3-4 week old chick having trouble walking

[SEMulder]

One of my babies suddenly is having trouble with its legs sliding sideways when it walks. Sometimes it is able to walk properly, but mostly it is having trouble. We just noticed it this morning. Yesterday they all seemed fine. Is this a result of shavings being the bedding, or an injury? Is there something we should do?

Thank you for any help!

Emily

 

[bbishop]

Hello I'm Bristol I'm only 12 yrs old but I know chickens the problem could be that it was injured hatching because the reason why the leg might slip out because its putting pressure on it but it hurts it so it slides it out.

 

[KAMama]

Something similar happened to one of our chicks at around a few weeks old. It started by her seeming a bit wobbly on her feet, and progressed to her not being able to use her legs at all within about 5 days to a week. The other chicks were fine and she wasn't showing any other symptoms and was still eating and drinking so we figured it was a vitamin deficiency and started putting probiotics in her water. We separated her into her own small box and helped her drink water several times a day (she couldn't get to it otherwise--we had to hold her and dip her beak in) and had a pile of food right in front of her so she could access it.
We were sure she was a goner, but she made huge improvement after a few days of that. She is now a big, beautiful pullet at 18 weeks old!
Sorry so long...I'd maybe try probiotics in their water (won't hurt the others to have it) ASAP and if that's it, hopefully she won't get that bad. Obviously not sure if that's it, but I'd say it's definitely possible.

 

[KAMama]

Also, I think this happened to ours because I was giving them too much scratch...I think she was filling up on that (I was mixing it with their food--rookie here ) and not getting the nutrients she needed.

 

[SEMulder]

Thank you so much for the responses. I was watching her a little today, and she seems to be doing better. She is eating and drinking fine. I wonder if it was a temporary reaction after leaping out from my son's arms when he was trying to lower her gently. I'll keep watching her, and may add probiotics as well.

We lost a chick early on when it stopped walking, and I wasn't sure if it was an injury or if it developed more gradually. I think it was the one who had looked wobbly when we first got home. But it died within a day of our noticing it really not walking at all. we tried watering it, and separated it from the others, but nothing helped. I was hoping we weren't having the same trouble here, but today I'm hopeful.