Help! Baby chicken sick, head down, loss of balance

[HomeGrownChick]

My 6 week old Australorp baby is acting very sick. She is curling her head completely under her, has even lost her balance when trying to move about and did a summersault. I've put her in a box inside the dog kennel brooder she's been living to keep the others from disturbing her while she has the heat lamp on above. I took her out and held her for a while earlier, she perked up for a few minutes afterward, but she's now back to sleeping with her head tucked completely underneath her. Anyone know what this might be, or what to do? I live a long way from the nearest Vet and since it's cold outside today I'm worried about transporting her. Any ideas anyone? Please help!

 

[Bush Chickens]

sugar water is a good start,if she wont drink it herself,use a dropper

just remember to give only a little at a time. good luck

 

[HomeGrownChick]

sugar water is a good start,if she wont drink it herself,use a dropper

just remember to give only a little at a time. good luck

Thank you sooo much Bush Chickens for your fast response! I fed her the sugar water throughout the day thanks to your suggestion, spent some time holding her and comforting her, she's not totally back but MUCH better now than she was this morning. She's now moving about on her own, and standing occasionally which she couldn't do at all earlier.

 

[Bush Chickens]

yay for chickie!your welcome

 

[Llovesherchics]

I hope your chick is doing well. It sounds similar to what one of mine went through. I don't know what it was. I couldn't find any answers and at the time I was not aware of this website either. If you find out anything, please share. I gave my little guy antibiotics and babied him like crazy. It took at least a couple of weeks for the symptoms to go away. I wish you the best.

 

[HomeGrownChick]

Baby "Strella" is doing much better, however, she is still backing up with her head down and doing the summersault thing occasionally. It really concerns me. She didn't seem to fare well away from the others, and the chicken expert at the local feed store suggested I put a small stuffed animal in with her while keeping her separated. She loves the stuffed bunny and snuggles with it when she sleeps however she's still in the same crate as the rest, she just sleeps away from them on her own. I've been separating her for feeding and giving her a mash of organic starter feed, that has some Vitamin E squeezed from a capsule into it along with a little sugar and a couple of drops of B Vitamins and spring water in the mix. She's getting concentrated vitamins, water and food all at once and she seems to be improving significantly!

Thanks for the support and suggestions! I don't know what she has but whatever it is, she seemed near death 4 days ago and now she's interacting with the others and has started eating on her own from the food and water shared with the others. Yaaayyy!!! I'm going to keep babying her until she's completely back to normal but thankfully I only noticed 1 episode of backing up this morning.

If any of you have any ideas on other things I should try, please let me know. I got these ideas for how to treat her from my local feed store, from other posts on this site, and from scouring the Internet. I can't believe how attached I've grown to these little ladies and I can't bare to see her struggle! Your thoughts, comments, and ideas are GREATLY appreciated!!!

 

[Bush Chickens]

exactly what do you mean"backing up"? smart store guy,some chickies LOVE stuffed animals

i'm super glad shes feeling better!

 

[Llovesherchics]

Baby "Strella" is doing much better, however, she is still backing up with her head down and doing the summersault thing occasionally. It really concerns me. She didn't seem to fare well away from the others, and the chicken expert at the local feed store suggested I put a small stuffed animal in with her while keeping her separated. She loves the stuffed bunny and snuggles with it when she sleeps however she's still in the same crate as the rest, she just sleeps away from them on her own. I've been separating her for feeding and giving her a mash of organic starter feed, that has some Vitamin E squeezed from a capsule into it along with a little sugar and a couple of drops of B Vitamins and spring water in the mix. She's getting concentrated vitamins, water and food all at once and she seems to be improving significantly!

Thanks for the support and suggestions! I don't know what she has but whatever it is, she seemed near death 4 days ago and now she's interacting with the others and has started eating on her own from the food and water shared with the others. Yaaayyy!!! I'm going to keep babying her until she's completely back to normal but thankfully I only noticed 1 episode of backing up this morning.

If any of you have any ideas on other things I should try, please let me know. I got these ideas for how to treat her from my local feed store, from other posts on this site, and from scouring the Internet. I can't believe how attached I've grown to these little ladies and I can't bare to see her struggle! Your thoughts, comments, and ideas are GREATLY appreciated!!!

It does sound exactly like what biscuit had. A stuffed animal in with her? That's a great idea. Biscuit didn't seem to mind being my himself but it would have been good for him anyway. When I finally put him back with the others he let them know he was boss. Overcompensating for the weakness I guess? In his recovery though he had some days that were better than others which was discouraging. But he did fully recover. I'm sorry I didn't really have any answers but it seems like you got a lot of great advice. I certainly struggled with feeling so helpless watching Biscuit go through that. Not knowing what it is and how exactly to treat it is a bummer. I guess you could say that I am still bothered by that. Give her lots of love.

I know you will.

 

[HomeGrownChick]

exactly what do you mean"backing up"? smart store guy,some chickies LOVE stuffed animals

i'm super glad shes feeling better!

She puts her head down completely underneath her body and almost runs backward until she hits the other side of the cage, then tumbles, tail up and flips over like a summersault... it's really REALLY a sad thing to watch. She has had good days and not so good days, but the first two were absolutely the worst. She's not having many episodes at this point, but I'm still very cautious. I really thought she wasn't going to make it at first. Thanks for your well wishes!!! I'm SOOOO happy to see her improving so quickly!

She's now in with the rest, but they've ALL adopted the stuffed animal, and when she's not feeling good I find her away from the flock with the stuffed bunny cuddled up against her.

It's really cute!

 

[HomeGrownChick]

It does sound exactly like what biscuit had. A stuffed animal in with her? That's a great idea. Biscuit didn't seem to mind being my himself but it would have been good for him anyway. When I finally put him back with the others he let them know he was boss. Overcompensating for the weakness I guess? In his recovery though he had some days that were better than others which was discouraging. But he did fully recover. I'm sorry I didn't really have any answers but it seems like you got a lot of great advice. I certainly struggled with feeling so helpless watching Biscuit go through that. Not knowing what it is and how exactly to treat it is a bummer. I guess you could say that I am still bothered by that. Give her lots of love.

I know you will.

How old was Biscuit when he went through this? You indicated the symptoms lasted a couple of weeks? That's comforting to know it didn't trail on for a long time. I'm so glad to hear he fully recovered, that gives me hope she won't have permanent problems from this! Thanks for your feedback, it's always great to hear from someone else who has been through it. She's getting so much love she's becoming a bit spoiled, though! Guess that's not such a bad thing...