5 week old chick-seizuring

[Kgriffith0712]

hello, thanks in advance for anybody who can provide me with some help or information. I have a chick that is approx. 5-6 weeks old. Last week I started noticing it was acting different and dragging its leg. Over the weekend it started trembling and is now to the point where it hangs its head low and has seizures. When its not seizing, it still trembles. I was doing some research on this site and it pointed to a nutrient deficiency of possibly riboflavin or vitamin E. I first put a chick starter multivitamin in with its water and mixed some in with some egg. Then yesterday I ended up mixing E oil and crushing a b complex in yogurt and feeding it to the little guy. The good news is its still seems to eat not sure if it's drinking and pretty sure its still pooping (it's in with 2 other chicks). Does anybody have any thoughts on what it could be and if it is a nutrient deficiency will it take some time for improvement?

 

[Eggcessive]

Sorry about your chick. In what state are you located? Was your chick hatched by you at home, or did it come from somewhere else? I would mix a small saucer of chick feed with the vitamin/electrolyte water, and mix it to a runny paste.

While Mareks disease could be a possibility, it may be some sort of brain or neurological problem, vitamin related, or a virus called AE which usually affects younger chicks than this. I would continue to give a little egg, vitamin E 400 mcg daily, and the chick vitamins with b.

 

[Eggcessive]

Here is some reading about AE and Mareks disease:
https://www.merckvetmanual.com/poultry/avian-encephalomyelitis/overview-of-avian-encephalomyelitis

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/the-great-big-giant-mareks-disease-faq.66077/

 

[Kgriffith0712]

Thanks for your reply. I am in northeast ohio and we incubated it from our flock. (Black Jersey giant dad and black australorp mom). The two other chicks will lay right beside it, almost like they are comforting it. Breaks my heart. I just mixed some keflex into the yogurt mixture in case its something bacterial however, I don't believe it is.

 

[Eggcessive]

The limp could be a leg bone deformity or slipped tendon, but a picture of it standing with legs showing while you hold it, would help. At this point, it sounds very sick. If you should lose it, the OH state vet will perform a necropsy on a backyard chicken for only $25 if you drive the chicken to the lab at Reynoldsburg near Columbus. The body should be refrigerated, but not frozen, and transported on ice packs as soon as possible.