Chicks that cannot stand up

[WeeChick]

Hello,

My school have had one of those chick hatching programmes in (I do know these programmes are controversial so please can we not make this an argument about that - after this experience we won’t be doing it again!) and 3 of the 10 chicks that have hatched are unable to stand. They are now 4&5 days old, on the first day when I saw they were struggling I tried to make hobbles for them and have been feeding and watering them by hand, they have good appetite and seem to have a lot of fight in them but they are not getting much better and still cannot walk, one also doesn’t seem to be able to sit upright.
Can anybody advise me on what else I can do to help them?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Welcome To BYC

Can you post some photos of the chicks? If possible of them standing by themselves.

 

[WeeChick]

Here are some pictures the female seems the weakest, also a couple of other chicks just to show how much smaller these little guys are.

 

[Ivyrae]

it looks like they may have curly toes and/or spraddle leg..

we've had some chicks over the years with this issue and there are definitely some things you can do. I am currently nursing a friend's silkie chick back to health who is insanely small and had brutal curly toes.

we used 'vit vi sol' (no iron) baby (human baby) vitamins for her and I swear it saved her life. I picked it up at our local pharmacy.

we also made tiny little shoes out of bandaids to keep her toes flat and she is still able to scoot around in them. for spraddle leg you can also add a hobble to keep the legs together so they heal/grow properly.
some people also make awesome chairs/slings etc to support their bodies as their legs build strength.

the chick I am caring for was too stressed by the hobble so we removed it. however she is healing WONDERFULLY and eating and drinking on her own which last week didn't seem like it would ever ever happen.

1. vit v sol, 3-5 drops a day (have seen both doses on here). vitamin defiencies can cause leg issues so try that!

2. little shoes for their curly toes.

3. perhaps a hobble to keep their legs together (both of these you can google and/or find tons of folks on here explaining how to make them).

4. you may need to hand feed them as they build strength. we did egg yolk as that's all she'd eat the mixed with wet chick starter and am now doing mostly chick starter. she also drank best from a spoon until she got the strength and coordination to drink from the waterer.

 

[WeeChick]

Thank you, I’ve done them each a hobble since day 1, I took it off today to see how they did but I’ll make them some more. I will definitely try to do those foot plasters! Any tips on making a sling welcome!

 

[WeeChick]

I’ll try the vitamins too, I’ve been feeding them soaked chick crumbs from a spoon because I thought they would be easier to digest! Glad your little chick is doing so well, gives me hope for these guys!

 

[Ivyrae]

it looks like they may have curly toes and/or spraddle leg..

we've had some chicks over the years with this issue and there are definitely some things you can do. I am currently nursing a friend's silkie chick back to health who is insanely small and had brutal curly toes.

we used 'vit vi sol' (no iron) baby (human baby) vitamins for her and I swear it saved her life. I picked it up at our local pharmacy.

we also made tiny little shoes out of bandaids to keep her toes flat and she is still able to scoot around in them. for spraddle leg you can also add a hobble to keep the legs together so they heal/grow properly.
some people also make awesome chairs/slings etc to support their bodies as their legs build strength.

the chick I am caring for was too stressed by the hobble so we removed it. however she is healing WONDERFULLY and eating and drinking on her own which last week didn't seem like it would ever ever happen.

1. vit v sol, 3-5 drops a day (have seen both doses on here). vitamin defiencies can cause leg issues so try that!

2. little shoes for their curly toes.

3. perhaps a hobble to keep their legs together (both of these you can google and/or find tons of folks on here explaining how to make them).

4. you may need to hand feed them as they build strength. we did egg yolk as that's all she'd eat the mixed with wet chick starter and am now doing mostly chick starter. she also drank best from a spoon until she got the strength and coordination to drink from the waterer.

I’ll try the vitamins too, I’ve been feeding them soaked chick crumbs from a spoon because I thought they would be easier to digest! Glad your little chick is doing so well, gives me hope for these guys!

totally!! success stories are definitely helpful!

I didn't have much hope for this little one but still wanted to give her the best chance possible. the past couple of days there has been such an amazing improvement.

also, the cardboard shoes did help straighten her toes, but they were very difficult for her to get around as she got stronger.. so instead we just used the sticky part of bandaids which kept them just as straight but was way less debilitating for her! (one foot was worse than the other so she only has one now). I'll see if I have a photo I can send... hard to get them in photos lol!

also I will post a photo of her clutch mate so you can see how crazy of a runt she is. I hope that gives you some extra confidence!

 

[Ivyrae]

tough to get photos of her feet especially now that she is so quick! her legs are still wonky, but so so so so much better than they were. and she is now independently getting to her food and water. also I put her in seperate brooder with a younger silkie chick and they are now best friends. she is much less stressed having her buddy.

I hope these photos at least give you an idea of the bandaid-shoe. sorry for the info-overload just happy to share my experience!

again, good luck!!!

 

[WeeChick]

Thank you so much that’s really helpful and definitely helping me not give up hope!