Hello
I have a 10 week old chick that suddenly lost her balance yesterday. I let her and her siblings out for a run and everything was normal. I noticed her and a few of her sisters laying down after a while and thought nothing of it as they usually stop to rest after running and pecking around. Then her sisters got up to rejoin the others but she stayed laying down. I thought it a bit strange as usually when one runs off the others are quick to follow. I kept an eye on her and noticed at one point she was on her side struggling to get up. I thought maybe one of her siblings ran by too fast and accidentally knocked her off balance, but then when she stood up she toppled right back down. I went to her and checked her legs for any obstruction but they were clear. I put her down and she walked a few steps before losing her balance again and falling backwards. At this point I started to panic because I didn't know what was wrong. She was fine all day before I let them out. She still had her appetite but could not eat with the others because she had no balance and they're all energetic, so I hand fed her. I basically just held and nursed her and did little feet exercises with her, which she didn't seem to mind. She didn't appear to be in any pain, it was just the balance that was off. In the night I separated her from her siblings because I didn't want them to walk on her or make her uncomfortable. Today when I checked on her she was awake and takng little steps. I kept her with me and as the day progressed she got stronger until she was walking fine, then she was running and it's like everything is back to normal. I'm still worried though because that loss of balance came out of nowhere. None of her siblings displayed any issues and they run in the same area. I'll keep monitoring her but she's running and flying and eating with the rest like nothing happened. I'm relieved but still worried. Has anyone had this experience?
I have a 10 week old chick that suddenly lost her balance yesterday. I let her and her siblings out for a run and everything was normal. I noticed her and a few of her sisters laying down after a while and thought nothing of it as they usually stop to rest after running and pecking around. Then her sisters got up to rejoin the others but she stayed laying down. I thought it a bit strange as usually when one runs off the others are quick to follow. I kept an eye on her and noticed at one point she was on her side struggling to get up. I thought maybe one of her siblings ran by too fast and accidentally knocked her off balance, but then when she stood up she toppled right back down. I went to her and checked her legs for any obstruction but they were clear. I put her down and she walked a few steps before losing her balance again and falling backwards. At this point I started to panic because I didn't know what was wrong. She was fine all day before I let them out. She still had her appetite but could not eat with the others because she had no balance and they're all energetic, so I hand fed her. I basically just held and nursed her and did little feet exercises with her, which she didn't seem to mind. She didn't appear to be in any pain, it was just the balance that was off. In the night I separated her from her siblings because I didn't want them to walk on her or make her uncomfortable. Today when I checked on her she was awake and takng little steps. I kept her with me and as the day progressed she got stronger until she was walking fine, then she was running and it's like everything is back to normal. I'm still worried though because that loss of balance came out of nowhere. None of her siblings displayed any issues and they run in the same area. I'll keep monitoring her but she's running and flying and eating with the rest like nothing happened. I'm relieved but still worried. Has anyone had this experience?