Vitamin E deficiency and "Crazy Chick Disease" - Photos added post #5

[lazy gardener]

I started my little chick on the poly vi sol without iron, vitamin e capsules and selenium every day. I noticed day by day she would decrease the amount of times she did it. Now at 1 month old there is absolutely no sign of the syndrome. She is the same size as the others and you wouldn't even think there had been something wrong with her.

How much vitamin E did you give her? How much PolyViSol? How much Selenium??? I've given her a micro drop of E x 2 doses, hesitate to give more due to toxicity issues, but if your chick did well with macro doses, I'll do the same.

 

[lazy gardener]

How much vitamin E did you give her? How much PolyViSol? How much Selenium??? I've given her a micro drop of E x 2 doses, hesitate to give more due to toxicity issues, but if your chick did well with macro doses, I'll do the same.

F/U question: how long did you keep the vitamin regimen going???

 

[mandelyn]

After reading the back of the bottle on Vitamin E capsules, I bought some Safflower oil instead. The parrot formula I mix about 2 tablespoons worth. Add 1 tablespoon of the oil, 1 tablespoon of Wheat Germ (another E food) and then try to get her to eat at least 1 table spoon 3 times a day (at 6 weeks old) Less for a younger bird. When she couldn't feed herself at all I was doing as much as she would eat in one sitting every 2 hours during daylight.

The left overs I give to the other birds. Tracked down the source of the deficiency to the parent stock, not kept as well as I had thought, with inconsistent feeding. So I'm making sure all the chicks from that batch are getting it.

I'm totally guessing on dosages, specially since I'm using food sources and not straight E.

She's having a lot less episodes now. Yay for progress! We're on day 5 of treatment.

 

[jobouss]

How much vitamin E did you give her? How much PolyViSol? How much Selenium??? I've given her a micro drop of E x 2 doses, hesitate to give more due to toxicity issues, but if your chick did well with macro doses, I'll do the same.

This is what I did. I took a coke bottle cap and mixed the contents of the vitamin e capsule. The selenium I got was a pill form so I took my tweezers and crushed some up in the cap. Not much, just a few crushes across the pill with the tweezers. Then I put 3 drops of poly vi sol. and a few drops of water to make it thinner. I would sort of hold her mouth open and pour a few drops at a time, let her swallow and try again. Most would be wasted , but I think she got enough to help. I did this for 3 weeks, one week past the time she stopped doing the behavior. I have never seen her do it again. She is almost 6 weeks old now. I hope that helps.

 

[lazy gardener]

This is what I did. I took a coke bottle cap and mixed the contents of the vitamin e capsule. The selenium I got was a pill form so I took my tweezers and crushed some up in the cap. Not much, just a few crushes across the pill with the tweezers. Then I put 3 drops of poly vi sol. and a few drops of water to make it thinner. I would sort of hold her mouth open and pour a few drops at a time, let her swallow and try again. Most would be wasted , but I think she got enough to help. I did this for 3 weeks, one week past the time she stopped doing the behavior. I have never seen her do it again. She is almost 6 weeks old now. I hope that helps.

Thanks. I'm sure you have a rationalle for using Selenium. Is there any thread that recommends using it? I didn't see it referenced re: treating this syndrome.

 

[jobouss]

Thanks. I'm sure you have a rationalle for using Selenium. Is there any thread that recommends using it? I didn't see it referenced re: treating this syndrome.

I was researching about wry neck because that is what I thought her problem was. I read several places that they had added selenium to the treatment. I can't direct you to any certain page, because I did not bookmark them. I read that you are suppose to use very little, because it is not good in large amounts. It can cause toxicity. I was just reading anything I could, because I wanted to help the little thing. I actually did not have the selenium at first. I was just giving the Poly vi sol and the vitamin e. After I read about the selenium and started giving it, was when I saw an improvement in her condition. Just search on the BYC site and/or google "wry neck" or "selenium and vitamin e for chickens"

 

[lazy gardener]

I was researching about wry neck because that is what I thought her problem was. I read several places that they had added selenium to the treatment. I can't direct you to any certain page, because I did not bookmark them. I read that you are suppose to use very little, because it is not good in large amounts. It can cause toxicity. I was just reading anything I could, because I wanted to help the little thing. I actually did not have the selenium at first. I was just giving the Poly vi sol and the vitamin e. After I read about the selenium and started giving it, was when I saw an improvement in her condition. Just search on the BYC site and/or google "wry neck" or "selenium and vitamin e for chickens"

Thanks. That gives me the info I need and I will get some this weekend. My chick is acting infinately better with the vit E and multivits and parrot formula. But she still holds her head at that funny angle. Her head and neck look like the profile of a candy cane.

 

[MontanaDolphin]

Bookmarking this post for future reference..."just in case"! Thank you for the post!

 

[mandelyn]

The head angle on mine is now improving, she now has full rotation back and is not inhibited in eating, drinking, preening, and sleeping with her head under her wing. She comes shooting out of her cage for exercise without stopping at the door, just leaps out.

Less and less episodes every day. So happy! She's such a pretty and sweet girl.

 

[mandelyn]

She hasn't had an episode in over 24 hours! We're doing a morning feeding of the parrot formula with Wheat Germ and Safflower oil, then afternoon dark greens with flax seeds sprinkled on top.

So from the onset of the seizures until they stopped happening, it was 12 days.