Just hatched baby Serama chick having motor difficulties- can it be helped?

[chickcrack]

Thank you for this.. it is very helpful.  As you can see, I'm feeling worn out from this.   Your little Happy gives me hope.   He is definitely a success story.  This little one does get into that 'feeding position' as you put it.  Its so darn cute when she does it too.  She tries to peck at the syringe (or the tiny bowl of food) but misses the mark a lot. 

  I don't mind if she grows up to have some remaining problems.  I just hope she can eat on her own.   At this moment, it doesn't look like that will happen for her. 

I completely understand how you are feeling. It's daunting to not know if all of this additional care/time and commitment that you are doing will lead to an eventual cure. Nobody can tell you what is the right thing to do for you and your little chick. All I can tell you is that I was there many times and doubted A LOT. Happy couldn't stand on his own until he was 2 1/2 weeks. At that point it became much easier as I knew he could eat something (maybe not enough but something) on his own and I didn't have to be on call 24/7. Once he reached that milestone his progress and growth accelerated and it became easier to see tiny improvements every day. Before that point I kicked myself for playing mother nature. Happy's mom had left he and his brother unhatched 2 days after her other 4 eggs hatched. I candled the eggs and saw movement and couldn't just let them die so I placed them in an incubator. They hatched 5 days after their hatch mates. Happy's brother had curled toes and Happy hatched out screaming. Clearly mother hen knew something wasn't right or things had gone wrong during her incubation. If I had it to do again I'm not sure I would make the same choice. Who am I kidding I probably would lol.
Have you tried feeding moistened chick starter? Make a little formed loaf of it on the floor and try to teach her to peck. That way she has a large area to aim for and not have to connect with one crumble to eat. Warning-you will need to watch her nares if this works because they will get cemented shut with food! I noticed the most progress after I started the B complex...I added it after seeing no progress when he was about 1 1/2 weeks old. How old is your little one now? Hugs. I know what you're going through and whatever your decision moving forward is the right one. You are trying your best but we can't always fix everything.

 

[Bocktobery 10]

I completely understand how you are feeling. It's daunting to not know if all of this additional care/time and commitment that you are doing will lead to an eventual cure. Nobody can tell you what is the right thing to do for you and your little chick. All I can tell you is that I was there many times and doubted A LOT. Happy couldn't stand on his own until he was 2 1/2 weeks. At that point it became much easier as I knew he could eat something (maybe not enough but something) on his own and I didn't have to be on call 24/7. Once he reached that milestone his progress and growth accelerated and it became easier to see tiny improvements every day. Before that point I kicked myself for playing mother nature. Happy's mom had left he and his brother unhatched 2 days after her other 4 eggs hatched. I candled the eggs and saw movement and couldn't just let them die so I placed them in an incubator. They hatched 5 days after their hatch mates. Happy's brother had curled toes and Happy hatched out screaming. Clearly mother hen knew something wasn't right or things had gone wrong during her incubation. If I had it to do again I'm not sure I would make the same choice. Who am I kidding I probably would lol.
Have you tried feeding moistened chick starter? Make a little formed loaf of it on the floor and try to teach her to peck. That way she has a large area to aim for and not have to connect with one crumble to eat. Warning-you will need to watch her nares if this works because they will get cemented shut with food! I noticed the most progress after I started the B complex...I added it after seeing no progress when he was about 1 1/2 weeks old. How old is your little one now? Hugs. I know what you're going through and whatever your decision moving forward is the right one. You are trying your best but we can't always fix everything.

Thank you for this. This helps a lot. I am really doubting right now.

The b-complex- was this in brewer's yeast or an actual supplement crushed up and given?

I only have the medicated chick starter here- The medication in that inhibits thiamine, so I want to avoid that. I have put down a glop of the mixture that I've been feeding to her (egg yolk, exact chick hand feed formula, a bit of water and milk kefir plus nutridrench) , but she doesn't seem to have much luck at all in hitting the mark. Plus, after a few misses, she gives up, rests. I have a few small chunks of watermelon in there now with her. She seemed to really want it, but could not hit it. I left it in there for her to keep trying. She tends to move backwards very fast now. She can't move forwards at all. Her neck she has troubles controlling, though she can scratch under her wings and backside with her beak very well and also put her feet up to her beak to scratch. There isn't much else she can do. She still seems drunk with her wobbly head. I'm also worried that her eyes seem to be either getting larger. Swelling, normal, or getting emaciated? There is also something new that's developed with her eye color- I'm a bit afraid its Marek's. I did not notice eye color before, and now, you can see her pupils. I would not say it is grey in color, but it doesn't seem normal to me. I mean to go out and check one of her hatch mates, but I have not even had time to do so yet.

I know what you mean about the eggs.. there were several this year that developed to the end but did not hatch. I think I had about 3 seramas fully formed that died before hatching, and also had about 2 standard sized chicks under another broody that fully formed but did not hatch. I almost put them in the incubator, but I saw now signs of life when I candled them. Its amazing that Happy and his brother hatched 5 days later... I would not even have thought they were viable after that many days.

Oh and I did notice the thing with the nares getting plugged up. Its good to point that out. She does have some food stuck around them and its very difficult to get it off!

Again, thank you for the encouraging message and taking the time to respond. It helps so much and I appreciate it! I'm not giving up on her yet. Just extremely exhausted, which perpetuates the discouragement too!

 

[chickcrack]

 Thank you for this.   This helps a lot.   I am really doubting right now.

  The b-complex- was this in brewer's yeast or an actual supplement crushed up and given?

I only have the medicated chick starter here-  The medication in that inhibits thiamine, so I want to avoid that.  I have put down a glop of the mixture that I've been feeding to her (egg yolk, exact chick hand feed formula, a bit of water and milk kefir plus nutridrench) , but she doesn't seem to have much luck at all in hitting the mark.  Plus, after a few misses, she gives up, rests.   I have a few small chunks of watermelon in there now with her.  She seemed to really want it, but could not hit it.  I left it in there for her to keep trying.   She tends to move backwards very fast now.  She can't move forwards at all.  Her neck she has troubles controlling, though she can scratch under her wings and backside with her beak very well and also put her feet up to her beak to scratch.   There isn't much else she can do.   She still seems drunk with her wobbly head.  I'm also worried that her eyes seem to be either getting larger.   Swelling, normal, or getting emaciated?   There is also something new that's developed with her eye color- I'm a bit afraid its Marek's.   I did not notice eye color before, and now, you can see her pupils.  I would not say it is grey in color, but it doesn't seem normal to me.    I mean to go out and check one of her hatch mates, but I have not even had time to do so yet. 

  I know what you mean about the eggs..  there were several this year that developed to the end but did not hatch.   I think I had about 3 seramas fully formed that died before hatching, and also had about 2 standard sized chicks under another broody that fully formed but did not hatch.  I almost put them in the incubator, but I saw now signs of life when I candled them.   Its amazing that Happy and his brother hatched 5 days later...   I would not even have thought they were viable after that many days. 

   Oh and I did notice the thing with the nares getting plugged up.  Its good to point that out.   She does have some food stuck around them and its very difficult to get it off! 

 Again, thank you for the encouraging message and taking the time to respond.  It helps so much and I appreciate it!   I'm not giving up on her yet.   Just extremely exhausted, which perpetuates the discouragement too!

I'm not sure what is in brewers yeast. I was trying anything that I could find on Google...most of it was on BYC. I got human B complex vitamins and gave him 1/2 pill crushed into food. B vitamin is safe because any excess is flushed from the body. I have never bought vitamins for myself lol. My medicine cabinet is full of stuff for chickens!

 

[Bocktobery 10]

Thanks again for the response. This helps. I will pick that stuff up soon. Good to have it around for the chicken medicine cabinet!


Unfortunately, she isn't doing well. She's hungry but does not seem to have the strength to swallow anymore. She will if I force feed, but she just tires out so quickly, getting only one or two swallows a feeding session. I did not get much food into her this evening because she just didn't do her part. She's been crying out, and stops when I pick her up, but when it comes to feeding, she's hungry but does not really try to eat like she used to. She looks so tired and disheveled.

I'll keep trying, but things don't look good.

 

[Bocktobery 10]

UPDATE! She's doing better, remarkably! I'm stunned. Last night, she just wasn't being as responsive as before. I decided to use one of my old woman's one-a-day vitamins that has a ton of B vitamins in it because I figured I didn't have much to lose to try. By this morning, she perked up and is even moving better... She walked forwards!!!!!! YAY! All this time she has never walked forwards! (She still walks backwards quite a bit though) She had a tremendous amount of energy too. She looks strong, her twitch is not as pronounced. She even had better skills at eating and seemed to have a desire to eat- putting her face in the dish and nibbling. She never did it so skillfully before.

Since then she has lagged a bit. I suppose this is normal in recovery. Two steps forward, one step back.. I hope so.

I was able to get to the store and get the specific vitamins needed too, so no more worries about giving her the one-a-day vitamin with lots of added vitamins.

Thanks everyone for your help! She might have pulled through! I'll keep updating.

 

[chickcrack]

Yay!!!
Yes ups and downs seem to be the rule in recovering from wry neck. The odd movements they make seems to be exhausting for them. I sort of related it to a person with epilepsy having a seizure and all those nerves and muscles firing at super speed causes them to need recovery afterwards. Evenings were the worst for Happy and even when almost normal looking through the day I would often find his head bent over and he was far less mobile at night. So glad to hear you are seeing progress today. Keep up the great work!

 

[BoomChickaPop]

Quote:
YAY I am sooo happy keep us updated

 

[BoomChickaPop]

UPDATE! She's doing better, remarkably! I'm stunned. Last night, she just wasn't being as responsive as before. I decided to use one of my old woman's one-a-day vitamins that has a ton of B vitamins in it because I figured I didn't have much to lose to try. By this morning, she perked up and is even moving better... She walked forwards!!!!!! YAY! All this time she has never walked forwards! (She still walks backwards quite a bit though) She had a tremendous amount of energy too. She looks strong, her twitch is not as pronounced. She even had better skills at eating and seemed to have a desire to eat- putting her face in the dish and nibbling. She never did it so skillfully before.

Since then she has lagged a bit. I suppose this is normal in recovery. Two steps forward, one step back.. I hope so.

I was able to get to the store and get the specific vitamins needed too, so no more worries about giving her the one-a-day vitamin with lots of added vitamins.

Thanks everyone for your help! She might have pulled through! I'll keep updating.

YAY I am sooo happy keep us updated

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I'm glad you are seeing improvement!

Keep us posted.

 

[Bocktobery 10]

Hey everyone... Yes.. She is still doing better! Thanks everyone for your support and replies. It helps so much. I can't thank you enough for your encouragement.

After I stepped up on the food amount she has more energy. I read online for hand feeding baby birds (non chicken kind) that a baby budgie newly hatched should have about 3ml (cc's) of food daily (I supposed they were not really clear on how much in one day)... so I realized that, she, even after week old was barely getting 1 1/2 cc when I let her try and feed herself. She was not getting enough at all. I also found out that the swelling in the chest is not a ruptured air sac, but her crop filled with air because she is so hungry she is swallowing air when she gasps for food. This issue has cleared up mostly, or is not as bad when I started feeding her 1cc of food mash each hour.

This morning I was much relieved to see that she was walking forwards again, she also looked very bright eyed and bushy tailed as they say. She even walks around with her beak to the ground at times as if looking for food yet, she always walks past it. So that is the reason I am worried she may be blind. She doesn't seem to be able to see anything, but I will worry about that later if it is true. Maybe that too will clear up in time.. ya never know. I am amazed at how much she has recovered already, but she is still not able to eat on her own. Does anyone know what tests you can do to see if a chicken is truly blind? I've tried acting like I'm going to poke her eyes, but she does not blink.

Chickcrack- yes, I highly agree she is probably like someone who has had a seizure... I would bet she is exhausted with having her muscles twitch like that constantly. The poor girl. She must ache all over. I've had to use the hair dryer on her because she gets wet when she tries to drink water, but I can tell she absolutely loves it because she totally relaxes in my hands. I would bet its because the warm air feels as good as warm/hot water feels to a worn out achy body.

Anyway, that' just a small update.. I will keep posting every now and then.