- Aug 5, 2010
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Earlier today I saw a post of someone's 2 weeks old chicks going down in its legs so that it could not stand. I was headed for church so didn't have time to answer and now I can't find it. But I thought that it is important enough to post. I have raised birds most of my 65 years, from chickens, pigeons, pheasants, ducks, geese, peafowls, and many species of parrots.
With raising my parrots, I pull them from their [parents at any where from one to three weeks of age and hand-feed them to make for much tamer birds and also the parents will probably recycle with another next or two after the initial one. Parrots regugitate food to their babies, so they must be fed from once every few hours to three times a day. To make a long story short, I formerly made my own hand-feeding formula, but about 20 years or so ago, there was getting to be enough demand for manufacturers of parrot feed to start manufacturing parrot hand-feeding formulas. Just add warm water, stir and feed. I was assured by the manufacturer that these baby formulas would have an indefinite shelf life.
So at the beginning of one of my breeding seasons about 25 years ago, I started feeding some of this new formula and many of my baby parrots started going down in their legs. They could no longer stand. Their legs just were completely limp. Since the hand-feeding formula is very liquid when fed, the babies would asperate on their formula because they could not stand. I was losing several babies a week and these were brids like macaws, amazons, African grays and eclectus, worth many thousands of dollars. Every vet I talked to was baffled. I talked with some of the leading avian vets in the country. I was getting ready to send some birds to Cornell to one of their leading avian veterinarians. I took some of the dead birds to the University of Georgia which has a great avian vet department and they ran all kinds of pathological tests on them and couldn't find anything.
Then someone suggested that I call Dr. Vivian Clubb and avian vet in south Florida. Dr. Clubb suggested that it might be "white muscle disease." This is a physiological problem not a pathological problem. She then referred me to Dr. Greg Harrison in Ft. Lauderdale who agreed with Dr. Clubb and suggested that I find an injectable material called "Selotox." This is a Vitaman E and Selenium product. He told me of the amount to use, which was miniscule, like 0.05-0.10 cc per bird, depending on the size. He said that this treatment was so phenomenal that one would almost call it "witch craft." He said that he had actually injected baby cockatiels with this when brought into his practice and by the time they left his office they were standing up. The only Selotox that I could find had an expiration date of 6 years before, but he said to use it any way because time was of the essence. It was "over-nighted" to me and I injected it the following morning, and the results were miraculous. By the end of the day, most of my birds that were affected were standing up, but a couple were so badly affected that they didn't make it.
Well, the question is, "What was the problem?" The problem is a Vitamin E deficiency. When Vitamin E is exposed to oxygen, out of a sealed container, it will oxidize in a matter of a few weeks. Most likely, the person who posted this problem had some feed where the Vitamin E had oxidized. The remainder of the feed is fine, but feeding this older chick starter to young chicks is quite harmful. I have even experienced pet owners who bought supposedly new formula from a dealer and the formula's vitamin E had oxidized and brought on the "white muscle disease" to her young chicks. This feed would have been no problem with older birds, but with young ones, it is almost sure death. One way to prevent this rapid oxidation is to put the feed in a sealed container and if possible refrigerate the remainder. With my parrot formula, the minute I open a new "sealed" container is to take enough to last a few days to keep on the kitchen counter and refrigerate the remainder.
Remember this: NEVER FEED BABY CHICKS OLD FEED. If you have old feed, use this with adults, but only fresh feed with baby chicks. One vet at the U. of Georgia told me that this was a bad problem with baby pigs, calves and colts which were fed old formula or feed where the vitamin E had oxidized. I actually keep a vial of the Selotox in my frig because very few vets will stock it and when one needs it, it is very difficult to find quickly. If an animal is not treated quickly, the condition may become permanent with complete paralysis of the legs. The rest of their body seems fine. I have actually given some of my affected parrots away as pets. They could not walk, but it is amazing how they can pull themselves around with their beaks.
Hope this helps.
With raising my parrots, I pull them from their [parents at any where from one to three weeks of age and hand-feed them to make for much tamer birds and also the parents will probably recycle with another next or two after the initial one. Parrots regugitate food to their babies, so they must be fed from once every few hours to three times a day. To make a long story short, I formerly made my own hand-feeding formula, but about 20 years or so ago, there was getting to be enough demand for manufacturers of parrot feed to start manufacturing parrot hand-feeding formulas. Just add warm water, stir and feed. I was assured by the manufacturer that these baby formulas would have an indefinite shelf life.
So at the beginning of one of my breeding seasons about 25 years ago, I started feeding some of this new formula and many of my baby parrots started going down in their legs. They could no longer stand. Their legs just were completely limp. Since the hand-feeding formula is very liquid when fed, the babies would asperate on their formula because they could not stand. I was losing several babies a week and these were brids like macaws, amazons, African grays and eclectus, worth many thousands of dollars. Every vet I talked to was baffled. I talked with some of the leading avian vets in the country. I was getting ready to send some birds to Cornell to one of their leading avian veterinarians. I took some of the dead birds to the University of Georgia which has a great avian vet department and they ran all kinds of pathological tests on them and couldn't find anything.
Then someone suggested that I call Dr. Vivian Clubb and avian vet in south Florida. Dr. Clubb suggested that it might be "white muscle disease." This is a physiological problem not a pathological problem. She then referred me to Dr. Greg Harrison in Ft. Lauderdale who agreed with Dr. Clubb and suggested that I find an injectable material called "Selotox." This is a Vitaman E and Selenium product. He told me of the amount to use, which was miniscule, like 0.05-0.10 cc per bird, depending on the size. He said that this treatment was so phenomenal that one would almost call it "witch craft." He said that he had actually injected baby cockatiels with this when brought into his practice and by the time they left his office they were standing up. The only Selotox that I could find had an expiration date of 6 years before, but he said to use it any way because time was of the essence. It was "over-nighted" to me and I injected it the following morning, and the results were miraculous. By the end of the day, most of my birds that were affected were standing up, but a couple were so badly affected that they didn't make it.
Well, the question is, "What was the problem?" The problem is a Vitamin E deficiency. When Vitamin E is exposed to oxygen, out of a sealed container, it will oxidize in a matter of a few weeks. Most likely, the person who posted this problem had some feed where the Vitamin E had oxidized. The remainder of the feed is fine, but feeding this older chick starter to young chicks is quite harmful. I have even experienced pet owners who bought supposedly new formula from a dealer and the formula's vitamin E had oxidized and brought on the "white muscle disease" to her young chicks. This feed would have been no problem with older birds, but with young ones, it is almost sure death. One way to prevent this rapid oxidation is to put the feed in a sealed container and if possible refrigerate the remainder. With my parrot formula, the minute I open a new "sealed" container is to take enough to last a few days to keep on the kitchen counter and refrigerate the remainder.
Remember this: NEVER FEED BABY CHICKS OLD FEED. If you have old feed, use this with adults, but only fresh feed with baby chicks. One vet at the U. of Georgia told me that this was a bad problem with baby pigs, calves and colts which were fed old formula or feed where the vitamin E had oxidized. I actually keep a vial of the Selotox in my frig because very few vets will stock it and when one needs it, it is very difficult to find quickly. If an animal is not treated quickly, the condition may become permanent with complete paralysis of the legs. The rest of their body seems fine. I have actually given some of my affected parrots away as pets. They could not walk, but it is amazing how they can pull themselves around with their beaks.
Hope this helps.
