8 week old hen with riboflavin deficiency, PLEASE HELP!!

[chicki291]

Hi @Janke Beukes I'm sorry to hear about your troubles
Are these Speedy's babies?
If you can get some photos that may be helpful.

You lost one a while back and it was suspected to be Marek's? Are the symptoms similar or do you feel that this is vitamin deficiency?
The others have given good suggestions about finding sources of vitamin B - liver, nutritional yeast or using human B-Complex vitamins would be good.

The ones you put down, had diarrhea, do these have it too? If you can get a picture of the poop that might help too.

Yes these are speedys babies. It was not Mareks, cause otherwise the others would have been affected. They say that chickens with mareks usually die within 48 hours. Our vet said it is also unlikely to have mareks at such a young age

All the other chicks are healthy. In fact, this chick was fine tuesday night and went up the ladder to her coop all by herself. But wednesday morning her one foot's toe was curled. We immediately started treatment.

Thursday both were curled. Friday she was the same. Saturday she was also the same and this sunday morning also. She started lying on her side more saturday afternoon and sunday morning. When she lies on her side, she stretches her feet out. I'll take some pics now and send them

The problem is that this chick is absolutely healthy. She eats and quacks. We have to take her to the water though, cause she cant reach it. I've heard of chicks that have recovered after 2 months. My mom also does not want to put another chick down , cause every time it costs about 600 rand ( about 50 american dollars) Should i keep trying with this chick?

 

[chicki291]

This is a fresh poop she laid this morning. That red chunk there in the poop. It is something that looks similar from some red thingies in their feed. Maybe it's that? If you suspect it's something else though, please let me know.

This was her first poop she made this morning. It was quite big and i scratched around in it with a stick to look for worms. Luckily, no worms

This is how her feet look when she tries to stand.

Here i am holding her in the air, with her legs stretched forward

This is how she lies down on her side

It's a bit wet today, so that is why our chick is looking so poorly this morning

 

[chicki291]

My chick is also shivering..
Can someone please help..

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I would suspect that she is suffering from Marek's, but it's so hard to know. With Marek's birds can live a long time with the disease. Some birds might die very quickly depending on the strain, but many are able to recover. Birds can become symptomatic as young as 3 weeks old, but it's usually not seen until a little older. 8 weeks, yes they could be symptomatic.

That poop...it does look like it has mucous to me, hopefully the others will chime in with their thoughts.
Your chicks have been on the ground for a while, so they should have built resistance to Coccidia by now, but if they are suffering from disease like Marek's there's a good possibility that there is an overload. I would be inclined to treat for Coccidiosis to see if that helps as well.

What do you have to treat Coccidiosis? Amprolium (Coxoid) Sulmet (Sulfamethazine)?

 

[chicki291]

I would suspect that she is suffering from Marek's, but it's so hard to know. With Marek's birds can live a long time with the disease. Some birds might die very quickly depending on the strain, but many are able to recover. Birds can become symptomatic as young as 3 weeks old, but it's usually not seen until a little older. 8 weeks, yes they could be symptomatic.

That poop...it does look like it has mucous to me, hopefully the others will chime in with their thoughts.
Your chicks have been on the ground for a while, so they should have built resistance to Coccidia by now, but if they are suffering from disease like Marek's there's a good possibility that there is an overload. I would be inclined to treat for Coccidiosis to see if that helps as well.

What do you have to treat Coccidiosis? Amprolium (Coxoid) Sulmet (Sulfamethazine)?

No i dont have anything to treat for coccidiosis.
Please tell me, if it was a vitamin B2/riboflavin deficiency, would this chick have improved by now?
And will she be paralyzed in her toes forever?
I have heard of chickens who have improved after about 2 months when they grow up.. should i give this chick about a month chance?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

No i dont have anything to treat for coccidiosis.
Please tell me, if it was a vitamin B2/riboflavin deficiency, would this chick have improved by now?
And will she be paralyzed in her toes forever?
I have heard of chickens who have improved after about 2 months when they grow up.. should i give this chick about a month chance?

If it were vitamin deficiency, she should respond fairly quickly to vitamin therapy - I would say within a week.
I'm so sorry Janke, I don't know if her toes will be paralyzed forever. If it is Marek's sometimes they can recover, but it can be a slow process. You can try making her a sling as suggested in the previous posts to see if that helps her - some birds do well in a sling while others can't tolerate them, so you will have monitor her to see.

 

[chicki291]

If it were vitamin deficiency, she should respond fairly quickly to vitamin therapy - I would say within a week.
I'm so sorry Janke, I don't know if her toes will be paralyzed forever. If it is Marek's sometimes they can recover, but it can be a slow process. You can try making her a sling as suggested in the previous posts to see if that helps her - some birds do well in a sling while others can't tolerate them, so you will have monitor her to see.

It has not been a week of therapy yet, so maybe she will become better in this week? Is she does not, should i consider putting her down?
Im pretty sure its not mareks
and one last question.. should she show improvement within a week or be totally healed?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Personally, I would want to see a marked improvement within a week, but I may have different goals than you do.
Only you can decide if she needs to be put down, that's a hard decision to make. I would be aggressive with the vitamin therapy - making sure she gets them. Will the toes tape flat and she's able to walk like that or is the leg paralyzed?

 

[chicki291]

Personally, I would want to see a marked improvement within a week, but I may have different goals than you do.
Only you can decide if she needs to be put down, that's a hard decision to make. I would be aggressive with the vitamin therapy - making sure she gets them. Will the toes tape flat and she's able to walk like that or is the leg paralyzed?

I have tried taping down the toes, but then each time she tries to walk, her toes get caught in the grass and she falls forward, sometimes she gets her feet under her again, sometimes she just lies there.
At the moment, for her vitamins, i give a an egg a day, sometimes two. Two b complex pills and then she eats alot of grass. Sometimes i give her meat, such as sausage. Any more food i can give her?
I'll give her a week from today, thus next monday, to show improvement. Then it will have been about two weeks

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Will she eat the growing meal that you have? I would try to focus on her eating that along with the egg/meat and vitamins, see if that helps. While she may be getting some nutrition from grass, she may need the extra protein and poultry feed instead.