This started about 3-4 days ago, I noticed that a couple of my BLRW's were lethargic, and staggered if they were able to get to their feet. They layed around with their eyes closed, and wouldn't seek out food or water on their own, however; if I assisted them, they would eat and drink. They were terribly weak and unable to get off their hocks, and their balance is awful. They will not grasp onto anything like a finger, as usually they would have. Then it began to show up in a couple of other chicks, some buff O's and a couple of of Silver pencilled W's also, over the course of the last two days. Finally all 6 of my BLRW's and the others mentioned, a total of 11 birds, were acting the same way. I had been removing them from the flock as they started to show signs, as I thought this may be viral. Taking precautions last night, I removed the old shavings, bleached the floor (more on that later), then I replaced all the pine shavings in both sides of their pen, the healthy side and chicken ICU. This morning, there were no new patients, everyone on the healthy side still was. Some of the sick birds can slowly stagger, a couple of steps at a time, then rest, then more steps, to get to food and water. Others are worse and have to be hand watered, but won't eat. They have no other visible issues. They have been eating medicated starter, and I use quick-chik in the water, every other watering. The flock came from McMurrays. They are inside, have adequate heat, ventilation, bedding, etc. Since they became sick I have added some vinegar to their water, I was told it will help boost their immunity. I also tried giving them some yogurt tonight. Here are two ideas I came up with - 1. They had pecked at some foil lined foam insulation board, about the size of a dime, the day or so before they got sick, which I covered up immediately. 2. The room in which they live, previously had some decaying animal skulls stored there ( I am a taxidermist, with a flesh-eating beetle colony). There are no maggots present, however, there was an old blood stain on the plywood floor, which in theory they could have scratched at, and in fact did, about 1-2 days before they got sick. So it may be possible that they have Botulism, or I am just trying to tie that in because of the symptoms. But to describe their condition in its simplest, they have bad balance and no energy, not able to stand up. Can anyone figure this out? Does it seem odd that in a flock of 70 birds that all 6 BLRW's would be sick, while other breeds are fine?Thanks...Scott
