2-3 week old chick suddenly can't walk? Help!

Baggagolers

Chirping
7 Years
Feb 15, 2012
167
3
81
I recently noticed that one of my sebright/ silkie chicks is unable to walk all of a sudden. When she tries to move she just pushes herself backwards, other than that, everything seems normal. She's eating/drinking/pooping. I've started giving her vitamins through 'sav-a-chick,' a powdered supplement for birds that is put into her drinking water. It's too early to see if this is helping or not, but what do you all suggest? Has anyone had this kind of problem before? Adding on to it, it seems that when I come check on her, she usually has her eyes closed and appears to be sleeping. I figured this is because we put her in a cardboard box with a towel over it ( she still is able to jump out fine!) so it could be because its dark.
 
It sounds like vitamin E or B deficiency. Save-a-Chick, while it does contain some vitamins, is mainly an electrolyte supplement. I'd get some Polyvisol infant vitamins(without iron), and giver her a few drops of those. This will give her the needed vitamins quicker and more efficiently.
 
The chick does not seem to be getting any better, it flops around a lot more. It also leans it's head to the left quite a bit, even when drinking. It's worth noting that it seems to act as if its choking after it eats (though its not), and takes long pauses between each drink of water. We have been giving it vitamins. Any advice to if this actually is vitamin deficiency, how long it would take to recover if it was, or what we should do? :(
 
I don't know about chickens, but in other animals, it generally means: ear parasites, ear infection, or brain tumour.

I am sorry I can't be more helpful. But maybe that can give you something to go on? If you have a farm vet near you, he/she may be willing to take a look for a reasonable price.
 
The chick seems to be getting better after we upped its dosage of vitamins, we were afraid to give it too much before. We are going to try to make it a type of sling so it doesn't have to lay on its side. The only thing that worries me is that sometimes it appears to have trouble getting down food. Could this because it gobbles it up to fast or maybe gets too much to where it's a little difficult to swallow? Thank you for your help, all!
 
Hmmm... I've read about mold poisoning? Anyone had any experience with this?
 
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