Day old chick laying stretched out

[morganalefae]

Hatched some eggs from my own flock and one of the chicks wobbles around not reallying using his legs all that much, he seems to favor his right side and will tip over he an either just lay on his side with his legs stretched out or he will manage to right himself wobble forward a bit and tip over again.

I will say I hatched out these chicks daddy myself almost a year ago and he (along with the other chicks) were fine. My flock health over all is very good no one is sick they have fresh food,water stuff to forage (2 of them hop a 5-6' tall fence and get over to the neighbours to eat his grass tho *shakes head*), they have been wormed prior to me deciding on hatching eggs from them and as well and no show signs of parasites.

The other chicks are doing just fine and they are all (for the most part) running around the plastic rabbit cage eating chick crumb and trying to figure out how to drink even tho I did the whole beak dip thing. This one chick is the only problem child if you will.

What could be causing him do list to his right and tip over and lay either stretched out stiff as a board or stuggle to right himself? to be fair I did not expect him to make it through last night and thought I would find his body, he was also the last one to hatch to.

 

[ChickNanny13]

Check his legs, are they mobile or stiff? It could be vitamin deficiency or splayed. It won't hurt, you could start him on some Nutri Drench or children's PolyVisol (no iron) 1 drop 3x day, side of the beak, mash some boiled egg yolk with it's feed. You could also make a sling that he can sit in with legs extending barely touching the floor. Do some exercising to keep his legs mobile. He just may need more time to strengthen.

You can search the forum for a picture of the sling and what to do for splayed legs.

 

[morganalefae]

I don't think it's splayed egg as he does keep his legs under him. His legs don't feel stiff either even when he is stretched out.. what is nutri drence n polyvisol?

 

[ChickNanny13]

Sorry, just noticed you're not in the USA ...
Nutri Drench is a Poultry Vitamin. Polyvisol is baby vitamins.
Is there a feed store or where you get your feed from, ask if they have any vitamins for chickens. Or birds. Try feeding the chick boiled egg yolk mixing with it's feed & some water, making like mush.

 

[morganalefae]

I'll see about baby vitamins with no irom. We have feed store ( country farm shops) not sure if the one we go to has anything like that.. think I'll try Amazon they normally have everything. Ya UK hard not being in the USA and more might be easier to get a lot of the stuff for chickens then lol

 

[ChickNanny13]

Yup, Amazon is my go to shop also. Living in Hawaii and not in the Continental USA makes for difficult shopping too

 

[morganalefae]

Just noticed on a closer inspection this chick does not hold its right wing close to it's body nor does it pull it back if it's extended.. could it be broken or under developed? if broken how do you fix that? or would it be kinder to cull?

 

[ChickNanny13]

That's a hard call that only you can make Does sound like the muscles may to be under developed or just weak, if not broken. Not sure if there's a fix Sorry you're having to go through this

 

[morganalefae]

Well i now wonder if the chick is female. I say this because after I saw the wing issue I tried getting it to drink water a few times I did not try to feed it at that point but put chick crumb near it to see if it would try and eat I also put it near the rabbit cage wall to hold the wing in.

And we'll to make a long story short it's running around with it's hatch mates like nothing is wrong. Drama queen that one is lol

 

[ChickNanny13]

Glad to hear it ... Sometimes it's best to wait & see.