Slow-feathering, now stargazing, speckled sussex- need advice on care, not treatment!

[BigBlueHen53]

Maybe she's just fatigued at the end of the day?

 

[Willowloveschickens]

If you’re looking at palliative care, keep doing what you’re doing - let her eat what she wants, sit how she wants, and deal with problems as they arise. And hey, sometimes palliative care turns into supportive care, working towards recovery. You just never know.
perhaps a tshirt sling with an additional support to help keep her legs outstretched so she doesn’t panic when she’s sat up in it? Would she sit in it with her hocks tucked up inside? The world is off kilter to her so she probably feels like she’s falling on her face when she isn’t really. If her feet are hyper aesthetic, keeping her legs in the position she prefers with her feet elevated would be what I would *try* to do. It’s going to be hard because neuro cases flip all over the place. just remember, you’re doing a wonderful job with her, and sometimes things just don’t go the way we want them to. You’re doing all you can to keep her comfortable.

 

[Willowloveschickens]

If you’re looking at palliative care, keep doing what you’re doing - let her eat what she wants, sit how she wants, and deal with problems as they arise. And hey, sometimes palliative care turns into supportive care, working towards recovery. You just never know.
perhaps a tshirt sling with an additional support to help keep her legs outstretched so she doesn’t panic when she’s sat up in it? Would she sit in it with her hocks tucked up inside? The world is off kilter to her so she probably feels like she’s falling on her face when she isn’t really. If her feet are hyper aesthetic, keeping her legs in the position she prefers with her feet elevated would be what I would *try* to do. It’s going to be hard because neuro cases flip all over the place. just remember, you’re doing a wonderful job with her, and sometimes things just don’t go the way we want them to. You’re doing all you can to keep her comfortable.

My chicken is 1 week old at first its neck was the only thing that was wrong but a few days later its legs started messing up only 1 leg works the poor thing goes in circles ..i have no clue what to do it keeps it stretched out..it can move that leg but i think it hurts it? I really need help this is stressing me to death i go it electrolytes and vitamin E pills i feed it wet cat food bc i dont think its eating its chicken food?...

 

[Trisseh]

I would say it’s great progress that she’s starting to try to do her normal things - I agree with BigBlueHen53, she’s probably just tiring herself out. She would probably be the opposite if she was out at night instead of during the day. It’s not so much the time of day as the amount or activity she performs leading to that point.

My chicken is 1 week old at first its neck was the only thing that was wrong but a few days later its legs started messing up only 1 leg works the poor thing goes in circles ..i have no clue what to do it keeps it stretched out..it can move that leg but i think it hurts it? I really need help this is stressing me to death i go it electrolytes and vitamin E pills i feed it wet cat food bc i dont think its eating its chicken food?...

Sorry to hear your poor chick is having problems too! Is a vet an option at all? That would be my first suggestion if it’s a possibility. They can give you a better idea as to what direction to go in. Also, perhaps you could create a thread specifically for your chicky and provide us with pictures and/or video or what she’s doing? None of us here pretend to be veterinarians but sometimes we can help - but the more information the better for us to be able to try to help you! If you go to the main forums page there is a button that says “Post Thread”. You can do this and please give us as much information and background as you can. When you got this chick, where she came from, if she has siblings and if any of them are showing signs, your brooder setup, your general location in this world (this geographical info helps us a lot more than you’d think when dealing with problems!) and describe in detail her symptoms, starting when you first noticed something was off with her. There are plenty of kind and knowledgeable people here to help you!

 

[Sarahh_Janeyy]

Not going to lie, taking Chipmunk to the vet cost us $375, if we hadn't already invested 3 months of time and love into this baby (if she was a week old chick I wasn't yet attached to) I would have tried the vitamin concoctions I found on the internet and hoped for the best.

That said, the best info we found directly correlated with what the vet prescribed.

In the event that the chick does not have any head trauma/injuries (more common in silkies and polish because of their skull shape), the chick either has a vitamin e deficiency, vitamin b (thiamine) deficiency, or both. B vitamins are water soluble so giving too much is not a concern, however many vitamin mixes have iron and vitamin a, which can be overdoses. Vitamin e needs selenium to be absorbed, but can also be overdosed on, so needs to be in small quantities.

Here is the one thing we got from the vet I would not have thought of and didn't find on the internet:
Chipmunk's gut bacteria was almost non existant. This can be caused by medicated feed. So in order for her to be able to absorb all those vitamins, she needed healthy gut biota. I ordered Bene Bac (they make a gel and a powder). Either way extra pro biotic aren't going to hurt. I have bene bac to the rest of the flock on their wet treats (fruits abs veggies) just in case they have a gut biota problem too, but the vet said this issue is probably specific to chipmunk due to some genetic disorder (some disorders cause difficulties in up taking thiamine for instance).

Much of what I read with chicks a week old or less is that their mother may not have been getting enough vitamins and passed that deficiency on to their chick(s).

If it were me, I'd probably get some liquid polyvisol or perhaps nutridrench or other poultry specific vitamin packets described on this board (I'd probably get polyvisol just because it's easy to get at a local pharmacy instead of waiting for a chicken specific mail delivery - nothing near me carries chicken supplies apparently), and mix a few drops of the polyvisol whith the contents a vitamin e capsule, and crush 25mcg of selenium and mix that in. Also bene bac gel if you can get it (I got it off chewy.com and it actually came next day.) I mixed all vitamins and supplements in with some hard boiled egg yolk, she gobbled it up right away.

The hardest thing will be getting the chick food and water. We had a much easier time holding and tilting Chipmunk forward until she was almost pointing face down towards her food and water. Then once we figured out how to hang her from something using a sling, it was much easier for her to eat and drink on her own. Just be careful since chicks are prone to drown even without conditions like this. Good luck.