Turned in foot shakes head every few minutes!

[kristianhope18]

Hi I bought 4 white silkies from Tractor Supply about 6/7 weeks ago! I got home and noticed one of the 4 had a foot that was turned in and all of its toes were growing in towards the opposite leg I've also noticed its toes and foot is paralyzed on that one bad side! Now that its gotten a little older Ive also noticed every few minutes it will stop and shake its head side to side while leaning one way (the side of the bad foot) it will shake for a few seconds and then go back about its business like nothing ever happened? It's not sick like with a virus it was obviously born this way since the chicks I bought were day olds!? I'm stumped as to what this could be? I feed my chicks medicated chick feed from Tractor Supply and all 100 of the others I have do really well! It's just this one chick what can I do for it? Anything? Has anyone else had this problem? Is it a neurological condition? I've researched this and found nothing!?

 

[Soltaria]

The little guy may have been exposed to black mold at some point. I had one I hatched who was born normal and then suddenly started having leg problems, twitching his head, then eventually fell over and couldn't get up. It turned out we had black mold in that house and from what I found on google the symptoms he had could be caused by that.

 

[Chickensaurous]

B12 helps humans with black mold but u could try it on chickens

 

[Eggcessive]

Hi I bought 4 white silkies from Tractor Supply about 6/7 weeks ago! I got home and noticed one of the 4 had a foot that was turned in and all of its toes were growing in towards the opposite leg I've also noticed its toes and foot is paralyzed on that one bad side! Now that its gotten a little older Ive also noticed every few minutes it will stop and shake its head side to side while leaning one way (the side of the bad foot) it will shake for a few seconds and then go back about its business like nothing ever happened? It's not sick like with a virus it was obviously born this way since the chicks I bought were day olds!? I'm stumped as to what this could be? I feed my chicks medicated chick feed from Tractor Supply and all 100 of the others I have do really well! It's just this one chick what can I do for it? Anything? Has anyone else had this problem? Is it a neurological condition? I've researched this and found nothing!?

This sounds like riboflavin (vitamin B2) deficiency that causes curled toe paralysis. I would treat with riboflavin or with a B complex tablet dissolved in a gallon of water daily, and it won't hurt the others to drink it. Unfortunately it may be too late to reverse, but worth a try.
http://www.poultrynews.com/New/Diseases/Merks/207026.htm
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/publications/6/diseases-of-poultry/217/vitamin-b2-deficiency

 

[kristianhope18]

Well the problem is she was like this from the day I bought her! She (I think she may be a she! I'm not a 100% positive though) was in a big boorder at tractor supply with about 10 other silkies! I bought 4 of those 10! The worker grabbed 4 randomly and threw them in a box! I didn't open it until I got home and that's when I noticed its foot was turned in! Since they are day old chicks (I'm assuming it was around 3-4 days old when I got it) that it was born like this! I honestly don't believe its anything to do with any type of mold or even a vitamin problem (although it could be possible about the vitamin B-12) Its almost like its handicapped like it formed this way in the egg! I will take some pictures of its foot tomorrow and post and see what u all think about it! I'd like to catch her shaking her head on video! She will be walking and then stop and kinda lean over and shake her head and then seems like she gets her balance after a minute or so and will stand up right and be fine?!? She probably does this every couple hours! Ill go google the vitiman deficiency and see if that may be it! It literally can't move its foot it basically walks on the leg an the toes and foot are really just in its way! I feel so sorry for it! I just wonder is it possible to have a vitamin deficiency at a couple days old? And for it to cause its foot to turn and paralyze it that bad that young? What makes it shake its head like that! It just looks dizzy I really don't know how else to explain it? It hides its handicap really well besides when it has its twitches if a non chicken person was looking at them they would never notice it!

 

[kristianhope18]