My chick is sick, how can I help her?

[sunsetridge]

recently we hatched chicks via incubator and also under a mother chicken. Since then we have put them all together in the one pen and there has been no issues. About a week ago one of the chicks wasn’t walking so we took her out and had her in a separate cage. We read that she may have a vitamin deficiency so we have been giving her vitamin B because her legs aren’t normal. ( her legs are weak and usually she can’t walk and she just falls over straight away and her feet are closed up. One of her feet shake quite often. She still eats and drinks all the time and chirps often. Last night she was quieter but still okay. This morning she has had one eye open and sometimes the other Eye completely shut but now the right eye is half open. Does she have mareks disease? What can we do to help her get better?

 

[TwoCrows]

Welcome to BYC!

I moved this to our Emergency section, hopefully someone will chime in and can help your chick.

 

[TwoCrows]

@Wyorp Rock

@Eggcessive

@casportpony

 

[Wyorp Rock]

recently we hatched chicks via incubator and also under a mother chicken. Since then we have put them all together in the one pen and there has been no issues. About a week ago one of the chicks wasn’t walking so we took her out and had her in a separate cage. We read that she may have a vitamin deficiency so we have been giving her vitamin B because her legs aren’t normal. ( her legs are weak and usually she can’t walk and she just falls over straight away and her feet are closed up. One of her feet shake quite often. She still eats and drinks all the time and chirps often. Last night she was quieter but still okay. This morning she has had one eye open and sometimes the other Eye completely shut but now the right eye is half open. Does she have mareks disease? What can we do to help her get better?

Welcome To BYC.

I'm sorry to hear your chick is not well
How old is she?
If you have photos of your chick or a video of her that would be good. For video upload to Youtube or similar platform, then provide us a link.

The Vitamin B you have been giving, does that include B2 (Riboflavin)?
The foot shaking is concerning, it sounds neurological.
Marek's does come to mind, but genetics/developmental problems, failure to thrive and other issues are also to be considered.

If you are just giving a B-Complex type vitamin, I would also add Vitamin E (400IU) daily for a week to see if that makes a difference.

 

[sunsetridge]

Welcome To BYC.

I'm sorry to hear your chick is not well
How old is she?
If you have photos of your chick or a video of her that would be good. For video upload to Youtube or similar platform, then provide us a link.

The Vitamin B you have been giving, does that include B2 (Riboflavin)?
The foot shaking is concerning, it sounds neurological.
Marek's does come to mind, but genetics/developmental problems, failure to thrive and other issues are also to be considered.

If you are just giving a B-Complex type vitamin, I would also add Vitamin E (400IU) daily for a week to see if that makes a difference.

thank you so much for the reply, she has been better today than she has previously. we are giving her a vitamin B-Complex tablet that dissolves in water and mixing that in with her food. the tablet does have riboflavin. the eye that is closed is also on the same side as her shaky leg. we will add in vitamin E. a friend of ours said that we should have wormer mixed in with her water so we have also done that.

here is the link to the youtube video:

thank you for your help

 

[sunsetridge]

thank you so much for the reply, she has been better today than she has previously. we are giving her a vitamin B-Complex tablet that dissolves in water and mixing that in with her food. the tablet does have riboflavin. the eye that is closed is also on the same side as her shaky leg. we will add in vitamin E. a friend of ours said that we should have wormer mixed in with her water so we have also done that.

here is the link to the youtube video:

thank you for your helpView attachment 1621210View attachment 1621211View attachment 1621212View attachment 1621210 View attachment 1621211 View attachment 1621212

sorry I forgot to say that she is about 5-6 weeks old

 

[Wyorp Rock]

thank you so much for the reply, she has been better today than she has previously. we are giving her a vitamin B-Complex tablet that dissolves in water and mixing that in with her food. the tablet does have riboflavin. the eye that is closed is also on the same side as her shaky leg. we will add in vitamin E. a friend of ours said that we should have wormer mixed in with her water so we have also done that.

Thank you for the photos and video.
What wormer did you mix in with her water?

The poor dear, she is just adorable isn't she. It's hard to know, but with the eye being closed along with the leg tremors too, it's probably Marek's. Could be failure to thrive or a genetic disorder too. With chickens it's very hard to know sometimes.

@Eggcessive your thoughts?
All you can do is offer supportive care like you are doing with vitamin therapy. You can try making her a chick chair or sling to get her more upright. That may help a bit, but the legs look to be non functioning at the moment.
Google "chick chair" or "chicken sling" and you will find some ideas. The links below are some that BYC made or were found on the web

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/three-week-old-chick-leg-injury.1247140/#post-20024422
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/versions-of-chick-chairs-please.1166308/

 

[Eggcessive]

How long has she been on the B complex? I really hope this is just a riboflavin deficiency, but Mareks can look similar as Wyorp Rock has said. She should improve soon if it is riboflavin deficiency, but the main thing is to work with her to keep her moving and limber, and keep her as close to food and water as possible. The chicken slings can be very helpful, but some chickens find them irritating and may try to escape or hurt themselves. Let her feet touch the floor. Take her out often to stretch and sleep, and you can provide water and food containers attached to the sling. Here is a good example:

 

[sunsetridge]

Thank you for the photos and video.
What wormer did you mix in with her water?

The poor dear, she is just adorable isn't she. It's hard to know, but with the eye being closed along with the leg tremors too, it's probably Marek's. Could be failure to thrive or a genetic disorder too. With chickens it's very hard to know sometimes.

@Eggcessive your thoughts?
All you can do is offer supportive care like you are doing with vitamin therapy. You can try making her a chick chair or sling to get her more upright. That may help a bit, but the legs look to be non functioning at the moment.
Google "chick chair" or "chicken sling" and you will find some ideas. The links below are some that BYC made or were found on the web

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/three-week-old-chick-leg-injury.1247140/#post-20024422
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/versions-of-chick-chairs-please.1166308/

Thankyou for the reply, the wormer is ‘Sykes big L wormer for poultry and pigs’ she has definitely been better today than she has been for the last few days so hopefully she just keeps improving. I’m not sure if I’m the video we said this but we have researched and been doing some physio-like exercises on her leg and she shows no signs of discomfort when it’s moved by us

 

[sunsetridge]

How long has she been on the B complex? I really hope this is just a riboflavin deficiency, but Mareks can look similar as Wyorp Rock has said. She should improve soon if it is riboflavin deficiency, but the main thing is to work with her to keep her moving and limber, and keep her as close to food and water as possible. The chicken slings can be very helpful, but some chickens find them irritating and may try to escape or hurt themselves. Let her feet touch the floor. Take her out often to stretch and sleep, and you can provide water and food containers attached to the sling. Here is a good example:

Thankyou also for the reply
She has been on the B-complex for about a week. She has been better today than previous days. We will check out all the sling ideas, Thankyou for suggesting that