Chicks flipping upside down... Whats going on??

[Cowboyffa84]

YESTERDAY--so far i hatched out 8 out of 10 in the 1st batch their all doing good except for one when he hatched he was alot smaller then all the others and had trouble getting out of the egg but by the end of the night he was up and walking but 2 days later he stated falling and laying on his side and rolling on his back one min hes fine the next hes laying on his back chirping like crazy any ideal whats going on with him im fixing to cull him out but everytime i go 2 do it hes up and running around


TODAY--I think i might know what it is... i had another chick end up doing the same thing and i got to watching them and they was eating the wood chippings. do yall think that might of been the cause of it i cleaned the box out and just put news paper down hope they live if not im giving up.

Anyone have any advice or know what the problem is?

 

[BooBear]

Chicks are very clumsy when they hatch. I have watched mine fall over on their backs and squeal something terrible about it.The first few days they spend building up their strenght and as they get stronger their balance improves.

 

[BooBear]

Oh I just caught that it was 2 days later that he is having the balance issue.
I don't think the pine litter would cause it , is he showing any other unusual signs?
You could give him a few drops of Poly Visol baby vitamins without iron to see if that helps him. Sometimes vitamin/nutriant deficiencies can affect them at the early chick age.

 

[MTopPA_18707]

Careful with slippery paper - could cause splay legs

X

 

[aubreynoramarie]

Actually from what I've read here on byc, using shavings during the first few days can cause splay legs. Mainly because they can't get their footing yet as their legs are week an wobbly. Best to use paper towel since it's not slippery but not a difficult surface to learn to walk around on.

I'd say try paper towel for a few days and once your chick regains balance and footing then switch back to shavings..

 

[Cowboyffa84]

They dont have spaly legs they just lay on their back and cant get up if i knew how to post a pic id show yall what im talking about

 

[aubreynoramarie]

Yes I understand, but it could be that they haven't had a chance to learn how to gain footing. I'd still try laying paper towel down instead of shavings and seeing if the behavior continues

 

[duckyfromoz]

Thiamine deficiency can cause flipping over. It also may not present in the newly hatched for 24- 48 hours after hatching. I have had a few hatch last year ( ducklings ) - and again another one last week that have been " flippy". Vitamins in the drinking water should help. I have also made a more concentrated solution up and given it to the effected ones with an eye dropper to make sure they are getting a good dose of the vitamins.

 

[Louise's Country Closet]

I only had one batch where one of mine kept flipping over on to his back and nearly died because it was directly underneath the heat lamp - which had just gotten hotter yet too. I managed to rescue him and he did flip over quite a few times after that, but he did survive. In fact, I kept him as my second roo

 

[Cowboyffa84]

I culled the 2 bad chicks today i got to messing with them this morning and noticed their neck muscles were not right id straighten out their necks and they would just flop right back to their backs like they couldent control their muscles the rest are doing fine the eggs they came from was a lil smaller then the others that might have caused it.