3-week old chick with a bad leg - any advice please

[RoyalChick]

caring about others is not silly. It's smart.

Now the worst is over and you needn't be as focussed on treatment as you have been, what's your best guess as to the root cause?

Also, are there any early warning signs in the videos from before she lost the use of her leg?

I actually had already looked back at videos for the vet and neither she nor I could see any indication of any problem prior to the morning when she wasn't able to straighten her toes (I took her to the vet the next day).
I am mystified. Some aspects really support the theory of injury and some support the theory of vitamin deficiency leading to sciatic nerve demyelination. It is very puzzling.
Today I decided against the ground floor brooder box and instead added some safety features to my existing set-up. Fingers crossed she can handle it. I really think she will be able to.

 

[Ponypoor]

This little baby just amazes me. Here she is this morning. If you weren’t aware and looking for it, you might not notice anything wrong with her walking!
I am now rethinking the special needs brooder. I don’t think she is falling off anything. Maybe more hiding spaces in the main Chicken Palace in case she is a little slower than the others to escape.
On the video once she starts drinking you no longer see her legs - but I have a thing for chicks (and chickens) drinking so I didn’t snip the end off the video in case anyone else likes that view of her little face!

Well that's way better!

So glad she seems to be really thriving

 

[Ribh]

I actually had already looked back at videos for the vet and neither she nor I could see any indication of any problem prior to the morning when she wasn't able to straighten her toes (I took her to the vet the next day).
I am mystified. Some aspects really support the theory of injury and some support the theory of vitamin deficiency leading to sciatic nerve demyelination. It is very puzzling.
Today I decided against the ground floor brooder box and instead added some safety features to my existing set-up. Fingers crossed she can handle it. I really think she will be able to.

I'm sorry I missed this RC. Some of what I'm seeing reminds me of Sif & the one thing I learnt from Sif is stress does all sorts of weird things to chickens. Like people different chickens react differently to stressors & what one chick might take in stride another will stress about. B & K is good as it supports the nervous system ~ I see you got told that already. Unfortunately it might be a delayed reaction to stress that happened a while back but you know from Sif this sort of thing can be overcome. It may just take a while.

 

[RoyalChick]

I'm sorry I missed this RC. Some of what I'm seeing reminds me of Sif

Yes. When I was feeling really down about her prospects @BY Bob reminded me about Sif to encourage me to persevere. I am very glad I did. I am so happy right now that she is able to do chick things with her brooder buddies. She may always walk with a limp and her hock may always be a weak spot, but she sure can walk now!

 

[MaryJanet]

I actually had already looked back at videos for the vet and neither she nor I could see any indication of any problem prior to the morning when she wasn't able to straighten her toes (I took her to the vet the next day).
I am mystified. Some aspects really support the theory of injury and some support the theory of vitamin deficiency leading to sciatic nerve demyelination. It is very puzzling.
Today I decided against the ground floor brooder box and instead added some safety features to my existing set-up. Fingers crossed she can handle it. I really think she will be able to.

Perhaps both conditions are present.

 

[Ribh]

Yes. When I was feeling really down about her prospects @BY Bob reminded me about Sif to encourage me to persevere. I am very glad I did. I am so happy right now that she is able to do chick things with her brooder buddies. She may always walk with a limp and her hock may always be a weak spot, but she sure can walk now!

 

[RoyalChick]

Perhaps both conditions are present.

Yes could be. I am 100% sure that she currently is not vitamin B deficient. I researched and found that you can't really overdose on vitamin B complex and particularly B2 (riboflavin) so that little lady is up to her ears in B2!

 

[Ribh]

Yes could be. I am 100% sure that she currently is not vitamin B deficient. I researched and found that you can't really overdose on vitamin B complex and particularly B2 (riboflavin) so that little lady is up to her ears in B2!

B needs to be replaced daily in humans; it passes through the body pretty quickly. I would assume it's the same for chickens. It's why you can't overdose on it.

 

[Ribh]

Catching up. Seeing lots of improvement! I had thought it was a hock issue and now think it's either entire leg paralysis, coming from the back maybe, but which the vitamins and therapy are helping, yay! - or a knee/thigh/hip issue, inability to pull her leg inward or tighten the muscles to straighten it. But in any case there is improvement with what you are doing!! I'm so glad!!
I don't entirely understand something. If the vitamins are helping, what is so different about this chick compared to her brooder mates? Why does this chick and not the others have an issue that vitamins help? If there is a metabolic issue with her, will she need extra vitamins from here on?

I'll repeat myself for clarity's sake; stress. Stress can cause paralysis. I learnt this the hard way with one of my Vorwerks who had a delayed reaction to a location move. She was almost completely paralytic for months but with vitamins & good food & gentle exercise she eventually made a pretty full recovery. She is still a little slower than the others & doesn't like being caught up in rough & tumble due to some ongoing balance issues but for all intents & purposes she is managing just fine.

 

[RoyalChick]

B needs to be replaced daily in humans; it passes through the body pretty quickly. I would assume it's the same for chickens. It's why you can't overdose on it.

Yes exactly. I researched it and checked that conclusion with the vet. She says it just washes through just like with people. I also learned (from hands on experience) that it turns everything yellow. Fortunately it washes off but I got pretty splattered when she shook her head to let me know she had drunk enough of it!

I also learned that there is individual variation in Vitamin metabolism (makes sense, I just never thought about it before) and that commercial feeds of course cater to the 'typical' (some say minimum) need. So it isn't absurd that a chick could become deficient even if on commercial feed if they have a higher than typical need for it.
All to say that I am not stopping her B vitamins yet, though I may ease off on E and K which she is also getting.