Help! Sick chick!

[BluePolish5]

I have a 3 and a half week old Serama chick that, a couple days ago, couldn’t move his feet and it got worse and now he just lays down sleeping with his wings spread out and his feet keep trying to go up over his head? What can I do to save him?

 

[azygous]

It sounds like a form of wry neck or more accurately, torticollis. This is a common neurological disorder caused by a deficiency of vitamin E. Unless the chick is so unresponsive you can't get it to eat or drink, it's usually a quick fix to give it vitamin E oil .

You can sprinkle the oil onto a tiny piece of bread or give the oil by oral syringe. Use 400iu E capsules. Multi-poultry vitamins do not contain adequate amounts of E to treat this disorder. Once you get the oil into the chick, give it some finely mince boiled egg to help it absorb the E better.

This is not usually a deadly disorder unless the chick can't eat or drink and starves to death.

 

[BluePolish5]

It sounds like a form of wry neck or more accurately, torticollis. This is a common neurological disorder caused by a deficiency of vitamin E. Unless the chick is so unresponsive you can't get it to eat or drink, it's usually a quick fix to give it vitamin E oil .

You can sprinkle the oil onto a tiny piece of bread or give the oil by oral syringe. Use 400iu E capsules. Multi-poultry vitamins do not contain adequate amounts of E to treat this disorder. Once you get the oil into the chick, give it some finely mince boiled egg to help it absorb the E better.

This is not usually a deadly disorder unless the chick can't eat or drink and starves to death.

Does the selenium and vitamin E gel have enough? And how much should I give? Also where can I buy the 400iu E capsules? He’s at a point where he can’t even eat or drink on his own

 

[azygous]

Can the chick eat and drink if you help it? Is its eyes closed and unresponsive? If it's reached that point, it likely is too far gone from starvation to rescue.

Vitamin E is not a gel. It's oil and comes in gel caps. You buy it where people vitamins are sold. Vitamin E 400iu. Selenium can also be found there, but only a tiny sliver shaved off the tablet is needed. Egg also supplies the needed slenium if the chick can still eat.

 

[BluePolish5]

Can the chick eat and drink if you help it? Is its eyes closed and unresponsive? If it's reached that point, it likely is too far gone from starvation to rescue.

Vitamin E is not a gel. It's oil and comes in gel caps. You buy it where people vitamins are sold. Vitamin E 400iu. Selenium can also be found there, but only a tiny sliver shaved off the tablet is needed. Egg also supplies the needed slenium if the chick can still eat.

No I mean the goat vitamins, Selenium and vitamin E gel, for wry neck. I bought it and tried the vitamin E gel capsules but I think he is too far gone. He won’t eat on his own and will only drink with a dropper or if I put his beak in water. Could this be Marek’s?

 

[BluePolish5]

No I mean the goat vitamins, Selenium and vitamin E gel, for wry neck. I bought it and tried the vitamin E gel capsules but I think he is too far gone. He won’t eat on his own and will only drink with a dropper or if I put his beak in water. Could this be Marek’s?

I have another chick that I’m getting worried about because it seems a little off and kinda stumbles

 

[azygous]

Not Marek's. It doesn't develop symptoms until around three months.

You may have your brooder too hot. It's a common cause of chicks getting sick and weak. What is your heat source, how warm is it in there under the heat source and at the farthest point in the brooder, how large is your brooder, how many total chicks, what are they being given to eat?

 

[BluePolish5]

Not Marek's. It doesn't develop symptoms until around three months.

You may have your brooder too hot. It's a common cause of chicks getting sick and weak. What is your heat source, how warm is it in there under the heat source and at the farthest point in the brooder, how large is your brooder, how many total chicks, what are they being given to eat?

They were with the mom. They are being taken care of by her and I feed them starter grower 18% protein.

 

[Swbertrand1]

They were with the mom. They are being taken care of by her and I feed them starter grower 18% protein.

I'm familiar with the Selenium and Vitamin E you're talking about (see photo below). For some instant energy that might make giving Vitamin-E treatment easier, I'd try to get some electrolytes mixed in the chick's water into it first. Here's how to give liquids to a chick/chicken:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...dications-to-all-poultry-and-waterfowl.73335/

To the Vitamin-E:
If you're giving the product shown below, you'll need to measure the dosage in grams (g). A 2g dose will yield 400IU of Vitamin-E, 1g will yield 200IU, but it's not as easy a delivery to the chick as what azygous is talking about due to the volume of the mix needed AND that it's in a loose gel form that is harder to get in a chick's mouth. If you have an eye-dropper or syringe (without the needle), that will help deliver a dose of the gel. If you can't measure the dosage via a scale, it might help that a 2g dosage is about the size of two green peas, a single gram the size of one green pea. The Selenium is necessary for the absorption of the Vitamin-E...

If you wish to go with Vitamin-E geltabs Selenium tablets, they can be found at CVS, Walgreens, and/or other retailers that carry human vitamins. These stores will also have Selenium in 200mcg tablets (micrograms), OR use some friend egg for Selenium.

As azygous said, you'll use just a sliver of the Selenium tablet and a full geltab punctured to remove the liquid from inside. Squeeze the Vitamin-E on a piece of moist bread and sprinkle the Selenium that you've pulverized (we use some moistened Starter Feed mixed with Yogurt to get them to take the mix), and feed to the chick. You might need to hold the chick's mouth open to administer any of this therapy, but the good news is this:
THEY OFTEN IMPROVE IN A MATTER OF HOURS.

Let us know how it goes...

 

[Swbertrand1]

One last thing: If they're under a hen and struggling, the hen is likely going to discard them from the clutch because she sees them as not viable. Sadly, that's the way nature works :-(
If that's the case, then it's all the more urgent and important that you get them treated as quickly as you can. This may require you to remove them to a brooder box setup where they can get the care that you can give them until they recover. This will require a heat source, too, that maintains the temperature at about 90-95 degrees for their first week of life.