Silkie chick has funny gait and can't walk well

[Yuki Noodle]

Hi there,

One of our silkie chicks (born the end of March) has never had a normal gait/balance - s/he can walk with the rest of the chicks, but the walk itself is very wobbly. Our dog who is chicken friendly is always trying to help her and tries to clean her underside, she seeks her out. It is all very odd. S/he eats and has grown as well as the others have.

Anyhow, my husband and I went to check on the flock tonight and the other three chicks are roosting as they normally should and the wobbly chick can't balance well enough to roost with them and has to sleep alone.

It is all very sad.

The other three chicks are healthy and no one seems to pick on her.


Any ideas what this could be? I worry about her well being and of course, s/he is incredibly sweet and friendly.



Thanks!

 

[hannah311189]

We have a silkie like that! We call her dirty butt, since she always has a yucky butt. She was born the start of April, I noticed she was having seizure-like symptoms the first few days after the Hatchery sent her. Now she is just very off-balanced at least half of the time.especially if she gets stressed or startled. I'm not sure what it is, I just concluded it was a neurological disorder and left it at that since she was overall thriving

 

[Yuki Noodle]

She seems to keep up with everyone else, but the sad bit is she can't get on the roost when everyone else can. How can I help her? It stresses her out and in turn stresses me out (I am also 33 weeks pregnant, so it doesn't take much to make me cry!).

Thanks!!