Chick won't stand much (with 1 minute video)

[Clearly]

Sorry for the double post. I posted this in "raising chicks" and didn't receive any responses, so I thought maybe it should go here instead? Anyways, my post:


Hi there,

I have four chicks, and this guy, twelve days old, just lays around a lot. She or he will leap up at the others, preferring to take more flight than running. She will walk, though only when prodded. She's very sweet and docile, perhaps because she has no choice? Lol

I'm spending this evening with her trying to make her stand for a length of time, and I've made this one minute YouTube video of her. Will you take a short minute of your day and perhaps give me some advice?

Thank you!

 

[Eggcessive]

I would start poultry vitamins in the water right away, or give her 2-3 drops of PolyVisol without iron baby vitamins daily, in case of a vitamin deficiency. B vitamins and vitamin E are important. Make sure she is eating and drinking enough. Does she appear to see well? Here is a link to read about vitamin deficiencies: http://www.merckmanuals.com/vet/pou..._poultry/vitamin_deficiencies_in_poultry.html

 

[Clearly]

Yes, she seems just fine aside from this, which I just thought was a listlessness or laziness until recently. She WILL walk around. Her legs are functioning, just not for very long before she just lays back down.

I will go to the co op right now and buy vitamins. Do I encourage her to stand for periods of time like I was last night? (It wore her out and she gave up on me after about five minutes) Do some exercises with her?

Thank you for your input. She gets excited about yogurt, she dive bombs the other chicks, so she seems to be fun and alert otherwise. Gah!!!!

 

[Clearly]

Thank you. I picked up electrolytes for their water, and mixed up some of the polyvisil in some yogurt.

But I have two comparison videos now.

This is her getting the yogurt, clearly walking and excited:

An hour later, this is me trying to get her to exercise a bit on a blanket while I watch tv, (brought the Orpington for a friend so she wouldn't be scared) and she's REFUSING TO WALK AT ALL D:

This is just horrifying for me, since it's not cut and dry. Maybe you guys can see something I'm missing when looking at these videos, and I cannot express how much I appreciate the time taken.

 

[Clearly]

And now she has chosen to lay like THIS!!! Am I freaking out over nothing? Because I am freaking, out!

 

[Eggcessive]

It's hard to tell what her problem is, but I would give her the vitamins and electrolytes (and make sure that you aren't double dosing vitamins if the electrolytes contain vitamins.) She could be just weak, or something hurts.

 

[Clearly]

Ok, I did give her the vitamins, I will breathe, watch her close, and keep my fingers crossed.

Sorry for screaming fire, but this is my first true problem and, while I understand the reality of "some chicks don't make it", I want to do everything I can, and this is scary for me.

Hope you understand, thanks for continuing to look. I'll give it some time.

 

[GreenLove]

My chicks are 3 days old and about half of them do this. Mine are just tired and sleeping. It scared the poop out of me when they started to stretch their legs out but i watched their little eyelids close and fall fast asleep. In my humble opinion I think your little one is just relaxed But I am no expert, just trying to share what I'm experiencing with mine. Sometimes the others will step on each other when they are doing this and they barely move because they are so relaxed lol. Good luck and don't stress too much, animals can sense it.

 

[Clearly]

Thanks Greenlove I would normally think the same, and thought that of this particular chick until just yesterday. At 11 days now, the others are active, yet I just cannot get her to even STAND for more than a minute.

I just called the co op I bought them from, and am livid to find out they don't buy chicks vaccinated for mereks, when everyone in the Pacific Northwest knows it hits us so hard here. This is a co op my chickens have come from in the past, when they did get vaccinated chicks, and I cannot believe that this spring they just decided not to. I cannot believe I had to ask. Very upset.

Can chicks show signs of mereks this early?


Here's to hoping it's just a vitamin deficiency.




Edit: my partner just read that mereks incubates at the earliest three weeks, so I should be safe on that front. Still angry though, yet relieved that's not what's happening. Still a mystery.....

 

[GreenLove]

I'm so sorry. I missed the part where you said they were that old, sometimes I just read to fast. I hope it is only a vitamin deficiency also, fingers crossed for your little one.