Very odd situation with 1 week old chick...

[TerryH]

We got 10 1 day olds a week ago today. Feeding medicated chick starter. Water with a touch of ACV. Using MHP in a big box brooder in the house. They have all seemed perfectly healthy up until last night. I had made provision to expand the brooder box which we did last evening. The chicks were confused at first but we put them under the MHP a few times and they went to bed and all seemed well. I checked when I went to bed at 10:30. All under the MHP. All quiet.

When we went in to wake them at 5:30 this morning there was 1 Austrolorp out in the brooder looking very cold. I got her to stay under the MHP after a few tries. She drank some sugar water from a spoon but was very lethargic and was acting very strange.

I came home from work at noon and she was under the MHP but still not right. I gave her some nutridrench. Same situation after work. I held her for a long time. Have not seen her poop. She stood and ate normally but then continued to have some sort of spell or seizure. She puts her head between her legs and backs up.

Edit: as soon as I hit submit she pooped on me. Normal appearing poop. Never so glad to have something poop on me.

See no visual issues. Vent clean and clear. Eyes clear. No discharge of any kind. Any suggestions appreciated. We are newbies. She will act fairly normal and then this...

 

[Eggcessive]

She looks to be suffering from wry neck or encephalomalacia. It is a neurological symptom usually a sign of Vitamin E deficiency. Give her vitamin E and the mineral selenium daily. Poultry NutriDrench contains both of those, and give the chick 1/2 ml by mouth daily, and dip her beak into water as much as possible. If you can't find Poultry NutriDrench, then use SaveAChick or other vitamins with electrolytes, and give her a little egg daily for selenium. Adding some water to the chick crumbles may get her to eat and drink better. Let us know how she does with the vitamins.

 

[DuckGirl77]

Hi there! I have never had this exact thing happen but I had a hen that would act a little bit like that sometimes. She would back up (not with her head actually between her legs, just lowered) or walk sideways. She was otherwise perfectly healthy. It was really weird, but there was nothing actually wrong with her. Maybe yours is like that, too. Hope this helps.

I just realized someone else replied. You can just ignore me

 

[7littlegirls]

Wow! Poor little girl! Hope she gets better!

 

[TerryH]

She looks to be suffering from wry neck or encephalomalacia. It is a neurological symptom usually a sign of Vitamin E deficiency. Give her vitamin E and the mineral selenium daily. Poultry NutriDrench contains both of those, and give the chick 1/2 ml by mouth daily, and dip her beak into water as much as possible. If you can't find Poultry NutriDrench, then use SaveAChick or other vitamins with electrolytes, and give her a little egg daily for selenium. Adding some water to the chick crumbles may get her to eat and drink better. Let us know how she does with the vitamins.

I am doing the nutridrench already. Not sure of the exact amount but I diluted the nutridrench and gave it to her with a syringe. She did eat tonight and acts normal at times and then does what she did in the video.

Edit: she's definitely had at least .5ml of diluted poultry nutridrench today.

 

[TerryH]

Wow! Poor little girl! Hope she gets better!

Thanks. This is a heartbreaker for us. They have all done so well up to now. The others are perfectly normal.

 

[aart]

Be very careful with the syringe, it's easy to aspirate them.
Just saw a tip to hold a soaked, dripping Qtip on side of beak if they won't drink out of dish.
Hopefully the vits do some good and she turns around quick.

 

[TerryH]

Be very careful with the syringe, it's easy to aspirate them.
Just saw a tip to hold a soaked, dripping Qtip on side of beak if they won't drink out of dish.
Hopefully the vits do some good and she turns around quick.

Thanks for the tip. I hope so too. It is some kinda weird deal for sure.

I was putting a drop on the tip of or on the side of her beak. I'll try the Qtip idea. Like I said in the MHP thread, suddenly the fun of having chickens is gone. They are totally stressing me out.

 

[TerryH]

Thanks to everyone. Once I got pointed in the right direction I found several threads on the vitamin E deficiency. What an amazing resource BYC is. Not sure if I just continue with just the NutriDrench or add actual vitamin E and/or Selenium?? I'm determined to give this little baby everything she needs to survive this. I'm also starting NutriDrench in the rest of the babies water first thing in the morning.

 

[beautifulpirate]

Poor baby! And poor you guys! Hope she is doing better by morning.