Sudden Loss of Leg use

[AllyMae97]

Hi guys.. really need some help and advice. I have been raising an abandoned chick around 3 weeks of age. She was abandoned by her mother and I couldn't leave her alone. I live in Singapore and the only chickens we even have around here are wild junglefowl. Tracking down chicken feed proved to be difficult and impossible. However, she has been thriving. Noisy, needy, and following me around everywhere. Yesterday evening after a rather normal day she got spooked by something and jumped. I did not see her injure herself, but she could have. After that she just kind of shut down for a while. She didn't want to move, just stood still with these kind of traumatised actions. I finally got her interest in some worms and she perked right back up after she drank water and ate. She was half stumbling every now and again before she ate and drank, but afterwards she was back to normal. She chased me around the house without limp, little slower but still fast, then I put her down at her normal time to sleep and she passed out as usual with some cute little cheeps. This morning she woke me up at her normal time but did not fly out of her box like normal. My mom went to check on her while I was getting her food and we realised that she completely has lost the use of her walking ability. She is still happy, talking, eating, and drinking but does not want to stand up. If she wants to sit up she leans on her joints and just lays there with her legs curled under her the rest of the time. The only other abnormal thing that is happening is a complete disappearance of poop from her as well aside from one forced one this morning. She had some diahrea after the incident yesterday evening, but nothing after that. Color was gray and thr consistency kind of pebbly .. and a bit frothy. I usually don't want to worry too much with the watery poops because we live in quite a hot climate. Today it's raining and quite chilly to us (77 degrees, lol) and I thought initally maybe she just kept her feet under her for warmth but I'm starting to worry... The internet gives me every answer under the sun from Mareks to vitamin deficiency to sore stomach. Please if anyone has any suggestions I would be grateful... thank you

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Welcome To BYC

I'm sorry to hear about your chick.
Do you know how old she is?
If you have photos or a video of her that may be helpful.
Poop photos too.

It's hard to know if she suffered injury or if she has an illness. Have you noticed any swelling of the feet/legs or joints?

Not pooping is concerning. Tell us about what you feed. I'm sure since she's outside with you she is probably picking up enough grit, but check her crop to see if it's empty in the morning before she eats/drinks.

 

[AllyMae97]

Welcome To BYC

I'm sorry to hear about your chick.
Do you know how old she is?
If you have photos or a video of her that may be helpful.
Poop photos too.

It's hard to know if she suffered injury or if she has an illness. Have you noticed any swelling of the feet/legs or joints?

Not pooping is concerning. Tell us about what you feed. I'm sure since she's outside with you she is probably picking up enough grit, but check her crop to see if it's empty in the morning before she eats/drinks.

As I mentioned I live in Singapore, so she's actually not outside majority of the day. We live in an apartment and I take her out as much as possible (she LOVES it) so she gets grit and greens where she can.

I've noticed no swelling. Her eyes are clear as well. She finally pooped some and was actually able to stand afterwards and hop a little bit. I would like to feed her a little bit of olive oil just in case of constipation, is this ok?

I was finally able to track down one type of chicken feed (the only one here I suspect) but it was way too hard for her to eat. I'm waiting for my coffee grinder to get here so I can grind it up. They have no starter feed here. But she was born wild and the mother eats what she can find in the grass alone during the day. She's been eating boiled egg, some millet, and oats. I'm desperate for the grinder so hopefully I'll be switching her to a proper diet soon.

She was born while I was travelling. I was only gone for a week so sometime within then. It was my co-workers who grabbed her when mom kept pecking her away. Mom has since lost 3 more babies out of her original 5. We don't know where they are. I've had this little one for 2 weeks so I assume 3 weeks or less..

I'm sorry my information is broken up. It's been a real challenge raising something that 99% of this country isn't prepared for. I've tried my best but now I'm worried I've just doomed her..

 

[micstrachan]

Hi there. Sorry about your chicken. Just a heads up, she really needs to have grit available at all times if she is eating millet and oats. Do you know if her crop empties overnight? If not, I would start there. Can you check her crop in the morning before she has a chance to eat or drink anything and get back to us?

 

[AllyMae97]

Hi there. Sorry about your chicken. Just a heads up, she really needs to have grit available at all times if she is eating millet and oats. Do you know if her crop empties overnight? If not, I would start there. Can you check her crop in the morning before she has a chance to eat or drink anything and get back to us?

She doesn't get up at night if I'm not wrong. I checked her frequently throughout the night in the first week. She made little cheep sounds but made no effort to want to go and eat or drink. She drinks heavy in the morning and eats throughout the day.

Grit. Another issue. How do I find grit? If I can't buy it what would you suggest as a substitute? Dirt is not grit, right? Her mom and siblings eat little pebbles along the roadside I've observed. I can grab those and try. Egg shells I heard are too weak to use as grit is that correct?

 

[rebrascora]

Hi

Have you tried soaking the feed you got in water rather than waiting for a grinder. Most birds will enjoy a wet mash made from soaking pellets. Mine consider it a treat. You can mix a little scrambled egg into it to encourage them to start with.
As regards the sudden inability to walk, it may be a nutritional deficiency and I would give her a human vitamin B supplement if you have no access to poultry vitamins and perhaps vitamin E too mixed into the scrambled egg. Yes, sweep up some roadside grit, give it a good rinse to remove any pollution and put it in a little pot for her to pick through for appropriate sized pieces. She may also benefit from a little meat from time to time, just very small pieces to provide essential amino acids that she needs to grow.

Good luck with her.... it is female!

 

[AllyMae97]

Hi

Have you tried soaking the feed you got in water rather than waiting for a grinder. Most birds will enjoy a wet mash made from soaking pellets. Mine consider it a treat. You can mix a little scrambled egg into it to encourage them to start with.
As regards the sudden inability to walk, it may be a nutritional deficiency and I would give her a human vitamin B supplement if you have no access to poultry vitamins and perhaps vitamin E too mixed into the scrambled egg. Yes, sweep up some roadside grit, give it a good rinse to remove any pollution and put it in a little pot for her to pick through for appropriate sized pieces. She may also benefit from a little meat from time to time, just very small pieces to provide essential amino acids that she needs to grow.

Good luck with her.... it is female!

I ran straight for the marmite I had in my pantry. It's a yeast extract with riboflavin, niacin, thiamin, and vitamin B12. So high and B. My pet store does sell a liquid multivitamin for birds filled with A, D3, E, the Bs and C. It's called VitaFit or something. I want to try this as well.

In any case, she loved it and was able to stand by the end of the day and walk around. She still prefers laying down and stumbles, but is at least able to stand and walk. She even followed me a bit. I'm praying she makes it through the night. I will check on her.

I tried soaking and boiling the pellets. Unfortunately it has corn and wheat and split peas and a lot else in there and did not soften much at all. If I soak it for 24 hours will it work? It's a laying mix and I can tell the layer from the rest so I've removed a lot of it as well.

Will go get dirt tomorrow, thank you so much.

 

[rebrascora]

She and I obviously have similar taste as I'm in the "Love it" camp with Marmite too. It is very high in salt though which is not good for her or me, so go steady with it and ideally find an alternative vitamin B source. Human vitamin B tablets are pretty widely available.... most supermarkets here in the UK stock them but I appreciate that may not be the case in Singapore. Liver is a good source of vitamin B and essential amino acids and can be fed raw or cooked in little slivers.... obviously only very small amounts for such a young chick maybe 2-3 times a week alternating with scrambled eggs and only once you have the grit situation sorted.
It sounds like your chicken feed is a grain mix rather than a pellet or crumble. If you soak it for 24 hrs the grains become much larger which may make it worst but they should also be much softer, so you could possibly mash it once it has been soaked or a liquidizer would probably blend it then. Unfortunately the layer feed will have a higher calcium content than is ideal and not enough protein but if you can supplement protein with meat and eggs and insects and even some nuts.... a bit of peanut butter every now and then usually goes down well, it should help.
Pleased she is doing a little better.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

The Vitfit sounds good, I would use that a couple of times a week. The marmite once a week as well.
All you can do is keep her eating and drinking and hope for the best.
You can give her a few drops of olive oil as well to see if that helps with the pooping.

 

[digbychris]

I second the vitamin b. I use a liquid B complex I got from the pharmacy (for humans lol), add a few drops to her water every time. Leg issues can commonly be from a vitamin b deficiency.