Please Help my young chickie girl...wobbles, off balance,

[tigerlilly522]

I keep doing tons of research and trying different key words. And I am just not finding much to help me diagnose my issue.
My 3 month old light Brahma hen chick is having issues. When she walks she stumbles as if her equilibrium is off for the last week to week and a half now. Her legs are straight. She holds her wings low, for balance or to catch herself. She does not have a cold or any build up in her beak nose holes. That was a suggestion at the feed store that she had a cold. My research led me to believe she might have a vitamin deficiency. She also seems to be a bit slower in growing all her feathers. Again I was thinking vitamins. I have been giving her vitamins in her water for about five days now, and I don't see any improvement yet. So far she is still eating and drinking. Today when I put her out in the chickie pen she is breathing kind of funny, like an open her beak and close her beak, like a deep breathe kind of thing. Is her issue spreading to her lungs? When she was born, I had to help her out of the egg, as the egg started to dry out and she couldn't zip out. I have never had to help a chick out, did this cause a problem?
Please help with some ideas.

Thank-you,
Renee

 

[Chickie my my]

There is a thing call Bumble foot you can read about on the search site; also their is a thing call Pox to check or she Might have a crow full of foodin her throat .This is a few of the things I have read about check these out and see if any seem to fit. She could also have a little infection, there are a lot of information in the search sites.

 

[Wyandottes7]

Several things come to mind. It could be a vitamin deficiency, in which case you're doing the right thing giving vitamins. I don't have personal experience with treating vitamin deficiencies in chickens, so I don't know exactly how long it will take before you notice improvement. I suspect that it would take a little longer than five days.

It could be Marek's Disease. This is a relatively common disease in young birds. It causes slow paralysis of the legs or wings, or other parts of the body. It can also cause internal tumors or lesions, which aren't seen until you do a necropsy. Here is a great link on Marek's Disease: The Great Big Giant Marek's Disease FAQ

See if the unusual breathing lasts. It could be the beginning of a new problem (such as a respiratory disease), or a result of a disease. For example, if it's Marek's Disease, a tumor could be too close to her lungs or trachea, resulting in trouble breathing. Dust and high ammonia levels can also cause problems breathing.

It is also possible that she just has something internally wrong. The fact that you helped her out of the egg may mean that she may have been too weak naturally, perhaps because of a hereditary problem. With that said, I've helped chicks out of the egg before, and though they were weak as day-old chicks, they turned into normal birds quite quickly.

Best wishes to you and your chick. I hope she recovers, from whatever she has!