Head turning runt chick

[Sammbalina]

I have a runty chick hatched this past Tuesday that seems to be underweight(I know, kind of the definition of runt, but I have another runty chick that is smaller than the others but has meat on its bones) and is having a problem walking. It can’t seem to just walk, and instead runs and has little control of the direction it is going in. It seems to just run straight until it hits a barrier, then it adjusts, then does the same thing all over again. It also can’t seem to hold its head straight, and it slowly drifts to the left, it pulls back center, and does it again. I haven’t seen it eat much, though it has drank some water. And it sleeps almost constantly. I currently have it in a separate tank because I don’t want it to get trampled. Lost a runty one earlier today that I had noticed to be sleeping overly much like this one, and I was just hoping someone might could help. Could this be wry neck? The neck thing seems to be, but I’m not sure about the other symptoms.

 

[Erkenstein]

Could be wry neck. If you are having a lot of trouble with weak chicks, I'd look at the parents for health and diet.

Are you using anything in the water? I use Chickstart, which has probiotics (so mix with filtered water). You may want to get something with more vitamins in it since it could have a deficiency. Good luck!

 

[ChickNanny13]

2x Erkenstein Sounds like Wry Neck & you should look into the parents diet & not breed the two that are having these "runty" chicks.

Search Wry Neck in the search box .... It's a vitamin deficiency, this is what I have in my notes for Wry Neck - Vitamin E 400IU & Selenium 25mcg 2 - 3x day, Nutri Drench, Thiamine/Vitamin B1, tuna, liver

 

[Sammbalina]

This is my first ever batch of quail, and none of my other 60 chicks have any symptoms. In fact all the others are starting to grow pin feathers, and this one isn’t, and neither did the other one that passed.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Make sure your feed is fresh too.

 

[Sammbalina]

So far it is still alive. I have been adding nutridrench to all of their water, a bit more to his, and have given him pumpkin, which I have read has a lot of vitamin E, with some selenium added to it. He is still super small and still has some head turning, but seems to be recovering. I have taken a few of the smaller birds from the main group and put them with him because he screams all the time, I’m sure cause he is lonely. I am planning on putting the flock in the hutch next weekend and would really like to be able to put them in the hutch too, but I want them to be able to better compete with the bigger chicks, especially the runt. Is there anything I can add to their feed to help bulk them up a bit and help them grow a bit faster? They are on a 25% protein feed right now.

The pictures are the runts with one of the bigger birds thrown in to show size comparison. Crazy thing is, most of my smaller birds are the A&Ms, but they are all jumbo birds.

 

[ChickNanny13]

So CUTE