Dying chick - help requested - paralyzed suddenly

[kristenm1975]

I have a 3 week old Sicilian Buttercup that I purchased from the feed store (not sure if she's been vaccinated). She's been totally fine and healthy, growing well up until I checked on her tonight. She didn't run like the others when I reached into the brooder to refill the water. She seemed to be paralyzed, or at least unable to control movements of her legs. She was pedaling one leg rythmically and the other seems to have to abilty to move.

I've taken her inside the house with me and have given her about a dozen droppersful of sugar water. She's breathing, and opens her eyes every once in a while, and did swallow the water, although she'd shake her head if she got too much.

Shes been on chick starter and had the heat lamp, everything else normal. Help? Thanks!

 

[Kittymomma]

I don't know, but vitamins may help. I think it almost hast to be either neurological or a vitamin deficiency. Try some poly-visol (infant liquid vitamins) WITHOUT iron. I think the dose for a chick is 1 drop 3x a day, but would double check to be sure. It won't hurt anything and might help.

They can be very sensitive to fumes of all sorts, but if that was the case I'd think more of your chicks would be having problems. Please update if anything else develops and I'll check before work tomorrow. If nothing else I'll give you a bump in the a.m. when more people are online so maybe someone else will see this and be able to help.

 

[Kittymomma]

Anybody else have any ideas? I haven't seen this before.

 

[ilovebuffs]

I'm not 100% sure...but it sounds like it could be Mareks disease. I had some last year that we got from a breeder around here that got it. It started with paralyzation and got progressively worse. I would try the vitamins-it definitely won't hurt. They get to where they can't move to get food and water and die from starvation and dehydration. I know there are some people on here that say you can use the herb Hypericum to treat Mareks. I've never used it. But try to do a search on BYC and see if it's something you want to try. I'm sorry you have to go through this. Hopefully it's just a vitamin deficiency

Good luck! I'll be checking in.

 

[kristenm1975]

Thank you for the advice! I checked her out a little more after I posted and it looks like she isn't truly paralyzed, just really weak. I checked and her little breastbone is sticking out pretty bad. I feel awful. I think she's suffering from starvation and dehydration on top of whatever is causing her inability to stand and walk around. I check on the chicks about 4 times a day, make sure they have a constant supply of food and fresh water, but I stopped picking them all up once a day as I had been doing. I would have noticed otherwise. I think the inability to walk is new though, maybe only since a day ago. That I would have noticed for sure.

I will absolutely stop and pick up some hypericum and some liquid vitamins without iron. Thank you for the tips! At this point, I've been feeding her sugar water, soy creamer cut with water for the fat content, and will also start feeding her something like baby rice cereal prepared thinly so she can take it from a dropper. I hope this helps soon!

 

[Kittymomma]

Sounds like a plan. Does she have a crossed beak or anything that might make it hard for her to eat? You can give her some scrambled eggs too, they like them and it's good for them so it can be a nice jump start.

 

[kristenm1975]

Scrambled eggs, that's a great idea! No, thankfully she doesn't have a crossed beak.

I just talked to the feed store where I picked her up and they said that their chicks are not vaccinated, but that the chick starter they sold me is medicated. So that makes this even more of a puzzler.

On the up side, I just talked to my hubby who's at home with her and he said she's actually shrugged off the towel she was wrapped up in and is on her feet, although not precisely standing. Yay! Sounds like progress to me. I had him put a water dish in there so she can try to get some fluids in on her own. I'll continue to use the eye-dropper though until she's put on some weight.

Crossing my fingers about this little one! I'll see if I can post some pics and videos to show what she's doing and what she looks like. She looks physically perfect, aside from being too skinny. I'll be curious to see if anyone else sees something I missed.

 

[Kittymomma]

There are two common vacs. one for Mareks and one for cocci. It could still be Mareks, but I would think that would come on later and they seem to get draggy for a day or two before being paralyzed. I think there is a variety of Mareks that strikes younger chicks, but if that was what was going on I'd expect that most of yours would be down with it and that doesn't seem to be the case. Good luck with her and don't forget to update--You never know when the answers you find will help someone else down the road.

 

[ilovebuffs]

Of the chicks that we got last year, 12 in all, I had only one get the Mareks at a time-for a total of 2 that died. It usually only hits the weak ones. A change in temp. or any "stress" can bring it on. I hope the Hypericum and vitamins will help. Good luck!

 

[kristenm1975]

Update: I started her on night and morning feeds of infant rice cereal mixed with water and yogurt, as well as the hypericum dissolved in a watered down Emergen-C multivitamin drink. She isn't able to make her way to the food and water so all of her intake is via eye-dropper. I have seen her peck at the chick starter I have around her, but only a piece or two of the crumble at a time, not enough to nourish really.

I did a more thorough physical exam of her last night after her first big feed of the cereal and found a couple of things. First, there was a fluid swelling on her upper right breast. I'm assuming that was all the food I just put into her, swelling up her crop. Second, around her vent she had a white crust. I cleaned that all off to make sure she was able to poop.

After her feed, she pooped for the first time in two or three days, all liquid and really foul smelling, green mixed with white. She also threw up a bit of the food she'd taken.

I may have already mentioned this in earlier posts, but she seems to almost instantly fall asleep or lose consciousness when she's wrapped up in a towel and put on her back for feeds. This morning, when I laid her back down in her box, her feet were stuck straight out and quivering nonstop like a seizure of some sort. She was still doing it when I left for work, even though she was asleep.

I really appreciate the tips!