~2 month old chick, excessive squatting

[PippinChicken]

Hi everyone,

For the past two days one of my ~2 month old EE chicks has been spending a lot of time squatting with her tail held high, seemingly straining. While watching her I'd guess she hasn't gone more than five minutes at a time on her feet, and sometimes will squat like this for several minutes. I have seen her poop multiple times (both while doing this and while standing) and it looks no different from the other chickens. I have also seen her eat, drink, occasionally run around, and fly up to the highest roosting pole. Her vent looks normal as well. So she doesn't seem to have any other problems, but she started doing this so suddenly and is doing it so often that I'm concerned. None of the others are doing anything like this. Here are a few pictures of what I'm talking about:

 

[micstrachan]

Hmm.... she just looks like she's sitting to me. How is her walking? Wondering if she is sore somewhere. I would look over her feet, especially the bottoms, very well, and also gently feel her legs, thighs, joints, etc. Also push on the bottoms of her feet to see that she is gripping well with each foot.

 

[micstrachan]

She's very pretty, by the way!

 

[Eggcessive]

Welcome to BYC. I agree that she looks like she is sitting, but I would start her on a vitamin supplement that contains multivitamins including riboflavin, such as Poultry Cell 2 ml daily. Does she sit on her hocks or walk on them, and do her toes curl under? Look for any swelling, redness, or scabs on foot pads, feet, or legs. What do you feed your birds? Could she have injured a leg?

 

[PippinChicken]

Thank you for the suggestions! It was such a sudden change in her behavior plus the way she looks like she's straining to poop while doing this had me worried and thinking maybe it was some sort of digestive issue. That would be a relief if she's just become lazy and is totally fine I'll take a good look at her legs and feet when it's lighter out. She has sometimes just been sitting on her hocks for a few moments before fully sitting like this, but is walking normally and I haven't noticed any toe curling. They're on chick starter and chick grit with occasional fruit and veggie scraps.

 

[PippinChicken]

Well, her feet look fine but she's still at it. They're all usually very active during their yard time but she was still spending a lot of time on the ground this morning, and at one point even had the same sort of hunched body/ruffled feathers/tail held high posture while standing for a bit. She also wasn't interested in the grape slices I gave out. The rest were all running around with them and chasing whoever had the best slice, and she just stayed in her funny posture on the ground, rear end feathers moving around like she was trying to poop.

 

[rebrascora]

My two thoughts on this would be a crop impaction. I've seen birds get a crop so full and heavy due to a blockage that it was weighing them forward onto their chest all the time. To rule this out, feel her crop for it being excessively full. Sometimes an impaction will be hard, but they can also be soft and squishy. If her crop is functioning properly it should be full at night and empty first thing in the morning, so check her at roost time, remove the feeder and check again in the morning.

The other more worrying condition is Marek's. I have a 4 1/2 year old bird that has been exhibiting the same symptom for a few weeks but is becoming progressively less coordinated and now stumbles and flaps and sometimes falls on her side and can't get up. She eats well and looks fine but I have had enough birds with Marek's now to recognise that uncoordinated floundering as being a symptom of the disease. Some birds get more obvious paralysis with Marek's but others just lose coordination and balance and end up sitting or lying because takes too much effort to walk or stand.
The pulsing vent can be an indication that their breathing is becoming laboured.... Marek's makes them more susceptible to respiratory disease but also causes tumours and a common place for them is the lungs, so she may be breathing more via her air sacs than her lungs to compensate.
Did you get her from a breeder or have you added any new birds to the flock in the last few weeks? Hatchery chicks should not be carriers of the Marek's virus but very susceptible if they are exposed to other birds that are carriers. Unfortunately carriers of the disease can look perfectly healthy, so there is no way to know they have the disease until an outbreak occurs.

I very much hope it is a crop impaction or some other similarly rectifiable problem. There is currently no accepted treatment for Marek's Disease and it is often fatal.

Best wishes

Barbara

 

[PippinChicken]

Thank you for the additional ideas! They are all hatchery chicks and were bought from the same feed store at the same time, and haven't been exposed to any other chickens. Her crop was full last night, although smaller and spongier than the other EE that's her same age. This morning it was empty and felt just like everyone else's...yet she's still the only one suddenly acting off The mystery continues...

 

[Chicken.Chick]

@PippinChicken- This is the exact behavior my 4 week old chick is displaying. Did you ever find a cause?

 

[PippinChicken]

@PippinChicken- This is the exact behavior my 4 week old chick is displaying. Did you ever find a cause?

Nope... they’re about 7 months old now. Only the one chicken ever did this and at some point it just stopped. No idea if it was some weird phase or if there was some health problem, but she’s all good now. It’s a mystery.