Advice needed!

ChiknMama1983

Hatching
Jun 23, 2025
3
2
4
Advice needed!

I have a group of 12 week old chicks that we incorporated into our run/coop yesterday with our year old girls. All seemed fine, last night we went to lock them all in the coop and one of the younger chicks seemed disoriented. We thought we just woke her up and she was a little out of it. This AM she was still very disoriented and something is definitely wrong. She flails her body almost like she is having a seizure and runs into walls, curling her neck. We have been trying to get her to take nutri drench thinking maybe it is a vitamin deficiency, but I regularly put electrolytes and vitamins in their water. Every other chicken is fine, we can’t figure out what went wrong with this one. She was 100% healthy prior to yesterday. We have her inside in a tote, she continues to flail herself around, it’s horrible to watch. We can’t get her to eat or drink on her own. Has anyone experienced this or have any advice?
 
Sorry about your pullet. What are you feeding including treats? Is she having any runny poop or blood in her droppings? Can you get her drinking water? A head injury, vitamin E or thiamine deficiency, or dehydration might be the cause. Could she have gotten into an insecticide in the yard? I would hand feed her mushy wet chick starter, a spoonful of scrambled egg, and water with elctro,ytes held up to her beak. Human vitamin E 400 IU and 1/4 tablet of human super B complex daily would be something I would offer.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Spring-V...MInN_y9raIjgMVoUn_AR0p_DncEAQYBiABEgLyJPD_BwE
 
Sorry about your pullet. What are you feeding including treats? Is she having any runny poop or blood in her droppings? Can you get her drinking water? A head injury, vitamin E or thiamine deficiency, or dehydration might be the cause. Could she have gotten into an insecticide in the yard? I would hand feed her mushy wet chick starter, a spoonful of scrambled egg, and water with elctro,ytes held up to her beak. Human vitamin E 400 IU and 1/4 tablet of human super B complex daily would be something I would offer.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Spring-V...MInN_y9raIjgMVoUn_AR0p_DncEAQYBiABEgLyJPD_BwE
Thank you for your response. We cannot get her to eat/drink on her own. We were able to get her to take a little nutridrench via a syringe. Her diet has primarily consisted of chick starter crumbles, we haven’t really introduced treats yet outside of a few mealworms. No, she couldn’t have gotten into an insecticide. She was in our run the entire day with the rest of the flock. Her poop was normal, she displayed no signs of anything being wrong. The timing is so strange that the literal day we joined them this happened. I regularly add vitamins/electrolytes to their water. We will try your recommendations, thank you 🩷
 
I don't have cream legbars, but understand that some have crest's/vaulted skulls and some do not. If yours does, then the symptoms you describe could be caused by a head injury. Birds with vaulted skulls are more susceptible. If she was just integrated, then another may have pecked her head, or she may have run into something trying to get away.
 
I don't have cream legbars, but understand that some have crest's/vaulted skulls and some do not. If yours does, then the symptoms you describe could be caused by a head injury. Birds with vaulted skulls are more susceptible. If she was just integrated, then another may have pecked her head, or she may have run into something trying to get away.
Wait what? Legbars have a vaulted skull under their little topknots? I had no idea. I have one, and her head looked normal when she was little, but she is growing out her little bouffant now that she's 6 weeks old.
 
I'm definitely not an expert on the breed, but found more than one mention, one quoted below.
"American Cream Legbar chickens do not inherently have vaulted skulls. While they are known for their crests, a vaulted skull is a condition that arises from a double crest, which is not typical for this breed. Crested breeds like Cream Legbars can develop vaulted skulls if two crested birds are bred together, leading to a double crest and potential skull and brain issues, according to some chicken enthusiasts. "

I also read another (can't find it at the moment) that said the genetic line matters as well, some lines being more prone than others.

May not be the issue, but felt it was worth mentioning, based on the symptoms and timing of onset.
 
I'm definitely not an expert on the breed, but found more than one mention, one quoted below.
"American Cream Legbar chickens do not inherently have vaulted skulls. While they are known for their crests, a vaulted skull is a condition that arises from a double crest, which is not typical for this breed. Crested breeds like Cream Legbars can develop vaulted skulls if two crested birds are bred together, leading to a double crest and potential skull and brain issues, according to some chicken enthusiasts. "

I also read another (can't find it at the moment) that said the genetic line matters as well, some lines being more prone than others.

May not be the issue, but felt it was worth mentioning, based on the symptoms and timing of onset.
Very interesting. I don't think mine has that then, but I love learning things like that!
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom