Vitamin B1 Deficiency! And the little guy got a name!! (New Pics!!)

[Reurra]

I got 4 little australorps the other day. One seems to be stunted in groth and often lays around. On occasion his head will jerk, and sometimes it will roll back like he is looking over his shoulder. When he lays in the light, he rolls over to his left side with he right leg straight out. He does get up and walk, but its stumping and unsteady. He eats sitting down and drinks sitting down. He seems alert most of the time. He seems to be having trouble sleeping though with the head jerk he does.

A second chick is doing similar things like sitting all the time, though no other symptoms seem to be appearing yet. I read that Medicated feed can cause star gazing. Im going to be going down to the store tomorrow to get them electrolites and water soluble vitamins. I need to know what kind to get. Polyvisol that ive seen online all has iron in it.

He looks dead but hes actually trying to sleep, his siblings seem to be running over him every few seconds. He is the same age as the other chicks, but he has not changed at all since I got him last thursday. the others have already started growing feathers and hopping around trying to fly.

 

[Primrose]

Hate to say, but this sounds exactly like what we went through today and yesterday with two of our chicks. I suspect Marek's in both, and they died within 24 hours. I am sending them to be necropsied to know for sure.
We had a chick last year who had a vitamin b deficiency and her symptoms were quite different from what you describe. She moved around, but had some coordination issued in her legs. She moved like an ice skater but had no coordination loss in her head or neck.
My advice with your chicks is to separate the sick ones, completely sanitize the brooder and all supplies, and hope for the best. So sorry, I hope I'm wrong.

 

[Primrose]

P.S. Granted, our chicks died within hours of showing symptoms, and yours haven't so....hope it's an easily fixable problem! It's that leg thing you describe....and the pic looks just like the first of our sick chicks.

 

[Reurra]

So far its been 2 days since symptoms started. If it is Mereks, its already too late for the others as well Im sure since they all have been exposed in one way or another. I picked them up at 1 week of age from the same breeder. Im going to get the vitamins and see what happens. He has been laying down like this since thursday. He can get up though, he just acts weak in the legs. The picture of him above is just him sleeping, thats not how he is all the time. he has control of his legs, just weak.

I have read that corid blocks thaimin which is what cocci live off of. Because the medicated food has corid in it, this can cause chicks to become defficient in vitamin B1. Im really hoping this will clear up with some vitamins and electrolites.

 

[Reurra]

I got the vitamins today and have added it to his water. I soaked up some of his food with it and fed it to him. He has a monster of an appetite! he drinks and eats, but seems to have no strength in his legs. It is not paralysis because he moves his feet and legs. His head will rock at times and it seems worse when he is under light. Please help for his sake!! Im very very worried about this little guy!! I dont know what to do!!

 

[Back on the Farm]

Get the Poly-vi-sol without iron and give him a few drops several times a day, not in the water - right down his beak (don't drown him, but let a drop fall off the dropper, let him swallow, another drop, etc...) You might have to do this for a week or two to see results. I had a chick last year that did some weird things - walking backward, falling over, head in a weird position. It took about a week and a half on the vitamins before I noticed a change. After two weeks - you would have never noticed that she was any different than the rest of her 'sibilings'. She had a re-lapse a few months later, and than again a few months after that. Once she started free ranging, no issue (knock on wood). For some reason, I guess her body just couldn't absorb the vitamins.

Good luck and let us know how it turns out.

 

[Reurra]

Thank you for the reply!! Where can I get the non iron kind? The only kind I ahve found has iron in it (Im in Canada and a lot of laces wont ship to here)

Again thanks for the info!!

 

[Back on the Farm]

I got mine at Wal-mart. I can't remember if it was in the pharmacy section or the baby food/supplies section. I think you can also order it online with Wal-mart. Our CVS pharmacies also sell it around here (I'm on the east coast of the US). It is made by Enfamil and comes in a purple & white box. The 'with Iron' one is marked on the outside of the box and I think the box is gold & purple. Hope that helps.

 

[Reurra]

Hes up and walking a bit more today and seems more alert! Hes only had one "seizure" today. Im really crossing my fingers hes going to get better! Here is a picture of him standing, hes in the front left of the picture. The white faced guy behind him I suspect is a roo, hes always pecking everyone and his feathers arent quite growing as fast as my other 2 birds. He also loves to step on poor Stumpy as seen in the picture. Yeah i named the sick one Stumpy. Hes the one laying down in the second picture. he stumps around when he walks.





Here he is with his back to the camera, stumping away from me after the above picture was taken, I scared him with the flash I think.