Swedish Flower Hen Thread - Page 182

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bulldogma 

I've been lurking for a few weeks. My SFH chicks hatched on the 30th of July - got 3 adorable little chicks. Within a few days it was clear that one (Frida) was not doing well at all. She was not growing and once her wing feathers started to come in, she would get "turtled." She would end up on her back and couldn't get back up. It was like her wing feathers outweighed her body, making it impossible for her to get up. She also got repeatedly pasted up. First I separated her from the bigger chicks and put her and one other chick in a different brooder. I started giving her some gatoraid. Then I cut off all her growing flight feathers - that helped her a lot as it made it easier for her to get back up if she got tipped over.

 

And here's something I never thought I'd say... I shaved the chick's backside to prevent her waste from sticking there and pasting her up again. (Yes - I shaved a chicks butt!)

 

Then folks on here started posting about their own "special needs" SFH chicks and the use of vitamins. Adding vitamins made a big difference too. I believe Frida is now out of the woods, health wise. She's still far smaller than the other SFH chicks of the same age, but she is up, active and growing. She doesn't get turtled any more.

 

 

Frida (on the left with the chopped-off wing feathers) is still smaller than Inga (on the right) who is the same age.

 

Thank you to those who posted about the use of vitamins for these chicks! I'll be using them with all my future SFH chicks!

Best of luck with your Frida. Poor thing! She looks so sweet. Her coloring is beautiful. I laughed about shaving her butt. I trimmed a few here too but it seemed to really help!

I heard somewhere that, the crested gene, like the frizzled and rumpless genes, when over crossed or interbred too much, can cause fatal mutations in chicks. Don't know for sure if this is true, but it sounds reasonable.
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by 15littlem 

I heard somewhere that, the crested gene, like the frizzled and rumpless genes, when over crossed or interbred too much, can cause fatal mutations in chicks. Don't know for sure if this is true, but it sounds reasonable.
 

It sounds reasonable to me too. The vaulted crested chick has died as of a little while ago. The other smaller vaulted crest chick is also showing vestibular symptoms manifesting in a general loss of balance though she is eating, drinking and otherwise behaves normally. I'll be keeping a close eye on her. If she survives, she will be placed in the laying flock as I will not be including the vaulted crests in my breeding pens. The silkie threads have been very informative in regards to this condition. I'm going to continue to research this to learn as much as I can.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dahlisgrams 

It sounds reasonable to me too. The vaulted crested chick has died as of a little while ago.

So sorry!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dahlisgrams 

Quote:

Originally Posted by 15littlem 

I heard somewhere that, the crested gene, like the frizzled and rumpless genes, when over crossed or interbred too much, can cause fatal mutations in chicks. Don't know for sure if this is true, but it sounds reasonable.
 

It sounds reasonable to me too. The vaulted crested chick has died as of a little while ago. The other smaller vaulted crest chick is also showing vestibular symptoms manifesting in a general loss of balance though she is eating, drinking and otherwise behaves normally. I'll be keeping a close eye on her. If she survives, she will be placed in the laying flock as I will not be including the vaulted crests in my breeding pens. The silkie threads have been very informative in regards to this condition. I'm going to continue to research this to learn as much as I can.

So sorry to hear about your little one.  

Thanks for the condolences. We buried him this morning..

At least he isn't suffering anymore, that is comforting. I'm still watching the other little vaulted skull chick but so far it seems fine except for a lack of balance. Everyone is still drinking the vitamin water with no problem and I've upped the amount a little at a time so they'd get accustomed to the flavor but so far so good. I really hope it helps little peanut as we've been calling the tiny one since he/she arrived.

Thanks again to everyone for sharing their experiences with this. I appreciate it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dahlisgrams 

Thanks for the condolences. We buried him this morning..

 

At least he isn't suffering anymore, that is comforting. I'm still watching the other little vaulted skull chick but so far it seems fine except for a lack of balance. Everyone is still drinking the vitamin water with no problem and I've upped the amount a little at a time so they'd get accustomed to the flavor but so far so good. I really hope it helps little peanut as we've been calling the tiny one since he/she arrived.

 

Thanks again to everyone for sharing their experiences with this. I appreciate it.

Don't ever put down a chick!!! It is generally best just to isolate it and feed the same feed and water with antibiotics. I've seen too many people who put down chicks who still have a chance at living. If it looks like marek's or coccidiosis, isolate and medicate, and have patience.

Quote:

Originally Posted by 15littlem 

Don't ever put down a chick!!! It is generally best just to isolate it and feed the same feed and water with antibiotics. I've seen too many people who put down chicks who still have a chance at living. If it looks like marek's or coccidiosis, isolate and medicate, and have patience.

I totally agree with you! We had him isolated and were caring for him and unfortunately he died on his own at about ten thirty last night. There was obviously something wrong that we had no way to treat. I was holding hope that he would turn around and recover. It just wasn't meant to be for him. The other chick is fine aside from having zero balance. There is definitely something to the vaulted skulls, at least with these two particular chicks. I don't see any of these symptoms with any of the others and most of them are also crested. It could simply be these two chicks had issues but having only 8 Swedish Flowers in total it is very hard to say. I really love this breed and hope that it was a random thing but I will not be taking any chances and have decided not to breed any chicks that have extreme vaults. It was heartbreaking to watch this chick suffer and eventually die from what looked to me like brain damage. I don't think that GFF is to blame at all but I have been in contact with them just to let them know what happened. They also confirmed that all of my chicks were indeed unvaccinated as I'd requested. I still do not believe that this was Marek's. Small gene pools are tough. It's just something to be aware of. I sincerely hope that no one else has any problems like this with any of their Flowers. It's a very painful loss.

I will have to entirely disagree with including mareks in the isolate and medicate
I have dealt with mareks and keeping a mareks "survivor" means that bird will shed the disease for the rest of its life
this is only when you are familiar with the disease and arent just self diagnosing without experience
just because it can live doesnt mean it should   that puts the rest of the chicks and adults at risk as well as anyone you may give birds to

Quote:

Originally Posted by 15littlem 

Don't ever put down a chick!!! It is generally best just to isolate it and feed the same feed and water with antibiotics. I've seen too many people who put down chicks who still have a chance at living. If it looks like marek's or coccidiosis, isolate and medicate, and have patience.

Quote:

Originally Posted by klf73 

I will have to entirely disagree with including mareks in the isolate and medicate
I have dealt with mareks and keeping a mareks "survivor" means that bird will shed the disease for the rest of its life
this is only when you are familiar with the disease and arent just self diagnosing without experience
just because it can live doesnt mean it should   that puts the rest of the chicks and adults at risk as well as anyone you may give birds to

In the past, I have had to personally cull a large group of chicks that according to a necropsy and testing I had done on one that had died, had infectious coryza. Luckily they were in heavy duty quarantine of which I am a huge proponent. They had apparently been picked up at the breeders with the bacteria. It was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do, but there was no way that I was going to risk infecting the rest of my flock, any wild birds in the area and subsequently other local flocks because I wanted to let them live. So, I am in 100% agreement of culling when it comes to infectious diseases in which a bird would remain carriers/shedders for life. I would not even treat them. It just isn't worth the risk. In the case of a neurological disorder, I personally think isolation and tlc is in order. Just my opinion.