1 week old barred rock chicks limping and stumbling!

[trunkman]

I ordered 10 chicks from MPC and recieved them 10 days ago, so far I have lost 2 .
Now I just went and checked on the other 8 and my 2 barred rocks seem to be limping. The other 6 are growing and looking healthy, but the two rocks were laying down and not active at all and seem smaller. When I got them to move they seemed to favor one leg and stumbled about. I seperated the two rocks from the rest because the healthy ones seem to want to walk on the unhealthy ones like they aren't even there... I'm very upset because I especially wanted barred rocks because I think they are very attractive birds. Anyway, does anyone know what is going on and what I can do to save them????

I just went back to check on them and noticed one of their feet is curled under, does this mean anything?

 

[Bar' Rock]

I have a 3 month old with similar foot problem that I think may be from a jumping injury. I've seen other posts in the past about chicks with foot/leg problems & it often turns out to be related to the bedding folks have down (e.g., newspaper is too slippery & causes injury in some chicks). What kind of bedding are you using with your chicks? Make sure they can get to (& are using) food & water while you are trying to figure it out. Chicks can dehydrate pretty fast.
Best of luck!

 

[trunkman]

I use about 3 inches of wood shavings, not the cedar shavings either, just regular shavings from TSC. and food and water are always available.