Need an experienced person in disease.

ggrap

Songster
12 Years
Jun 5, 2007
330
10
156
Colorado
I have a brooder full of 10 day old chicks. Many are getting leg paralysis. Too young for mareks and they are vaccinated, they have plenty of bedding although this looks like spraddle. What is it? I suspect a ,mold toxin from wet bedding but more are continuing to come down with it even though we got rid of the mold.

Also, leg problems dont seem to be a common problem with mold exposure but it is mentioned.

I move about 2000 chickens though the barn each year and dont know what is up. Anyone have an idea?
 
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/publications/6/diseases-of-poultry/216/vitamin-bi-deficiency

http://www.thepoultrysite.com/publications/6/diseases-of-poultry/220/slipped-tendon-perosis

http://www.thepoultrysite.com/publications/6/diseases-of-poultry/217/vitamin-b2-deficiency

http://www.merckmanuals.com/vet/pou..._poultry/vitamin_deficiencies_in_poultry.html
Here are some possibilities.

I have dealt with paralysis due to mold (I think it must have been botulism and aspergillosis because they were also gasping), and it looked like they were "crazy/loopy" in facial expression, wings and limbs flaccid/unable to walk themselves to the water and feed. So I am guessing a vitamin deficiency?
 
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Thanks. Sounds like it. Is the deficiency caused by the mold exposure? Mine are not gasping.
 
Chickensaresweet is right on. You may want to get new shavings just in case, not cedar. But do the multivitamins especially the B vitamins.
 
Thanks you guys. We did clean out the brooder and I started dosing with baby vits and a little apple cider vinegar. I have a few more that are upright this morning. This is high maintenance but fortunately not high mortality and not contagious to my other groups. I would say about 15% were showing signs.

Gina
 
What you are giving them to eat? Do yo provide them fresh vegetables every day? Check your feed for mold,if it's molded or hummed change it! If you give them a commercial feed thy should not suffer from vitamins deficiency. Botulism is caused by a bacteria called Clostridium botulinum this bacteria lives in the guts of many animals. Do you feed your chickens whit a lot of animal products?
 
Be careful if it is aspergillosis. People can inhale the fungus. My dad had it in his lungs & it was nasty. He had been a smoker, but once the aspergillosis spread throughout his lungs, it was pretty much over for him. It is the same black mold on onions. A healthy person can fight off the fungus, but a person with a suppressed/weak immune system can be infected. Although I know I won't get it, I still hold my breath when cleaning an onion!
 
The birds are not gasping. The chicks are on the same feed as the several hundred others I have in different areas. Pretty sure it was the leaky waterer that cause mold in the bedding. I was not careful when cleaning and should have worn a mask! From my understanding the mold is competing for nutrients in their bodies and causing a problem?

I got the liquid infant multis. What is a good dosage? I had some old stuff but bought new. Some already seem tobe recovering.

Gina
 
Aspergillosis doesn't always present with gasping, and it can present with lameness or paralysis. I think that multivits for infants is fine in an emergency but I think the rooster or broiler vitamins are better, or even chicken vits and electrolytes.
 

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