Hi BYC, long time no see! I’d like to hear some thoughts/theories about a chick I’m currently dealing with. I have consulted my avian vet and will continue to do so moving forward, I’m simply curious if anyone has experienced anything like this with their chicks before.
I’m not good at keeping things brief, so for those who don’t want to read the extended edition, here’s the Tl;Dr: Chick hatched with bad balance, wobbles everywhere, and is disinterested in food.
Photos/videos that sum up the progress timeline.
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The chick in question, dubbed ‘Totoro’, was chick #5 of a brood that hatched over the past weekend; he hatched Monday (22nd Sept). He was one of a dozen ‘Orpington’ eggs that my friend and I purchased at a local poultry auction in August, but as they hatched with feathering on their legs, pretty sure we got duped lol.
His hatch went smooth; he did quickly show splayed legs, and while I had vetwrap to deal with it, he was struggling. I liberated him from the incubator earlier than planned because he had gotten turtled for the second time in ten minutes and had stopped trying to get up. He was listless in comparison to his siblings and gave no resistance to being picked up or me taping his legs, but I put him under the brooder plate with the others to warm up and get his bearings.
Two hours later, I had to remove him from the main crate because he had been shoved out from the heat, and was so lethargic I thought he was dead. He lay flat on his stomach, did not open his eyes, wings slack at his side, and made no effort to right himself. When I put him down, he would stay where he was put. I put him back in the incubator to warm up, fully expecting him to be gone within the hour, but within a few hours, he’d perked up and was trying to stand up. He couldn’t stay on his feet at all, he would tip onto his stomach with his legs straight out behind him. I decided to take his leg tape off overnight so he could move easier, popped him back under the heat plate with the other chicks and left it for the night.
Next morning, same thing: he was left alone outside the plate, cold to the touch and barely alive. Other eggs were hatching in the incubator and I didn’t want to risk shrink-wrapping, so I put him in a separate crate with another heat plate where I was raising Japanese Quail chicks. The quails took to their new friend as a pillow, earning him his name of Totoro.
He perked up a bit again after some time spent under the heat plate, but he still wasn’t finding his feet. By this point, the last chicks had hatched and been removed from the incubator, so it became his personal sick bay. With his legs taped, he was burritoed with his legs tucked under him and left to settle for about 30 minutes. By the time he was liberated, he was already keeping his feet under him much better.
He was left in the incubator overnight, and by the next afternoon, he was looking much more alive. He had begun preening himself, and was pecking at things in his environment, but was not eating despite my best attempts to coax him. I tried tapping in the pellets, honey water, scrambled egg, making a mash out of the pellets- I even tried opening his beak manually and putting mash in there, which he would swallow, but would show no further interest in attempting to eat. The only time I got him to take anything voluntarily was when I dipped a toothpick in the mash and waved it to one side of him. Then, he would peck at the movement, begrudgingly eat the mash, and not do it again. He would still peck at the ground like he was trying to eat the food, but he never quite grabbed it.
Once I was fairly sure he could move enough by himself to keep warm, he was returned to the crate with the others in the hopes they would model eating behaviours to him. It did eventually pay off somewhat. As the other chicks ate, they would often drop pieces, and this movement was enough to prompt him to dive for it. His first voluntary, successful food was a piece of egg.
I took him to see my avian vet today, who is optimistic that he will improve given how he’s doing so far, and agrees that my theory of a neurological issue is looking more likely than a physical one at this point. Under her direction, I will be crop feeding him as needed until he is reliably eating by himself. He did attempt to feed with the others this evening, but I don’t think he ended up eating any of it.
______
Only explanation I can think of that make sense to occur this young is that he either inherited something from his parents, or it’s just sheer dumb luck and he’s gonna need some extra care than his siblings do. If anyone has any experience or theories on it, would love to hear your thoughts!
I’m not good at keeping things brief, so for those who don’t want to read the extended edition, here’s the Tl;Dr: Chick hatched with bad balance, wobbles everywhere, and is disinterested in food.
Photos/videos that sum up the progress timeline.
__________
The chick in question, dubbed ‘Totoro’, was chick #5 of a brood that hatched over the past weekend; he hatched Monday (22nd Sept). He was one of a dozen ‘Orpington’ eggs that my friend and I purchased at a local poultry auction in August, but as they hatched with feathering on their legs, pretty sure we got duped lol.
His hatch went smooth; he did quickly show splayed legs, and while I had vetwrap to deal with it, he was struggling. I liberated him from the incubator earlier than planned because he had gotten turtled for the second time in ten minutes and had stopped trying to get up. He was listless in comparison to his siblings and gave no resistance to being picked up or me taping his legs, but I put him under the brooder plate with the others to warm up and get his bearings.
Two hours later, I had to remove him from the main crate because he had been shoved out from the heat, and was so lethargic I thought he was dead. He lay flat on his stomach, did not open his eyes, wings slack at his side, and made no effort to right himself. When I put him down, he would stay where he was put. I put him back in the incubator to warm up, fully expecting him to be gone within the hour, but within a few hours, he’d perked up and was trying to stand up. He couldn’t stay on his feet at all, he would tip onto his stomach with his legs straight out behind him. I decided to take his leg tape off overnight so he could move easier, popped him back under the heat plate with the other chicks and left it for the night.
Next morning, same thing: he was left alone outside the plate, cold to the touch and barely alive. Other eggs were hatching in the incubator and I didn’t want to risk shrink-wrapping, so I put him in a separate crate with another heat plate where I was raising Japanese Quail chicks. The quails took to their new friend as a pillow, earning him his name of Totoro.
He perked up a bit again after some time spent under the heat plate, but he still wasn’t finding his feet. By this point, the last chicks had hatched and been removed from the incubator, so it became his personal sick bay. With his legs taped, he was burritoed with his legs tucked under him and left to settle for about 30 minutes. By the time he was liberated, he was already keeping his feet under him much better.
He was left in the incubator overnight, and by the next afternoon, he was looking much more alive. He had begun preening himself, and was pecking at things in his environment, but was not eating despite my best attempts to coax him. I tried tapping in the pellets, honey water, scrambled egg, making a mash out of the pellets- I even tried opening his beak manually and putting mash in there, which he would swallow, but would show no further interest in attempting to eat. The only time I got him to take anything voluntarily was when I dipped a toothpick in the mash and waved it to one side of him. Then, he would peck at the movement, begrudgingly eat the mash, and not do it again. He would still peck at the ground like he was trying to eat the food, but he never quite grabbed it.
Once I was fairly sure he could move enough by himself to keep warm, he was returned to the crate with the others in the hopes they would model eating behaviours to him. It did eventually pay off somewhat. As the other chicks ate, they would often drop pieces, and this movement was enough to prompt him to dive for it. His first voluntary, successful food was a piece of egg.
I took him to see my avian vet today, who is optimistic that he will improve given how he’s doing so far, and agrees that my theory of a neurological issue is looking more likely than a physical one at this point. Under her direction, I will be crop feeding him as needed until he is reliably eating by himself. He did attempt to feed with the others this evening, but I don’t think he ended up eating any of it.
______
Only explanation I can think of that make sense to occur this young is that he either inherited something from his parents, or it’s just sheer dumb luck and he’s gonna need some extra care than his siblings do. If anyone has any experience or theories on it, would love to hear your thoughts!
