Curled up toes and walking in a squat position--Help?

[100AcreFarm]

Quote:
I believe you said they are getting chick food? This should only be given to them till they are 8 weeks old. Then grower feed till about 18 weeks or until they start laying. Then onto layer feed. It could be a vitamin deficiency because they are getting the wrong type of feed. Switch their feed and give them vitamin supplements.

Ya know, when I ran out of the first 50# of chick crumbles I asked at the feed store if I should move up to a different kind of feed. They told me that since I am raising them for eggs and not meat, what I was already giving them was just fine and keep them on it until they start laying. I'm figuring that's maybe like a month or 2 off yet (?) Today when I went in to buy another bag of feed and mentioned they were nearly 4 months old I was told to go ahead and use layer feed so that's what I bought. I have 2-3 more days worth of the chick feed left so I think I'll just go ahead and switch them to the layer feed and use what's left of the chick feed as a type of scratch. Or would it be better to get a bag of grower for this intermediate time until they start to lay?

 

[mrbstephens]

Quote:
I believe you said they are getting chick food? This should only be given to them till they are 8 weeks old. Then grower feed till about 18 weeks or until they start laying. Then onto layer feed. It could be a vitamin deficiency because they are getting the wrong type of feed. Switch their feed and give them vitamin supplements.

Ya know, when I ran out of the first 50# of chick crumbles I asked at the feed store if I should move up to a different kind of feed. They told me that since I am raising them for eggs and not meat, what I was already giving them was just fine and keep them on it until they start laying. I'm figuring that's maybe like a month or 2 off yet (?) Today when I went in to buy another bag of feed and mentioned they were nearly 4 months old I was told to go ahead and use layer feed so that's what I bought. I have 2-3 more days worth of the chick feed left so I think I'll just go ahead and switch them to the layer feed and use what's left of the chick feed as a type of scratch. Or would it be better to get a bag of grower for this intermediate time until they start to lay?

Mix the remainder of the chick feed with some of the layer....like 50/50. This will get them used to the new feed.

 

[100AcreFarm]

I really appreciate the advice I've been given today. It's made me do some disease research and thinking through what I've been doing right and wrong.

I THINK (and I hope I'm right

), that I've been sort of slowly starving them a bit. I've been working so many hours lately and otherwise being away from home during the day. I put what I thought was a pretty nice amount of feed in their feeder before I leave in the morning and by the time they put themselves to bed at night there's not much left. Then when I let them back out in the morning before I leave they go charging out to the feeder like they haven't been fed in a month! DUH!!

I'll work on getting them well fed up with a good boost of nutrients and hope that's the ticket and maybe they'll forgive me! I have to wonder though, if the one chicken's problem is due to malnutrition...and the feed store offered that as a possibility too...why is it only one and not the others?

This scenario would probably be the easiest fix I'm assuming. Better than a disease of some sort anyway.

 

[chickenbottom]

Quote:
if its only her and not the others the problem is shes getting the least amount of feed. if thats the case at all. glad you found your problem good luck

 

[threehorses]

By the way, curled toes and hock-walking are most often a clear sign of B vitamin deficiency. I would put her on the feed appropriate for her age (see next paragraph). And then I would make a treat of a B-complex vitamin (crushed tablet) and mix that with boiled egg yolk and yogurt, cooked oatmeal, a tiny amount and feed that to her for a week. Alternately, you could get her NutriDrench for Poultry at the feed store (TSC carries it) as it has a higher level of B vitamins in it than the normal poultry vitamin. In that case, I'd treat her with it for 2 weeks. A normal poultry vitamin/mineral might work but I'd really want to see the B vitamins hit this week to get her in shape. She needs to get over this quickly as she's approaching laying age fast.

By the way, she's quite red in the comb and a laying breed. I would have layer and possibly start just feeding her that now. She will need the calcium. Feeding her the yogurt this week daily should help jumpstart the calcium absorbtion, and she should have oyster shell free choice - all laying hens should, even while on laying pellets.

Laying feed is designed for a scientically average hen - while our flocks contain more than theoretical hens. The feed manufacturers can't put the additional calcium in the feed that some hens need (because it would harm the average hen) so we give the hens oyster shell, NOT egg shells, free choice to allow the hens that need more to instinctively select more oyster. Crushed oyster shell is best as it contains solid bits and "flour" that can be used on first time layers as a little supplement to their feed once or twice. Feed it free choice in a small cat-food bowl, the type that is cheap and plastic and square (like the dollar store has) and has two holes. Put your granite grit in the other hole. it keeps the stuff clean and tip-free.

She's a lovely gal. I'd love to hear how she does.

 

[100AcreFarm]

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In response to the bolded statement above...as a human who takes B Complex myself I can't imagine it as a treat because to me it tastes absolutely horrid!

But then I detest plain yogurt too and my girls practically stand on their beaks for it!
I'll give it a try. I have pretty much everything on hand that you're suggesting and can get the oyster shell and grit on Monday. Shoot, I probably even have a two-holer cat dish around here somewhere too!

And thank you, I think she and her 2 sisters of the same breed are beautiful. I just love the color blend in their feathers!

 

[chicknmania]

I am dealing with the same thing. I think mine has Marek's though, as she has been declining over the past few months, getting a bit worse every couple weeks. Now she's very bad and can't walk at all. It is heart breaking to see and we have been doing the vitamins/yogurt/scrambled egg thing with no success. So we are planning to have her put down,not sure if we're going to do a necropsy, here it is expensive. If I were you I would try polyvisol or poultry vits such as Aviacharge, and yogurt and scrambled eggs, also 1/2 baby aspirin twice a day. Marek's is bad, if that's what you have, but our experience has been that there are a lot of neurological issues in chickens.

 

[hinkjc]

This doesn't look like the classic case of Mareks at all. I agree with a vitamin deficiency or some kind of malnutrition. It may not be due to how you feed them, but just how their body is operating. Not all birds absorb nutrients the same and some need our assistance to help them along. A good nutritional feed plan and vitamin supplements are helpful in resolving this. If this is what's going on, you should start to see improvement rather quickly as you add what she needs. Her condition could be bad because she is low on the pecking order as well, so making sure there is plenty of feed and feeding space is essential.

For those who mentioned Mareks, I think folks are very quick to jump to this conclusion. I will say that from what I have read, most birds die from Mareks and do not recover. Those that do recover, it is a long drawn out process and the average person puts them down before it ever happens because the bird appears to be suffering or very well may be. There is no magical cure for Mareks. It's typically a death sentence, as it is cancer. This is one thing I don't like about self-diagnosing. If you want to confirm you have mareks, a necropsy is necessary and it is easy to visually see on internal organs. It is also very contagious, so typically more than one bird will be symptomatic. http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/index.jsp?cfile=htm/bc/203602.htm&word=marek

Best wishes for a speedy recovery for your girl.

 

[threehorses]

Quote:
This, and weight loss, sounds a lot like Marek's or Leukosis unfortunately.

There are a lot of other situations that do cause what either are neurological symptoms, or weakness that appears to be neurological symptoms.

Chickens are tricky.

Chicknmania, I'm very sorry to hear about your bird. If you are at all considering a necropsy, it's best to call and email around now and find out where to get it done, if they require a live bird (some do) or a carcass and (if a carcass) how to store/present the bird. Better to have the information ahead of time than trying to find it within hours when you're very very upset. /hugs

Let me know if I can be of assistance if you decide to research.

 

[chicknmania]

Thank you. The state of Ohio charges for a necropsy and it is not cheap although I had them done before a few years ago and it was very informative. In this case I decided to wait and hope that we dodged a bullet....since I'm not sure if they diagnosed Marek's what I could do about it anyway besides what I normally would, disinfect wherever possible and feed as well as I can...it is heartbreaking though struggling to save one because the more you try to save them, the more attached you become, unfortunately. My teenage daughters and I are having a rough time with this one...she was a cutie. btw we had another pullet a year and a half ago we did not hatch here, we got her at an auction and she developed identical symptoms to the one we just dealt with, just her decline was slower, but in the end she did die. We thought she had a malabsorption issue and maybe she did, since no other flock members ever developed any symptoms.