I am having an issue with one of my five month old chicks

[Dingo]

Adina has been acting wierd she hangs her head and walks backwards. Today I went out and she couldnt get up she rolled to her back and kicked . when she did get up she seemed to be standing on her tiptoes not placing her foot flat on the ground
does anyone have experience with this and know what I can do? We do not have a local exotic vet available.

 

[Dingo]

It's looking like she may have lysosomal storage disease. She doesn't seem to be able to get up at all at this point, she's not eating or drinking, and will probly be euthanized tomorrow.

 

[chicmom]

I've heard of chickens having this problem, and it is caused by a vitamin D deficiency......could you try vitamins first? Liquid vitimans right into her beak?

I am not an expert....grasping for straws but it just might work!

 

[Dingo]

I'll get some poly-visol w/o iron today, how much would you give to a 5 month old emu?

 

[chickenzoo]

Could she have gotten into some moldy feed? Moldy feed causes chickens to hang their heads on the ground, stumble and be off balance, weakness etc.... Molassas flush is often used.....

 

[Dingo]

I found a vet that was willing to come out and check her, her assesment was it was irreversible and the fact that it was slowly progressing and she was off food/water for a few days we agreed it was kindest to end her suffering. We spent about 30 minutes going back and forth on possibilities and it came down to us agreeing that it sounded most like lysosomal storage disease.
They've never been given moldy feed, and if they had Quoba would probly have been sick as well.
While the vet was here we tried getting her up and she started having a siezure, which she didn't fully recover from and sat there weaving her head with her eyes shut we then put her down. RIP little Adina.
Adinas on the left.

ETA pics

 

[chickenzoo]

I'm so sorry........

You did the kindest thing for her but it must be so hard. What causes this and how or if it can be prevented ?

 

[Dingo]

It's an inherited disease the vet made it sound like a recessive type, the gene has to be inherited from both parents to effect the young. I would assume some sort of genetic testing of the breeding pair could be done if they knew what to look for, and form pairs accordingly. The disease typically starts causing problems between 5-8 months of age and is fatal.

 

[chickenzoo]

So heartbreaking! I am so sorry for you and Quoba..... I so enjoyed your pics of you raising them up.

I could not even imagine losing Jazzy........ don't even want to think about it.

 

[Supreme Emu]

Dingo,

ah, dear. Nice looking birds, too, from the photos.

Supreme Emu