Please help with lethargic and twitchy chick

[Todd510]

Hello,

We brought home 9 chicks last Wednesday. 7 of the 9 seem to be doing great, but as of Saturday two started acting funny. Our olive egger in particular wont walk for more than a few steps and will only get up if provoked. She mostly just lays in the sand and twitches her head a lot like she's trying to shake water out of her ears. She does seem to be eating and drinking occasionally, but not nearly as much as the other chicks. She is definitely getting out grown. The video linked below shows her behavior. We've started dosing the entire flock with Corid, even though her droppings seem normal. Is there anything else we should be doing or are we being crazy?

She's the one in the middle of the frame getting stepped on:

Thanks!

 

[Rabbitlover1]

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but your chick looks like it might have Mareks disease. I suggest separating her and putting her in some sort of ICU brooder with all the normal food and water just shes going to be be hers self so her mates don't pick and trample to death. Unfortunately there is no cure for Mareks and the likely hood of her getting better is very slime . If she is losing weight ,graying in the iris or she has roughened skin around the base of the feathers then those are also sings of Mareks disease. But once again I highly recommend separating her MAREKS IS VERY CONTAGIOUS AND IF IT IS NOT MAREKS THE OTHER CHICKS COULD KILL HER! I'm no chickens expert but I have read up on Mareks a lot . Maybe she has something else like spayed leg hopefully a chicken expert will chim in but for now you should separate her. I hope this helped and good luck with your chicks!

 

[Eggcessive]

I would start some SaveAChick or other brand of vitamins with electrolytes, and start dipping the chicks' beaks into the water as often as you can today and tomorrow. This looks more like dehydation or a vitamin deficiency. Mareks disease symptoms are usually found in chickens a few month's old, and never in chicks less than 3 weeks old. Make sure they are warm, but make sure your brooder lamp is not too hot--use a thermometer on the floor. Provide space to get to a cooler space. Also very important is to make sure they don't have pasty butt which can be common the first couple of weeks. http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2014/03/pasty-butt-in-chicks-causestreatment.html

 

[boskelli1571]

I agree with Eggcessive, try electrolyte/vitamins to start and wait for improvement.

 

[heatherlaw]

I agree with giving vitamins. You can get some poultry vitamins and I would add
poly-vi-sol without iron. It's a human baby vitamin that happens to be great for chickens

 

[Anita510]

Hello (this is Todd510's wife),

Thank you for the feedback! Several days of vitamin/electrolyte-enhanced water and supplementing with poly-vi-sol (without iron) did the trick!

Our chick gradually became more active and eating/drinking more regularly; today she is just about at 100%.

Thanks again for all of the advice! Big time sigh of relief from these first time chick-parents

-Anita

 

[heatherlaw]

Oh good! So glad you little chick is on the mend. It's so scary when you don't know what's wrong or how to fix it