CHICK KEEPS FALLING OVER/TWISTING HEAD - WHY?

[tackyrama]

I have a two day old chick acting very sick. It keeps tipping over backwards/sideways with its head held high. It also seems to be having trouble breathing with mucus in the mouth and constantly swallowing. What is this? Is it wry neck? Thanks for your advice.

 

[emilyweck]

I'm sorry to hear about your chick. It doesn't really sound like wry neck, but I would give her some vitamins anyway. It can't hurt. Try that and see what happens. Where did you get the eggs from? Is she isolated? Good luck and keep us in the loop. Hopefully someone will have better idea of what is going on.

 

[tackyrama]

It was hatched with a group from our own eggs. I did give it some poly vi sol a few minutes ago and will isolate it soon if I see no improvement. Thanks for your reply.

 

[California Ducken]

Fortunately mine grew out of that. Literally yesterday! It wasnt as extreme as yours sounds. But an increase in temp. and electrolytes in water.
Thats what I did and my chick hatched last Sunday. I was worried it was having trouble to but it got better. Also could it have swallowed any fluid in the egg and developed a respiratory problem......... Hopefully someone else on here can help to!!

Good Luck with your chickie!!!

 

[Glenda L Heywood]

I read about this and will say it is heart failure

It may mean the chick had a bad time hatching
The vit's it needs is Vit E and Vit B complex and that should make the nervous system come around

Coughing up foam/mucus in small animals is a sign of CHF (Congestive Heart Failure)

 

[Dazlin]

Gosh, I just posted the same thing the other day. I found this chick on it's back, toes curled. I gave it sugar water by dropper, and am keeping it on vitamins in the water.
It is somewhat better, a little wobbly. If this continues I'll sadly put it down, to eliminate any spread. So, maybe you could try these few things, vitamins, food, a litlle sugar. Good Luck!

 

[warmfuzzies]

Seach star gazing. There was an article on here about it a while back. I has two with it, one would just twist its head back and forth, and then spin in a circle. The other one couldnt even stand and he just looked straight up. We had to cull both of them, they never would eat.

It sounds the same to me. It was a nutritional problem in the breeders. I am sorry about your little chick!

 

[veroranch]

My chick would stand very tall & push backwards until it's back was against something. It would fall over backwards & get back up to do it all over again. Very vocal but wouldn't eat. I did the fresh egg, electrolytes, vitamin E & probiotics for the first day (3rd of her life) It stayed alive but didn't improve. When I read about stargazing it said it was a thiamine deficiency. I gave her a few sunflower seeds (unsalted) & she perked up & started walking forward & pecking at food within several hours. I'm going to keep giving them as a treat.