EmmaEsme
Chirping
Hi everyone,
Melbourne Australia here. I asked on a Chook health FB forum I am a part of about this girl on January 28th when this started, and was told to give her vitamins and special diet. I do not think this is Marek's and I wondered about Avian encephalomyelitis, but as no other chicks are having problems, even the brother I put in with her, I don't think she is contagious at this stage.
I put Avi-Vital vitamins in the water and I've been giving her oats along with Barrastoc Chick Starter (medicated) and she has unfortunately not improved. She hasn't really worsened either per se, but the bigger she gets, the harder it is for her to move due to her own weight. I tried to give her yoghurt but they just filled the plate with litter. If i try to hold her to feed her, she goes nuts and flaps like mad to get away. Shes tough and strong and obviously eating and drinking but...
I guess, I'm really just wondering, when do I call it and need to cull her... It's just, I'd really prefer to save her, but I feel like maybe her quality of life isn't good enough. Thanks for any advice you can give.
Here's a Youtube video of her on Jan 28:
Here's today, 5th Feb. I had just taken the food, water and (because its only the 2 of them), heat plate out and added new bedding. She was a bit worked up, but still, she always moves like that. She seems quite a bit worse, seeing it side-by-side with the old video. Sigh. Maybe I should let her go.
Bit more background on this chick:
She's an EE hatched from purchased eggs first of the year. We had a 100% hatch rate in a Brinsea Maxi Advance II. Everyone seemed normal until the day I got up and found her like this. Poos have been normal, they've always been on medicated Barrastoc starter and no other chicks have signs of illness. Water has been from drippers the whole time for her, so it didn't get messy. They had probiotics in the water for the first 2 weeks.
On the FB forum I was advised her left hock had issue, and asked to check her legs. Both are equal length, straight and appear to have no issues, other then she will not bear weight on them. Left foot doesn't grip perch (my finger was a test), right did a little. She was not on a slippy surface and had no injury I know of from the brooder. She was in a larger brooder at the time this started and I moved her and her brother back to the baby brooder to isolate. She is always bobbing and wiggling when she tries to move, as in the video. When I hold her, it's as if she has the shakes. I've seen her drink regularly and her crop is full, though, she seems a bit underweight. She wants to scratch and do normal chook things, but it's as if she lost control of her nervous system or muscles in her legs, or both... As you can see, the brother I put in with her is totally fine. Cheers
Melbourne Australia here. I asked on a Chook health FB forum I am a part of about this girl on January 28th when this started, and was told to give her vitamins and special diet. I do not think this is Marek's and I wondered about Avian encephalomyelitis, but as no other chicks are having problems, even the brother I put in with her, I don't think she is contagious at this stage.
I put Avi-Vital vitamins in the water and I've been giving her oats along with Barrastoc Chick Starter (medicated) and she has unfortunately not improved. She hasn't really worsened either per se, but the bigger she gets, the harder it is for her to move due to her own weight. I tried to give her yoghurt but they just filled the plate with litter. If i try to hold her to feed her, she goes nuts and flaps like mad to get away. Shes tough and strong and obviously eating and drinking but...
I guess, I'm really just wondering, when do I call it and need to cull her... It's just, I'd really prefer to save her, but I feel like maybe her quality of life isn't good enough. Thanks for any advice you can give.
Here's a Youtube video of her on Jan 28:
Here's today, 5th Feb. I had just taken the food, water and (because its only the 2 of them), heat plate out and added new bedding. She was a bit worked up, but still, she always moves like that. She seems quite a bit worse, seeing it side-by-side with the old video. Sigh. Maybe I should let her go.
Bit more background on this chick:
She's an EE hatched from purchased eggs first of the year. We had a 100% hatch rate in a Brinsea Maxi Advance II. Everyone seemed normal until the day I got up and found her like this. Poos have been normal, they've always been on medicated Barrastoc starter and no other chicks have signs of illness. Water has been from drippers the whole time for her, so it didn't get messy. They had probiotics in the water for the first 2 weeks.
On the FB forum I was advised her left hock had issue, and asked to check her legs. Both are equal length, straight and appear to have no issues, other then she will not bear weight on them. Left foot doesn't grip perch (my finger was a test), right did a little. She was not on a slippy surface and had no injury I know of from the brooder. She was in a larger brooder at the time this started and I moved her and her brother back to the baby brooder to isolate. She is always bobbing and wiggling when she tries to move, as in the video. When I hold her, it's as if she has the shakes. I've seen her drink regularly and her crop is full, though, she seems a bit underweight. She wants to scratch and do normal chook things, but it's as if she lost control of her nervous system or muscles in her legs, or both... As you can see, the brother I put in with her is totally fine. Cheers
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