3 week Cornish Cross cannot stand UPDATE!!!!

[addictedtochickens]

I went in to check on the chicks this afternoon, and one was lying on the floor. Its crop is empty and its legs just kind of go to the sides of its body. They are not out strait, just hugging the sides. I picked the chicken up, and it moved its legs fine. It just cannot stand with all of its weight. All of the other chicks are fine and quite energetic. Is it just to fat for its legs, or is there something I can do to help it?

 

[chicks4kids]

It sounds like it is just too fat for it's legs...I had one last year that ended up not being able to walk after about 4 weeks....I ended up giving it special treatment for about a week and a half to get it up to a good butcher weight.

 

[oesdog]

Quote:
It sounds like this wee chick is not getting enough food!!!!!!! It sounds like a vitamin deficiency. You need to get it some Infant vitamins WITHOUT IRON from the pharmacy.
Put some in the water. - If this chick is not so keen to drink you can get an eye dropper and gently put it into the corner of its beak, but be very careful not to drown her.
Food wize she needs biult up, she may be getting pushed aside by the others or bullied. You may need to seperate her for a bit so you are sure she is getting her food and water. You should give her some hard boiled egg crushed up in plain natural yogurt - there will not be over night miricles here it will take a few days but your chick should recover if it is a vitamin issue. - You have to start treating asap though as she can get dehydrated and that will kill her.

Remember you said HER CROP IS EMPTY - that does not sound like a greedy FAT chick to me!!!!!!!!!! - also some chicks don;t thrive no matter what you do.
It does sound like a vitamin issue in which case she WILL not use her legs until you sort that out. It is caused by a lack of Riboflavin - you get it in the infant vitamin drops!!!!

Oesdog -

good luck

 

[addictedtochickens]

Thanks, I wll go get vitamins as soon as I can. Now the new dilema. I went out to go fetch the chicken and put it inside, and another one was weezing. It was making a whistling noise crossed with a whine. Does this one have a problem too, or is this normal?

 

[SteveH]

Of my two that went down on their legs , I opened one up to check for problems . Nothing visible indicating leg problems , but she had ascites [ pockets of fluid in the abdomen ] . The other had been a runt and had not caught up with the others , I had assumed he was injured by the others before checking the other bird . I'm not sure if vitamins help prevent the condition or not ; but it is one of the problems encountered with large , fast growing strains but also in some individuals from different breeds .

 

[addictedtochickens]

Good news and Bad news

So I checked on the chicken with the leg problem this morning and it was still alive. It is much more energetic now that I have given it the vitamins. It will drink and eat on its own, but I have to move it every couple of hours so it is not sitting in its poop.

Chicken number two, which was wheezing, is now dead. when I picked it up yesterday it had an empty crop, so I put it by the feeder. I came in this morning and it was dead, right where I left it. Should I cut it open and try to figure out what killed it? Does anybody have any ideas on what could have killed it? I just want to know incase another chicken starts doing the same thing. I cannot lose anymore, because I have already lost 4 out of 20!!!!

 

[oesdog]

Quote:
Hope you seperated it out and didn't put it with the girl with the leg issue - she should recover ok in a few days, the other one sounds like it had a respiritory infection and you don't want to be spreading that about. dispose of it and don't touch the others after touching it unless you wash your hands good!!!!!

- glad you girl is improving!!!! - give them all the vitamins it will help them if you have an infection in your chicks. The 2 chicks had unrelated issues the no 1 chick should recover fine.

oesdog

 

[addictedtochickens]

Thanks. I am cleaning out the whole coop, disinfecting feeders and water and bringing in all new food and water. Hopefully that will prevent more from wheezing as well. Is it weird that this ones crop was empty too? I just thought it may be helpfull to know. Thank you for all of the help.

 

[KatyTheChickenLady]

I am thinking maybe they don't have CX in Ireland?
the wheezing and then death in CX is associated as steve said to ascitis and/or heart failure, no need to disinfect the coop it's just a side affect of their curious genetics. The leg issues as well are most likely not due to starvation but more to rapid growth, even if the crop was empty. although vitamins can help in both cases, again this is another particular trait associated with CX, funny thing is often it is the runts that go down first, most likely to bad hearts.
that said this is a good meat breed, you just need to be prepared for the differences and butcher off the problems before they die.

 

[SteveH]

Quote:
Yes , I should have mentioned that the heart in the one with ascites was very flabby instead of the hard muscled organ you always see . I figured the fluid build up must be a symptom of an ineffective heart .