I have a 2 week old black silkie chick who was purchased in the local area and has been living with one of her literal siblings, and my hatched babies that came from parents who I own. All of my personal flock's babies are great and have had no troubles.
This little one (nicknamed Pigeon - my boyfriend's doing) is currently having total loss of coordination in her legs, but retains the ability to essentially flail them around in frustration and pain if allowed to. Her toes began to curl and aim inward towards the opposing foot as of last night, 3 days after this abruptly started. She retains full function of her head and wings, has a good appetite, but refuses to drink as of the 2nd evening, to which my counter has been adding liquid (water base) to keep her hydrated. It has apparently worked well, as her poops are regular and pretty perfectly formed and textured, meaning her bowels are still functioning. She has what appear to be serious spasms that wrack her legs and I suspect also her back. She's vocal bout a number of things, but there's a very palpable difference between the "I'm pissed I can't get up and walk over to X on my own", and when she cries out in pain from the spasms.
At first when I saw the symptoms she was initially showing which cropped up literally over-night from 100% functional with zero ataxia to her legs being uncontrollable, splaying when she'd push (but lacking any toe curl), I thought immediately of Star Gazing and treated her as I've successfully treated other babies in the past. Hatchery chicks were the only ones I ever kept who'd get it. She showed zero signs of improvement where in the past, when I'd treat Star Gazing they would start to recover very quickly. I never let it go and get worse, instead starting addressing the issue immediately. All past cases recovered, and well. She didn't respond at all in her symptoms, and I also don't recall any of the former Star Gazers experiencing these horrible spasms that she endures.
In order to prevent hyper-extended joints, slipped tendons and other potential injuries, she is gently hobbled (so no splay-legging) & swaddled up in a soft piece of blanket that I cut just for this. It prevents her from kicking out her legs wildly in front of her as she does with the spasms. Its clear when it would happen and she wasn't swaddled that she has no control over it.
I've done a lot of reading but nothing quite fits with what she's got going on, or she simply didn't respond to the treatment for X, Y o Z. Inputs I have tried thus far are as follows:
-Collard Greens
-Sunflower seed paste (mixed in with purple sweet potato as a carrier, since its all she will eat presently)
-Dulse seaweed infusion
-AgriLabs brand <a href="Vitamins & Electrolytes Plus">http://www.agrilabs.com/media/docum...andElectrolytesPlusPouchLabelFebruary2012.pdf</a>
-coconut fats
-Mamaki leaf (google nutritional properties if you aren't familiar, and know that it stops my own seizures)
and... I just this morning decided to try adding home-made Bone Broth as the liquid for moistening the sweet potato I use as carrier for the medicines. I have chronic Magnesium deficiency (complicated story), and this is THE thing that gave me much of my life back. It hasn't been long enough and she hasn't ingested enough yet to really weigh in.
I do not feed my birds ANY premade, pelleted food or any of the usual people think of when they hear "chicken feed". So far as babies they eat a highly varied diet of fresh fruits from the area (banana, papaya, various species of guavas, kiwis, etc), cabbage & myriad other greens, coked sweet potatoes, leftover cooked taro, lots of home-prepared meal scraps which typically include meat and ample fats, sprouted groats and 24h+ soaked & cooked brown rice in moderation, poached egg (from my very healthy birds), and small invertebrates such as fruit fly maggots & flies, mosquitos, etc that they jump up and catch out of the air, and every couple of days they get some medium-sized maggots out of my compost that I diligently keep anything toxic out of because the maggots are such an important source of protein and calcium for both my adults and the babies. The maggots I go out of my way to feed them are thoroughly rinsed off so they aren't covered in chunks of funk and detritus. They are going to be living outside in jungle like their parents, so its important to build up their immune systems gently while preparing them for reality. I take them outside and let them run around in the grass and weeds when the weather doesn't equate to monsoon (wet season is definitely here). They also have plentiful access to many different sizes of potential grit. None of them have had any digestive ailments whatsoever. They do not have mites.
I've been raising birds for 26 years, and no matter how many times I've dealt with health issues, it still breaks my heart to see my sweet (sweetest) little baby who loves to be held and interacted with the most suffering so much pain and frustration. I've barely slept at all for the past 3 days because I've been holding and caring for her, because she needs a lot of attention not to become distressed. Putting her swaddled up next to her unencumbered clutch mates just makes her upset because she wants to run around, and she gets frustrated and throws little tantrums, tiring herself out. Its not conducive to healing and rest. So my cognitive powers are worn thin and threadbare right now, though I keep looking. If you've ever encountered these symptoms all together and have successfully treated it, please offer you knowledge. I have thought that it is minutely possible she suffered some kind of spinal trauma (how? I don't know) that might account for the partial retardation of her leg function.
This little one (nicknamed Pigeon - my boyfriend's doing) is currently having total loss of coordination in her legs, but retains the ability to essentially flail them around in frustration and pain if allowed to. Her toes began to curl and aim inward towards the opposing foot as of last night, 3 days after this abruptly started. She retains full function of her head and wings, has a good appetite, but refuses to drink as of the 2nd evening, to which my counter has been adding liquid (water base) to keep her hydrated. It has apparently worked well, as her poops are regular and pretty perfectly formed and textured, meaning her bowels are still functioning. She has what appear to be serious spasms that wrack her legs and I suspect also her back. She's vocal bout a number of things, but there's a very palpable difference between the "I'm pissed I can't get up and walk over to X on my own", and when she cries out in pain from the spasms.
At first when I saw the symptoms she was initially showing which cropped up literally over-night from 100% functional with zero ataxia to her legs being uncontrollable, splaying when she'd push (but lacking any toe curl), I thought immediately of Star Gazing and treated her as I've successfully treated other babies in the past. Hatchery chicks were the only ones I ever kept who'd get it. She showed zero signs of improvement where in the past, when I'd treat Star Gazing they would start to recover very quickly. I never let it go and get worse, instead starting addressing the issue immediately. All past cases recovered, and well. She didn't respond at all in her symptoms, and I also don't recall any of the former Star Gazers experiencing these horrible spasms that she endures.
In order to prevent hyper-extended joints, slipped tendons and other potential injuries, she is gently hobbled (so no splay-legging) & swaddled up in a soft piece of blanket that I cut just for this. It prevents her from kicking out her legs wildly in front of her as she does with the spasms. Its clear when it would happen and she wasn't swaddled that she has no control over it.
I've done a lot of reading but nothing quite fits with what she's got going on, or she simply didn't respond to the treatment for X, Y o Z. Inputs I have tried thus far are as follows:
-Collard Greens
-Sunflower seed paste (mixed in with purple sweet potato as a carrier, since its all she will eat presently)
-Dulse seaweed infusion
-AgriLabs brand <a href="Vitamins & Electrolytes Plus">http://www.agrilabs.com/media/docum...andElectrolytesPlusPouchLabelFebruary2012.pdf</a>
-coconut fats
-Mamaki leaf (google nutritional properties if you aren't familiar, and know that it stops my own seizures)
and... I just this morning decided to try adding home-made Bone Broth as the liquid for moistening the sweet potato I use as carrier for the medicines. I have chronic Magnesium deficiency (complicated story), and this is THE thing that gave me much of my life back. It hasn't been long enough and she hasn't ingested enough yet to really weigh in.
I do not feed my birds ANY premade, pelleted food or any of the usual people think of when they hear "chicken feed". So far as babies they eat a highly varied diet of fresh fruits from the area (banana, papaya, various species of guavas, kiwis, etc), cabbage & myriad other greens, coked sweet potatoes, leftover cooked taro, lots of home-prepared meal scraps which typically include meat and ample fats, sprouted groats and 24h+ soaked & cooked brown rice in moderation, poached egg (from my very healthy birds), and small invertebrates such as fruit fly maggots & flies, mosquitos, etc that they jump up and catch out of the air, and every couple of days they get some medium-sized maggots out of my compost that I diligently keep anything toxic out of because the maggots are such an important source of protein and calcium for both my adults and the babies. The maggots I go out of my way to feed them are thoroughly rinsed off so they aren't covered in chunks of funk and detritus. They are going to be living outside in jungle like their parents, so its important to build up their immune systems gently while preparing them for reality. I take them outside and let them run around in the grass and weeds when the weather doesn't equate to monsoon (wet season is definitely here). They also have plentiful access to many different sizes of potential grit. None of them have had any digestive ailments whatsoever. They do not have mites.
I've been raising birds for 26 years, and no matter how many times I've dealt with health issues, it still breaks my heart to see my sweet (sweetest) little baby who loves to be held and interacted with the most suffering so much pain and frustration. I've barely slept at all for the past 3 days because I've been holding and caring for her, because she needs a lot of attention not to become distressed. Putting her swaddled up next to her unencumbered clutch mates just makes her upset because she wants to run around, and she gets frustrated and throws little tantrums, tiring herself out. Its not conducive to healing and rest. So my cognitive powers are worn thin and threadbare right now, though I keep looking. If you've ever encountered these symptoms all together and have successfully treated it, please offer you knowledge. I have thought that it is minutely possible she suffered some kind of spinal trauma (how? I don't know) that might account for the partial retardation of her leg function.
