Tremor in growth restricted chicken

[Ida Red]

I have a nine week old chick (Easter egger) who hatched smaller and slower than the other chicks. She is now about half of their size and for the last few days I’ve had her quarantined inside because she’s been fluffing out her feathers and I noticed she is weaker than usual. Those were her only symptoms til today. Now she intermittently has a tremor, kind of like a full body shiver.

I’ve been giving her vitamins in her water, and scrambled egg. She is still eating though her crop isn’t as full as usual.

Has anyone had experience with something like this? Advice for what to do for her? Can this be a congenital thing or should I also be worrying about my other chickens being exposed to something viral, ugh. (I know no one can diagnose online, sort of processing out loud I guess).

 

[Eggcessive]

Does she have the tremor when you are not holding her? Could she be shivering or cold? What is the temperature in the coop where she is housed? Besides getting her warm, I would offer some electrolytes and vitamins in her water. Offering some mushy chick feed with a little warm water or buttermilk would be good. What do her poops look like?

 

[MysteryChicken]

Can you possibly get some pictures, or video of your chick in question?

 

[Ida Red]

Yeah that’s what I’ve been doing, feeding her moistened chick grower mash and water with electrolytes and vitamins in it.

She’s been much better last night and today, running around my house and looking out the window. You can see in the photo she’s still puffy but much less so. The tremor seems to go and come. She shakes her head and shakes out her wings. She was calm and then my 6yo was playing wrecking machine with his loud electronic toys in the same room, and the shaking started again. Has anyone heard of a fear based tremor in a chicken?

Her coop is unheated but insulated and what I’m wondering now is whether she was kicked out of the nighttime lineup and spent the night by herself. The Roos in the flock are emerging and starting to tussle, maybe the new pecking order means she’s been shoved out?

I’ll keep her inside for a couple days to watch her and if/when she’s fully back to normal I guess I’ll try to reintroduce her?

 

[Eggcessive]

I would make sure that she is inside the coop and roosting with the others after dark. How many cockerels are there? I prefer to keep chickens with their flock as long as they are not being hurt. Separating in a dog crate with food and water, but keeping them together is something that can be done. Would you say they are right now establishing their pecking order?