INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[Leahs Mom]

I posted this quite some time ago, but thought it might be useful to you to read through so going to repost here:

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When I first heard about various "B" vitamins having an effect on leg issues w/chickens was a few years ago in one of Joel Salatin's books. Here is some info that is very interesting on riboflavin in young chicks in particular. I think if you click on the images they will come up large enough to read.

Quote:
Pastured Poultry Profits
Author: Joel Salatin
Chapter 26 In It's Entirety
For Educational Purposes Only. No copyright infringement intended










Someone had remarked earlier how they wondered how the birds could be fine one day and not able to walk the next. In another part of JS book, he mentioned that was what happened. One day they were in that condition. After feeding the liver, they recovered quite quickly as well.


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This is another link that talks about some of the leg issues and causes. Note particularly the info on vitamins. There are various issues that "usually" affect birds during specific age ranges as a "rule of thumb". There exceptions to the rule of thumb however.



DISCLAIMER: I JUST RE-READ THROUGH THE INFORMATION ON THE LINK I WAS GOING TO POST AND THE INFO ON IT HAS CHANGED QUITE A BIT SINCE I ORIGINALLY POSTED IT. SOME OF THESE THINGS I CAN'T RECOMMEND AND DECIDED TO REMOVE THE LINK FROM THIS POST AS I DIDN'T WANT TO ENDORSE IT BY POSTING.

FOR EXAMPLE, IN ONE PLACE THEY MENTIONED REMOVING TAPE FROM HOBBLES USING "GOO-GONE" IF OTHER MEANS DIDN'T WORK. THIS IS A VERY STRONG, CHEMICAL PRODUCT THAT SHOULD NEVER BE USED ON A BIRD AND ESPECIALLY SHOULDN'T BE USED ON A CHICK!!! THE BIRDS DEFINITELY SHOULDN'T BE EXPOSED TO EVEN THE FUMES OF THIS PRODUCT. EVEN FOR DIFFICULT-TO-REMOVE TAPE THERE ARE MUCH SAFER WAYS.

THERE WERE A FEW OTHER THINGS THAT WERE QUESTIONABLE ENOUGH IN MY MIND THAT I DIDN'T WANT TO BE "RECOMMENDING" IT. BUT THERE WERE MANY GOOD THINGS AS WELL. IF ANYONE WANTS THE LINK, PM ME.

 

[kittydoc]

QUICK (NOT SO NATURAL) APPROACH:
Children's poly-vi-sol NO ADDED IRON. Add to the drinking water. You can also dose this particular kiddo directly. (I say "not so natural" as these are synthetics but folks have good luck with them working.)

NATURAL APPROACH:
Get some liver and chop it into very tiny, chick-sized pieces. Feed raw. (Get some good quality liver from a grass-fed source if possible.) Folks have seen a turn-around when feeding the raw liver within a day. (I routinely give my baby chicks some raw liver a couple times a week.)

Brewers yeast is also a good source of the nutrients needed. Lewis Labs is the only source I know that grows their yeast on a non-gmo substrate and doesn't add anything to it. You can mix it in with the feed or feed it by itself. I find that if I put some in a little dish, they love eating it plain. Not sure if a little chick would take it that way as I haven't used it with the babies.

I owe you one!! I didn't think to check for nutritional deficiency because I am pretty anal about making sure that we feed high quality stuff. I have had my breeders on flock raiser plus provide calcium all the time (and it disappears!), and it's a "brand name" feed. In fact, the flock raiser is the most costly feed we buy (by the pound). It would help if the breeder flock liked treats. They are morons. The only thing they'll eat besides dry feed are tomatoes (when we have them in season). My layer flock eats all the fruits and vegetables we offer them!

Besides the PolyVisol, which I will continue, I'll pick up some beef liver (grass fed if I can get close to Whole Foods or the like) soon. And even though it isn't good for the roos, I may just put the breeders back on what we feed the layers--layer pellets plus cat food as a treat, which even the breeders will eat since it's a "pellet." I added the cat food to see if it would improve shell quality, and it did, even though they don't get tons of it, just a double handful per 10 birds once a day. We're just using cheap Meijer brand cat food (we wouldn't feed it to our cats, but chickens not being cats, we figure it's fine).

I hope this little chick turns around. It sounds like, from reading the deficiency information, that the hobbles might be good to keep the legs in place so things don't get worse. I have the chick on very soft bedding too (old fashioned cloth diaper folded into several layers).

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

morning everyone...still waiting on the last bird to hatch looks like its malpositioned...so i have been taking pieces of every 4 hours...and it still has no chance on helping itself out...its starting to fluff up in the shell....ill keep everyone posted but...i think it will finish hatching by itself now...hopefully

Good luck, sending hatching vibes

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

I need help of the more experienced poultry kings and queens on this thread. As a veterinarian, I hate to have to throw medical questions to the group because I feel like I should know, or be able to find the answer at least, in this case, I have been unsuccessful.

I have a 36 hour old chick that can't stand. On either leg. It is NOT splayed/spraddled (I wish it were that simple). It does NOT have curled toes. This completes my diagnostic powers--I know what it isn't. Based on photos I've seen, it also is not perosis (slipped tendon).

So I expect this chick to get up and start moving around well after it gets dry. It doesn't. It can move both legs and both feet, but it only moves around by wriggling with its body pretty much flat on the brooder bottom surface. It "sits up" by holding itself up on the backs of its hocks/ankles. When it's flat, it doesn't seen to be able to pick up its head, but it can hold its head up when it "sits back" or when I hold it. Basically, its leg muscles just feel weak to me. It has sensation in its feet.

It's a big, heavy chick (probably a cockerel based on its thick legs and giant feet). It peeps a TON when it is awake because it is aware of its distress.

I have hobbled it for splay leg even though that isn't the problem (I've had a couple of these, so I know what it looks like and it's always responded quickly). I started PolyVisol without iron drops today after reading a few articles online plus posts on BYC. It can't hurt.

Does ANYONE know what I'm looking at? Any additional ideas? I figure it will either get better (or not) within 4-6 days, and if it doesn't, I'll cull it (or sooner if it starts to suffer). It is bright and alert now.

I am very bad and usually assist with hatching. After this chick pipped, I waited over 12 hours, then slowly chipped it out partway, made sure it looked OK (yolk sac absorbed), then slipped it into the world. It was Day 22. If its legs were like this in the shell, which I can only assume they were, it would never have kicked itself out and probably died.

If I could figure out how to do it, I have been tempted to "sling it" with its feet just touching the ground. I don't know if that would help or not. I tried to splint both legs with soft bandages, but they were too bulky and the chick had even more trouble moving around because of the bulk of the bandage. I have not tried a less bulky wrap (like just a layer or two of Vetwrap) around its hocks, but might get up and try that now.

It's a spunky chick because it fights me all the way! Fortunately, right now it only shares quarters with one other chick hatched the previous day, and it generally leaves the sick one alone and goes about its own business.

TIA for any and all suggestions. This one is just a head scratcher for me. Whether it makes it or not, I always try to learn something that may benefit my chickens (or those of others) in the future.

@kittydoc
This sounds like typical symptoms that come with a B vitamin deficiency. Riboflavin deficiency is the most usual culpret. (Take a look at the section on Riboflavin on http://www.merckmanuals.com/vet/pou..._poultry/vitamin_deficiencies_in_poultry.html )

Niacin also comes into play in these situations.

eTA:
HIT ENTER TOO QUICKLY. I'LL CONTINUE IN A SECOND POST.

Quote: It sounds like if there is a vitamin deficiency, you should see results pretty fast. Good luck with your chick.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Chick radar report via my DH! TSC anderson has amberlink pullets, some other "layer pullet assorted", "ameruacana", mixed bantams, cornish cross and mallard ducklings.
To give you an idea on my DH "enabling me", he bought me home 6 discounted mallard ducklings

they were over 2 weeks old...Ugh, ya he did it! He knows how worried I am right now, but he didn't want me to miss the opportunity. He knows I love the breed.
FYI, they have the mallards marked down to $2, cornish cross were at 50 cents each. Very glad he didn't buy out the CX, he said there was a bin full! I have BBB turkeys coming in 2 weeks, NOT the time to be brooding CX also. If anyone is going to purchase any, highly recommend calling first.
He is trying to convince me to keep all the duck breeds. He likes having the biggest freezer full and its nearly empty now. Still hoping to get up to Muncie this weekend and check on what they have out. I will be looking for seed potatoes and vidalia onion sets. I told him, nooooo chicks, keets, ducks, goslings, poults..NO. This time I am going!

 

[Indyshent]

Well, I wish I had your reserve. I just came back from RK Shlbyville with six more (minimum purchase). I have four of what are very probably Dark Brahmas, one Jersey Giant and one miscellaneous red chick with chipmunk stripes and a red beak. I love Brahmas, and these chicks were especially fluffy and had very fluffy feet. I'm a sucker for it. And they're all Straight Run... something I said I would never buy. Dark Brahmas just aren't available any other way, I suppose. Pretty sure already one's a roo, but I kinda expect a high percentage of them. All $1.39 with a BOGO rebate.

I've wanted Jersey Giants since I first heard about them and have been in love with Dark Brahma hens since I laid eyes on pictures of one (never got to see one in the flesh... until hopefully now). Majority of them had bad cases of impacted vents (poor bitties were bleeding!), but they seem to be doing better now that I've unplugged them and set them to dry under the heat lamp.


I have them in the smaller brooder with two 3-wk-old chicks who are barely bigger than them (and aren't supposed to be bantams!) One of those is an Australorp; the other is supposed to be a Light Brahma. The Australorp finally seems to be gaining some weight/size, but the bitty Brahma is just lagging. It reminds me of my mille fleur D'uccle from last year, but isn't as domineering (lotta 'tude, though). Part of their issue is that they want to crowd in with the bigger chicks instead of under a heat lamp when they're cold, so I just don't think they're getting enough to eat or staying warm enough (which is why I've moved them).


Side note: I'm trying to get terra cotta pots painted for moms and grandmas for Mother's Day well in advance so I can get bulbs and seeds to sprout and be purdy in time. Mother-in-law loves roosters, so I decided to paint a Phoenix for her. The black stuff in front of him are his tail feathers which have trailed all along the bottom of the pot.


And after coloring...

 

[bradselig]

So I had a pair of Bantam cochins shipped to me on Monday. They still haven't arrived . I just woke up from a pretty funny and odd dream and decides to check tracking again. They had just arrived and left indy! I am very nervous to go to PO and open this box. I really hope they made it! So much for their Express mail!

 

[Acornewell]

So I had a pair of Bantam cochins shipped to me on Monday. They still haven't arrived

. I just woke up from a pretty funny and odd dream and decides to check tracking again. They had just arrived and left indy! I am very nervous to go to PO and open this box. I really hope they made it! So much for their Express mail!

So exciting! Are they babies?

I am SOOOOOOO excited that it is going to be getting warmer this week! I cannot wait to give the barn a good cleaning. If it gets warm enough, which I think it will I may be painting in the coop finally!

 

[wheezy50]

So exciting!  Are they babies?

I am SOOOOOOO excited that it is going to be getting warmer this week!  I cannot wait to give the barn a good cleaning.  If it gets warm enough, which I think it will I may be painting in the coop finally!

I have a coop that needs painted too! I bought the paint a month ago and have been waiting ever since. Hopefully next week.

 

[ellymayRans]

So I had a pair of Bantam cochins shipped to me on Monday. They still haven't arrived . I just woke up from a pretty funny and odd dream and decides to check tracking again. They had just arrived and left indy! I am very nervous to go to PO and open this box. I really hope they made it! So much for their Express mail!

Adults I hope!! I hope they are ok! That's a long time!