chick flipping over

[pasofinofarm]

I am the proud mama of 17 new baby chicks!

The hatch was uneventfull and went on for about 36 hours. Temps and humidity were stable. The last chick to hatch has a problem...well maybe.. He seems to look up then flips up-side-down onto his back where he lays chriping and kicking untill he finally rights himself which can take awhile.

I have seen chicks do this kind of uncoordinated flopping around in the hatcher before but never for this long. He was the last one so was put into the brooder pretty fast so as to clean out the hatcher. He is about 10 hours old now.

So do you think he just needs more time or does this sound like some kind of neuro deficit?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance,
Melissa

 

[GoodEgg]

I'm not sure if our situation was exactly the same.

We got 27 chicks shipped from Murray McMurray. I think they might have had an extra delay in shipping, I can't find out for sure.

One of them started acting strange the first day. She would pick up one leg and seemed to try to scratch the side of her head, but would flop onto her back then and keep jerking the leg like she was scratching. I could see nothing unusual on her. She would do this with either leg, and peeping loudly too while she did it. Sometimes every few minutes, sometimes hours in between.

We never found out the cause, or what really might trigger it or help it. We switched water back and forth from sugar/electrolytes and plain, but really I'm not sure if anything mattered.

She did stop doing it after about 3 days. It was horrible to watch, although I never knew if she suffered. I had to put a partition in the hospital cage to keep her separate from the other "patients" while I wasn't watching, because sometimes they would peck her when she had her fits, and sometimes she would kick so much I was afraid she'd hurt the others.

I can't even tell anymore which one it was that had the problem. I'm glad she's better, and I'm glad we toughed it out.

So I'm not saying much but ... I hope yours gets better too!

trish

 

[pasofinofarm]

Trish,
That is a better explaination than the one I gave of what this chick is doing only it seem like it is looking up the flips over then exactly what you described. I have isolated it too for the same reasons you mention.
I am glad to hear your chick improved...maybe mine will too. I am thinking maybe some kind of reaction to stress? Anyway thanks for responding it gives me some hope and I'll update you if you are interested.

Blessings,
Melissa

 

[Mulemom]

I had a chick that did that too! It started when she was about 3 days old. GoodEgg's description was exactly what she was doing. I posted on "emergencies" saying that I had a chick that was having seizures, but no one know what it was. She did it for about 3 days in a row, but then it stopped. She's 5 weeks old now and has not had any problems since. She is very social, because she got used to being picked up and comforted till the seizure stopped.

 

[pasofinofarm]

Hi all,
Just wanted to let you all know that the chick is doing well now. He seem normal like all the others and I can't pick him out of the crowd anymore.

Thanks for the responses,
Melissa

 

[GoodEgg]

So glad to know your chick is doing better!

And I guess it's not too rare a thing then? I posted in emergencies too, and called it a seizure, but also no one really knew what my chick's problem was.

Weird, but I guess it happens?

I'm so glad to know about the others. Now at least we know that it happens sometimes and that they recover. I'm so glad I didn't give up on mine. I was worried because I didn't know if she was suffering, or if she would recover, but unless I am SURE an animal is suffering, I usually like to give them a chance and as much TLC as I can.

Thanks for the updates!!!

trish