Chicks losing strength in one leg, then the other and having to be culled.

[chippysmom327]

I have a broody bantam cochin raising a clutch of her own babies. A few days ago, one was limping very bad, and was generally off balance. I figured someone had stepped on it, and let it go. It got so much worse that I ended up taking it away from mom for some R&R to heal. It stopped eating and drinking despite me trying to set it near food and water. It's other foot grew into a clubbed position, and it got so weak that it couldn't hold its head up and had to be culled. Today, I noticed another one limping slightly, letting one of its' legs hang back a little when it walks. It's off balance and trips a lot. They're fed unmedicated chick starter, are around 5 weeks old, and free range. No swelling at all. Before we culled the other one we noticed that all of the muscle on the weak leg was gone. It had totally deteriorated over the past few days.

Why is this happening? What can I do to stop/fix/prevent it?

Edit: I'm gonna add vitamins and electrolytes to their water. Any other foods that are rich in leg-health (is that a thing?) vitamins that I can give them?

 

[Eggcessive]

How old are the chicks? It sounds like it could be a vitamin deficiency, but there are other problems or diseases that could cause those symptoms. It depends on the age, since avian encephalomyelitis (AE,) Mareks disease, and other things can cause leg weakness. I would use a poultry vitamin that contains thiamine (vitamin B1,) riboflavin(B2,) vitamin E, and selenium. Selenium, a mineral is found in eggs, meat, tuna, ground nuts, and sunflower seeds. Some poultry vitamins contain trace minerals which include calcium, phosphorous, manganese, and others that could affect the legs and muscle. Vitamin E deficiency can cause muscle destruction. If you lose another chick, I would consider sending the refrigerated body off to your state vet right away for a necropsy. Sorry for your loss.

 

[chippysmom327]

How old are the chicks? It sounds like it could be a vitamin deficiency, but there are other problems or diseases that could cause those symptoms. It depends on the age, since avian encephalomyelitis (AE,) Mareks disease, and other things can cause leg weakness. I would use a poultry vitamin that contains thiamine (vitamin B1,) riboflavin(B2,) vitamin E, and selenium. Selenium, a mineral is found in eggs, meat, tuna, ground nuts, and sunflower seeds. Some poultry vitamins contain trace minerals which include calcium, phosphorous, manganese, and others that could affect the legs and muscle. Vitamin E deficiency can cause muscle destruction. If you lose another chick, I would consider sending  the refrigerated body off to your state vet right away for a necropsy. Sorry for your loss.

Thank you so much for the information and condolences. I added the vitamins to the water, do you think that's enough? I have riboflavin tablets (I actually had a riboflavin deficiency too, what a coincedence), should I add those to the water on top of the stuff thats in the waterer?

Chicks are 4 weeks.

 

[Eggcessive]

Just a standard poultry vitamin from your feed store should have most of those in it, enough for a daily dosage. Most of the B vitamins are hard to overdose since any excess goes out through the kidneys as waste.

 

[chippysmom327]

Now today the one with the slight limp yesterday can barely walk and its feet are clubbed. Sometimes it can get up, take a few steps very shakily, then faceplant. This doesn't seem like Mareks IMO. It seems to be happening one after the other. Is it possible a contagious virus can attack the nervous system like this? Or does it still sound like something vitamin-related?

 

[Eggcessive]

At this age, I would be suspicious of AE or avian encephalomyelitis. That can be passed through the egg from parents, or spread from chick to chick. If you can, do a search at the top of this page or on Google for AE in chickens for more information. With AE, there can be tremors in young chicks. You usually won't see new infections of it past a month of age. I would still treat them for a possible vitamin deficiency, and if they have any signs of coccidosis, think about treating with Corid. Cocci signs are weakness, lethargy, puffing up, diarrhea or blood in stools, and poor appetite. The state vet can do a necropsy for a cause of death if you lose any, and that might give some answers.

 

[chippysmom327]

At this age, I would be suspicious of AE or avian encephalomyelitis. That can be passed through the egg from parents, or spread from chick to chick. If you can, do a search at the top of this page or on Google for AE in chickens for more information. With AE, there can be tremors in young chicks. You usually won't see new infections of it past a month of age. I would still treat them for a possible vitamin deficiency, and if they have any signs of coccidosis, think about treating with Corid. Cocci signs are weakness, lethargy, puffing up, diarrhea or blood in stools, and poor appetite. The state vet can do a necropsy for a cause of death if you lose any, and that might give some answers.

It sounds just like AE, but there are no tremors. What would the "tremors" look like? Just kinda like shivering? Also, the chicks are over a month old, they're 5 weeks. I miscounted the weeks when I posted before.

If it is AE, can the chicks spread it back to other chickens? Will all of the babies that hatch from my flock have AE?

Their symptoms seem to best fit a Vitamin E deficiency, and I had some Vit. E capsules on hand. I fed it to the weak chick tonight. It got one drop in its mouth, and then literally started pecking at the capsule, and drank all the liquid inside in about 30 seconds. It was a 200 IU capsule, and the Merck Vet Manual online said that the symptoms go into remission after having 300 IU. However, I didn't want to overload the chick tonight because the capsule was 667% of the daily value for humans. I'll give another capsule tomorrow, and hopefully the symptoms will improve.