Farm, available pullets are far and few between.
I’ve shared quite a few of my best tips and tricks for setting up a chick brooder, but what about the next step? When they are too little to just toss into the big girl coop, but too big stinky to stay in the house.
At this point, I put them in the big girl coop, with accomodations.
I house birds of different ages together regularly. Here is how I introduce them.
Stella Stargazer: before and after Selenium treatment for wry neck.
I kept hoping the warm weather would get here before avian bird flu did, but alas, both cool wet weather and bird flu are headed our way.
Medicated Chick Starter and Fermented Feed.