She is a 9 week old Brahma, first found last Friday paralyzed and lethargic on the floor of her coop. After a few days of force feeding her moist medicated chick feed and giving her water with poly-visol in it she became much more alert and lively. She now eats and drinks on her own as long as food is in reach.
Her main problem seems to be that she can't balance herself or stand. I've felt along both her legs but found nothing unusual and she does push herself around with both legs and also grip with her toes but immediately falls over if I try to stand her up. Both of her wings seem to work as she had no trouble flapping them though the right one she usually has folded farther over her back. She also keeps her head folded over her back and will even twist it farther to face over her left side but will refuse and fight against me turning her head straight and then to the left and also doesn't like being put on her left side and will flip herself to lay on her right. While sleeping her head often twitches just the slightest bit every few seconds.
I thought it was vitamin deficiency at first because one of her clutch mates had the same sudden paralysis and unresponsiveness a couple weeks ago. That was healed within a week with some extra feeding and poly-visol but while grooming her pin feathers last night I did find a spot of black crusted stuff on the back of her neck just below her skull though her feathers were too thick to tell if there was an injury there and she wouldn't hold still long enough for me to get a good look. The chicks did have access to an outdoor run that was fully fenced though but there are birds of prey in the area that have gone after some of our other birds.
If it is a skull injury is there any hope of her recovering? She tries to get around still and eats and its only been a week so I'm hoping not to have to cull her. I'm also willing to look after her even if it might take a month or more to recover.
Her main problem seems to be that she can't balance herself or stand. I've felt along both her legs but found nothing unusual and she does push herself around with both legs and also grip with her toes but immediately falls over if I try to stand her up. Both of her wings seem to work as she had no trouble flapping them though the right one she usually has folded farther over her back. She also keeps her head folded over her back and will even twist it farther to face over her left side but will refuse and fight against me turning her head straight and then to the left and also doesn't like being put on her left side and will flip herself to lay on her right. While sleeping her head often twitches just the slightest bit every few seconds.
I thought it was vitamin deficiency at first because one of her clutch mates had the same sudden paralysis and unresponsiveness a couple weeks ago. That was healed within a week with some extra feeding and poly-visol but while grooming her pin feathers last night I did find a spot of black crusted stuff on the back of her neck just below her skull though her feathers were too thick to tell if there was an injury there and she wouldn't hold still long enough for me to get a good look. The chicks did have access to an outdoor run that was fully fenced though but there are birds of prey in the area that have gone after some of our other birds.
If it is a skull injury is there any hope of her recovering? She tries to get around still and eats and its only been a week so I'm hoping not to have to cull her. I'm also willing to look after her even if it might take a month or more to recover.