Chick with tremors....

[1 acre willows]

About 3 days ago the wife showed me one of our 6 week old chicks was shaking and having a hard time walking normal. It used to be highly mobile and even trying to fly and roost as high up as it could get. We've got them in a metal enclosure, roughly 6' long x 2' wide x 2' tall. There are 6 birds in the brooder and the other 5 are fine. She still eats and will try to get around, but shakes while walking, and has a very heavy foot fall when doing so. Her toes twitch and feet seem to be turned out a bit. The tremors still when she sits for a bit. We have both waterers mixed with poultry cell. Thinking injury not disease but curious what the smart people think. We are trying to upload a video, but are struggling. If anyone knows how to upload a video that would be super helpful

 

[sylviethecochin]

That sounds like a vitamin deficiency. I'd try vitamins E and B, if you have them in your cupboard. E is oil-soluble; I crumble half of a tablet and mix it with vegetable oil, then mix that in their feed. B I just add to their water. You can also use a low-iron baby vitamin supplement, or poultry vitamins.

With many deficiencies, only a few chicks lacking vitamins show symptoms, so all of them probably have it.

 

[1 acre willows]

That sounds like a vitamin deficiency. I'd try vitamins E and B, if you have them in your cupboard. E is oil-soluble; I crumble half of a tablet and mix it with vegetable oil, then mix that in their feed. B I just add to their water. You can also use a low-iron baby vitamin supplement, or poultry vitamins.

With many deficiencies, only a few chicks lacking vitamins show symptoms, so all of them probably have it.

We just started them all on Poultry Cell, so hopefully this will help then. If it doesn't seem to be enough we will be sure to try this out! Thank you

 

[sylviethecochin]

You're welcome. Do you have any adult chickens on the property? Did you get your chicks from a hatchery or from a farm? There are a few diseases that cause shaking, but vitamin deficiencies are one of the more common causes of this.

I just did some Merck's consultation, and also internet searching, so here are my results:

Avian Encephalomyelitis causes chicks to tremble; it also makes them listless and is transmitted hen-to-egg. It's pretty unlikely if you got the chicks from a reliable hatchery or from a feed store, and as I said, chicks are listless, so you can probably rule that out now.

Marek's disease can also be a cause. If it is, you can't really do anything but provide supportive care.

Botulism is a cause as well. (though I doubt you're feeding yours rotten feed, so I hope you can rule that out immediately.)

 

[1 acre willows]

All they've had is chix crumble from tsc, all is under 6 weeks old, and they were hatched from our birds. If they haven't been in their browser they've been in the kitchen in a pen running around where we can keep an eye on them. They've never been outside because of the cold and weather