chick leg problems- doesn't look like spraddle leg

[spacechicks]

I had tried the oatmeal-like feed back when she was only like 4-5 days old and she didn't go for it, but I've mixed some up and put it in their box. Now the food options they have are dry medicated starter feed, crumbled hard boiled egg, and wet mushy medicated starter feed. I've been replacing their water religiously, so I hope that is not a problem.

she did have pasty butt about 2 days ago but not since then. i haven't fed them anything other than the medicated feed, water, and occasionally pedialyte (plus now she gets poly-vi-sol), so no grit yet.

i'm not going to mess with her feet until her energy and apatite are at least back to normal.

i hope tomorrow will be better!

 

[chickengeorgeto]

That looks like curled toe paralysis. It is caused by a shortage of riboflavin in the diet. It might also be wise to supplement your birds diet with manganese, chlorine, niacin, biotin, and vitamin D, especially D-3.

All the major vitamin deficiency diseases of poultry respond well to these vitamins and minerals. A small bag of animal vitamins and minerals with electrolytes should stop it but not reverse the damage already done. Read the label to make sure it has the vitamins mentioned.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Well it seems like things have taken a turn for the worse. I don't really understand... she was doing so well...


I haven't really seen her eating/drinking since I got home (~5 hours ago) and haven't noticed her pooping either. she was having a terrible time getting around and so i put another shoe on her since that seemed to help her before. she is definitely much weaker. now she just kind of stumbles around and falls frequently. Before if you held her she would stand up. now she just kind of sits on your hand. also she seems to be trembling, which I had not noticed before. I did give her 2 drops of poly-vi-sol a few hours ago. she really didn't want it, but i'm not sure if she doesn't like it or if she just doesn't want to eat today.

before she started eating (like 5 days ago) I was giving her pedialyte from a syringe and she seemed to love it. she would drink it happily and stretch her neck out to reach the syringe. today she won't take it at all... and she is crying A LOT. I'm going to put some hard boiled egg in their box and hope she eats it.

Should I make a chicken sling and separate her? There is just one other chick and they seem to love each other. The little one tries to follow the big one around and when she gets cold she burrows under the big one.

poor little thing. I have no idea what went wrong! I'm not sure if the leg problem is the main worry anymore.

I would check the temperatures under your heat lamp to make sure they fall within the recommended temp. range or are higher than that, with a colder spot in the brooder to get away from it (they need the colder spot anyway).
90-95 degrees for the first week of life and decrease by 5 degrees per week until 6 weeks or fully feathered (I give heat for 8 weeks at least in winter though, sometimes longer with a 100-150 watt bulb).

She should be kept with her buddy in my opinion.

Here are some chick care sites:
http://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/chickcare.html
http://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/BRKRaisingChicks.html

I hope she gets better!