HELP!!! BABY CHICKS LEGS ARE NOT WORKING.

[Chicken2628]

My banatam chick has been having leg problems for the last few days now, and it seems to be getting worse. It doesn't even make an attempt to use it's legs to walk. It kicks in the air every once in a while but nothing too serious. It needs help getting food and water because when it moves, it just flops around. It looks like it lost some of it's thigh feathers. I just released it with my other chickens 3 days ago. It was only out of the brooder for a day before this happened. I am getting worried that it is Marekes' diesease. Is that a plausable answer? Any help is greatly appriecciated. Sorry for my spelling. It is a month old.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

I'd give vitamin e and selenium to see if it helped.

http://www.thepoultrysite.com/publications/6/diseases-of-poultry/218/vitamin-e-deficiency

http://www.merckmanuals.com/vet/pou..._poultry/vitamin_deficiencies_in_poultry.html
scroll to vit e

Here is a poultry vit e recommendation: browneggblueegg.com - articles- click on the "crookneck" article on left column to read vit e dosage they mention (I am not thinking this is crookneck but am referring you to the vit e mentioned on that page).

Worth a try anyway...sorry I don't know dosages myself.

 

[Chicken2628]

OK, thank you. I think it is getting worse, I am not sure. It's one leg doesn't really work. It is just straight. The other leg is fine compared to the other one. It sleeps with it's neck bend at like a 160 degree angle.

 

[roodle2]

Might be splay leg. If it is you can treat it with a Band-Aid, look on internet at ehow and they have a video on how to apply the tiny bandage. This worked great for me but does take a lot of attention. Good Luck.

 

[roodle2]

Sorry I didn't read far enough to see it was already a month old so not splay leg.

 

[Eggcessive]

ChickensAreSweet has some good advice. PolyVisol (no iron) baby vitamins are an easy way to get most vitamins into a chicken. Vitamin E and Selenium have to be added. Here is another good site for orthopedic issues: https://sites.google.com/a/poultrypedia.com/poultrypedia/poultry-podiatry

 

[amnich]

Mareks is possible I guess but if it lasted a month already then it would have to have been exposed to Marek's more recently (as opposed to catching it from a hatchery or wherever you got it from). Also you would need to separate the chick immediately, you probably should anyway because it might get picked on for being sick or injured.

Honestly if there were not a problem with the neck in addition to the leg, I would say go ahead and bring it inside and do some chicken physical therapy (chicken bicycle, chicken squats, chicken stretches, etc) because it probably got stepped on or something, but the bent neck is throwing me off.

Vitamin E would definitely explain the neck problem, but I haven't heard of it causing a leg to act funny. It is very possible that a vitamin E deficiency might be the cause of both problems, it's just that I don't know of a connection between that and the leg.

You could treat the chick with chicken PT for the leg and give it some vitamin supplements and hope that these two problems are unrelated. Most of the time if I notice a neck and leg injury at the same time, I find that the cause is usually neurological, which doesn't really make sense here because the chick lasted for a month with no other problems.

You might want to consider calling a diagnostic center to see what they have to say, or find a chicken vet. I live in CT and UConn has a diagnostic office that takes call-ins like this, I think most universities like that do. UConn's diagnostic number is (860) 486-3738. I'm sure they will take out of state calls, you might have to dial a 1 in front of the number or something.

 

[Chicken2628]

Ok, thank you. I think that it's neck is just the way it is sleeping now that I look at it closer. It can hold it's neck up fine without a problem; it is just when it sleeps sometimes. I got some vitamins today for it.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Ok, thank you. I think that it's neck is just the way it is sleeping now that I look at it closer. It can hold it's neck up fine without a problem; it is just when it sleeps sometimes. I got some vitamins today for it.

http://www.thepoultrysite.com/publications/6/diseases-of-poultry/216/vitamin-bi-deficiency
here is another vitamin deficiency link in case you need it

 

[Chicken2628]

Ok, thank you. It sounds like it just might be Vitamin B. I am trying Vitamin E now, so I will see how it goes. It seems to be getting better a little bit. It just started to kick both of it's legs last night for the first time in 2 days.