Sick/paralysed chicks

Mummahen87

Hatching
Dec 4, 2022
6
1
8
Hi all, we have a flock now of about 30 birds. A bunch of which are from a hatching we did ourselves. We started with 2 Isa browns hatched at my daughter's school. Others were bred by a friend from his personal flock who have zero health issues and had been regularly hatching chicks and adding to it at that stage.

We have had no health issues at all, hatched our chicks out ourselves (first time doing so) our chicks are now10 weeks old and some alarming signs have just started happening. It started after having to introduce them all to one another when flooding came here. Their coop went underwater and they ended up in the horsefloat, up on tyres, to keep them all dry. Then one chick, who had a noticeably dirty head, was seen to be walking oddly, almost like it couldn't balance. It progressed to not walking. We isolated it and brought it inside as soon as noticing. I rang our vet who, after explaining our situation, believed it was from an injury not an illness or deficiency. For context, we have 2 full grown roosters who just ignore the chicks other than rousing at them if they take food from the hens, we also had a young rooster who took it upon himself to try to mate with the young chicks. We ended up culling him thinking perhaps he was hurting them, we have also had issues with pigs during the floods (they had to be allowed free run so that they didn't drown) so thought it was a possibility that one of them had grabbed the chick. I tried some vitamins and electrolytes added to the chicks water and when the vet said injury, we added another quiet chick in with it for comapy as it was incredibly depressed and would spend pretty much all day with its head buried in the sawdust, not eating or drinking unless disturbed and encouraged. It perked up with the changes but still wasn't able to get its legs underneath it at all. It had plenty of strength it the legs, they just seemed to go in the wrong directions. It couldn't balance at all. After trying everything we could think of, we decided to listen to vets advice and cull chick because of quality of life. I need to note here that I had noticed it's poo was offensive and yellow but figured perhaps it was because of the additions to the water, and the fact it wasn't moving around and foraging like it normally would.
2 days after culling the chick, we noticed another chick (the one that had been in with it) also displaying some of the early symptoms (odd gait, almost like a marching soldier) as well as losing balance easily and having to use its wings to rebalance itself) it has again progressed to the point it can't balance to roost and has just started laying around more, although it will still move when needed, just awkwardly) it's the same progression of the other chick but seems to be a little slower. As soon as we noticed this one, I rang the vet again (they are also recovering from the flooding so appointments are very hard to get) who then said it was probably mareks (again without seeing the chick), though added it was unusual with no introductions of new birds. I asked if it was possible it was a deficiency and wondered of we could try that avenue first. She has given us doses of B1 to inject the chick with for a week. There has been no noticeable improvement (2 injections so far) and if anything is probably slightly worse. When researching I thought it was B2 that was the deficiency that often caused this sort of things so did she give me the wrong thing? I did notice today that one of the other chicks did a quite runny very offensive smelling yellow poo. I wasn't sure if it was a cecal poo or coccidiosis. Could that be our issue? Vets aren't really interested in helping as they have ither bigger emergencies and see chickens as stock not pets. I'm just at a loss not sure what else to do. I see years of experience on here and am hoping someone might have more of an idea than I do. We've only had chickens for 12 months and it's breaking all of our hearts to watch this happening.
 
These are helpful links ...

http://www.poultrydvm.com/views/symptoms.php
https://sites.google.com/a/poultrypedia.com/poultrypedia/poultry-podiatry

Since your Vet is busy, you may want to contact your Dept of Ag and have a necropsy done if/when the next passes. You can start treating for Coccidiosis w/Corid 9%, it won't hurt. It's very possible the chicks are going thru a vitamin deficiency, what are you feeding? CTP (curly toe paralysis) comes to mind for me. First time it happened to a chick I was raising, I did alot of reading ... The links above helped me "try" and the chick recovered after about a month of treatment with extra Riboflavin in it's diet. Nutri Drench is a good source, boiled egg yolk mixed in it's food, liver (yuck) ... The toes curled so I taped it flat between VetWrap and separated to prevent the others from trampling it (was unable to walk, dragging itself) but full recovery.

Cecal poo often gets mistaken for illness, pictures of the poo would help.
 
I would get human B complex tablets, with all B vitamins, and give any lame chicks 1/4 to 1/2 tablet crushed and given daily in some scrambled egg or other treat. Get a necropsy and testing for Mareks if you should lose another chicken. At 10 months old, that could be a possibility.
 
Unfortunately it does sound more like marek's to me. Marek's is extremely common. Your older birds can (and probably do) carry the virus even if you've never seen them sick. Also the flooding must have stressed out your chickens a great deal and stress hits the immune system hard, opening your chicks up to infections.
 
chicks are now10 weeks old and some alarming signs have just started happening. It started after having to introduce them all to one another when flooding came here. Their coop went underwater

Then one chick, who had a noticeably dirty head, was seen to be walking oddly, almost like it couldn't balance. It progressed to not walking. We isolated it and brought it inside as soon as noticing. I rang our vet who, after explaining our situation, believed it was from an injury not an illness or deficiency.

I did notice today that one of the other chicks did a quite runny very offensive smelling yellow poo. I wasn't sure if it was a cecal poo or coccidiosis.
incredibly depressed and would spend pretty much all day with its head buried in the sawdust, not eating or drinking unless disturbed and encouraged


Is there a way your vet can test some fecal samples to rule out Coccidiosis, Giardia, worms and/or Botulism?

Do you have photos of the poop?

I to would work on hydration, vitamin therapy probably won't hurt. Make sure that no feed is moldy and that any moldy feed in coop/run is scraped up and removed.
 
These are helpful links ...

http://www.poultrydvm.com/views/symptoms.php
https://sites.google.com/a/poultrypedia.com/poultrypedia/poultry-podiatry

Since your Vet is busy, you may want to contact your Dept of Ag and have a necropsy done if/when the next passes. You can start treating for Coccidiosis w/Corid 9%, it won't hurt. It's very possible the chicks are going thru a vitamin deficiency, what are you feeding? CTP (curly toe paralysis) comes to mind for me. First time it happened to a chick I was raising, I did alot of reading ... The links above helped me "try" and the chick recovered after about a month of treatment with extra Riboflavin in it's diet. Nutri Drench is a good source, boiled egg yolk mixed in it's food, liver (yuck) ... The toes curled so I taped it flat between VetWrap and separated to prevent the others from trampling it (was unable to walk, dragging itself) but full recovery.

Cecal poo often gets mistaken for illness, pictures of the poo would help.
Thanks I will definitely check out the links. They are on chick grower, as well as a scratch mix and some scraps here and there that I throw out. Another chick literally ran through it as soon as I noticed so I didn't get a picture. I have been watching them most of the day though and I think it's more likely a cecal poo as the rest of the poos seem to be "normal". I definitely plan on a necropsy if this one passes. We need some definitive answers. Thank you so much for the info x
 
I would get human B complex tablets, with all B vitamins, and give any lame chicks 1/4 to 1/2 tablet crushed and given daily in some scrambled egg or other treat. Get a necropsy and testing for Mareks if you should lose another chicken. At 10 months old, that could be a possibility.
Definitely plan on a necropsy if this one passes. I didn't know I could use a human B complex tablet. Will check it out! Thanks so much
 
Unfortunately it does sound more like marek's to me. Marek's is extremely common. Your older birds can (and probably do) carry the virus even if you've never seen them sick. Also the flooding must have stressed out your chickens a great deal and stress hits the immune system hard, opening your chicks up to infections.
I'm worried it sounds like mareks too, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to try other things just in case. It was so hard to put the first chick down. It had become.so sweet and friendly :( I 100% imagine the flooding and being thrown in with the bigger chickens would definitely have stressed them out and made them more susceptible to whatever this is. I just hope we don't lose our flock :(
 
Is there a way your vet can test some fecal samples to rule out Coccidiosis, Giardia, worms and/or Botulism?

Do you have photos of the poop?

I to would work on hydration, vitamin therapy probably won't hurt. Make sure that no feed is moldy and that any moldy feed in coop/run is scraped up and removed.
My usual vet doesn't even have time to see them let alone doing tests on "livestock' .. there is another vet in town that I can try to get them done though. Would be nice for peace of mind. Food is all fresh, only brought again yesterday and always check it before we feed. I don't think there's anything moly in the shed/coop but will clean it out again anyway just to be sure. I didn't get a photo quickly enough earlier 🤦‍♀️ will try again later
 
Some vets may test some collected droppings with a fecal float, especially if you happen to be getting your dog or cat checked in a regular vet visit. Otherwise, many will tell you they have to see the “patient.” Just make it clear that you don’t want treatment for worms, but just want to know if there are worms, coccidiosis, or other organisms. Many treatments are available without a vet. That also helps if you vet says they do not see chickens—but any vet should be able to do a fecal float test.
 

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