7 week old with loss of balance, finding it hard to stand - Updated - it was cocci?

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soler

soler

Songster
7 Years
May 1, 2012
431
11
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Long Island, NY
I have a blue andalusian 7 week old chick that started exhibiting these symptons today. Sitting down a lot. Having trouble walking and falling backwards somewhat in trying to sit. Sometimes stretching the legs in front of her. Having trouble getting back up. No swelling on the legs or any other sign of external injury. Clear eyes/nose, normal breathing, normal poops. I have not seen her eat since i have seen her have trouble. She still gave me a hard time catching her because she could fly around pretty well, but i got her and isolated her, gave her some nutridrench and water.

This was a chick from mypetchicken and vaccinated for mareks. All my chickens have been vaccinated for marek's. Could it still be marek's?

The chicks are in a fenced outdoor area and have a coop. they eat mixed chick starter with probiotics and ground seaweed and also i suppose insects and stuff they scratch in the run. I don't use chemicals around them. I have started feeding them some yogurts, fruit, leftovers (no citrus, avocado, potato peels) in the last week or so.

The other 14 chicks seem to be in perfect health for now.

Any ideas would be appreciated.

thanks

---------------------------------------------
9/11/12

Update - day 3 on Corid. Today she is now standing and walking around almost completely normally, and eating by herself in good amounts. I think this entire thing was related to cocci all along. I haven't wormed her yet. I am now hopeful for recovery but we'll see.

Her poops in the last two days were normal but contained some small bits that looked like intestinal lining. She never had any blood in there, or worms. I would have never caught this had it not been for the poop testing.

When she lost her appetite, i initially did not force feed her enough times a day, by saturday i was force feeding her every 3 hours of so to mostly fill her crop, and also gave her 5 ml of water at similar intervals. I believe this kept her going while the medicines kicked in. My feeding schedule since saturday has been: spoonful of wet cat food, small spoon of yogurt, 5ml medicated water; next feeding, spoonful of mash of yogurt, her feed and nutridrench, 5ml medicated water; spoonful of grated fruit mix, 5ml medicated water; last feeding yogurt/feed/nutridrench mash enough to fill crop, 5ml water. The only thing she ate everyday by herself even at her sickest was that chick stick by manna pro. They go nuts for that thing.

timeline:
monday last week - noticed she was sitting down a lot and was having trouble standing. i isolated her. gave her electrolyte water.
tuesday - still eating but less. Started giving her vitamins and yogurt
wednesday - getting worse and really not standing anymore, feet sticking out in front. Legs were weak, not paralyzed at any point.
thursday - looking pretty bad. Started force feeding her more but not enough in retrospect, added Turmeric and st john's worth to the mix
friday - took poop to vet, she had a small improvement but still overall was unable to stand and falling on her bum a lot
saturday - results for cocci/roundworms positive. Stopped vitamin B as thiamin interferes with amprolium, started corid. started force feeding her more
sunday - no visible improvement, continue full force feeding schedule and force drinking
monday - a little better, she was eating more by herself
tuesday - i came this morning and she was standing in the cage looking at me. i nearly cried! eating, drinking, walking around.

i am finishing the corid treatment thursday, and worming her friday, though i was told by a chicken vet i can safely medicated with amprolium and piperazine at the same time.
 
Last edited:
I had two tolbunt chicks do something similar and it was a B vitamin deficiency. I gave them crushed B complex in the food and a drop of liquid baby vitamin (without iron...very important) once a day. Always worth a try.
 
Well, she is in isolation, and can kind of walk a bit, but when she stops, she can't stand and falls down on her butt. No improvement from yesterday. She uses her wings for balance. She is not really eating/drinking but she is alert. I gave her water with nutridrench, and tried to give her some vitamin B.

Any other thoughts here? i am very very worried.
 
If the vitamins do not work, sometimes they can take up to two weeks, or, she gets worse, you are looking at something other then a vitamin deficiency. Could she have gotten into moldy feed, algae in the waterer? Look up signs and treatment for botulism.

Some say that Coccidiosis can also cause this since the coccidia are causing intestinal damage and the chick is not absorbing enough nutrients. You may want to start her on Corid just in case. You will have to stop the vitamin supplements to do this.

Have you tried feeding her scrambled egg? I also love to use a mash made from crumbles, yogurt and water. They usually can't resist this combination.
 
the water/feed are definitely not moldy or have algae, i clean those daily when i refill. But they have been scratching around the run, so potentially may have eaten something bad i suppose. I was giving them sav-a-chick in the water until two weeks ago btw.

Her droppings are normal, eyes alert, no discharges. Beak is not soft, feathers are clean, and she has been growing well.

I will try the mash you suggest and the eggs. I could add selenium too, along with the nutridrench and vitamin b.

I know you have had a a lot of experience with Marek - do you think it's possible this is the problem here? Everyone is vaccinated though (or at least this one was supposed to be at the hatchery, i didn't give her the shot myself).

Every other chick is still normal.
 
mmm... still no change here. And she won't eat/drink either. Doesn't look promising. Just force-fed her a bit of feed/yogurt mix and water with vitamins. She looks alert, and can flap around but she can't stand. The small poop that was there looked normal. no blood or strange liquid.
 
Vitamin therapy can take up to two weeks to show any signs of improvement. Patience is the key at this point. If in two weeks time there is no improvement or, she gets worse I would suggest euthanizing and having a necropsy done. You need to find out what this is and how it might effect your flock.

You can contact your local government extension office and they will be able to tell you where to locate the nearest state lab. State labs are usually very low cost as compared to private necropsies.
 

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