What causes chicks that cannot walk/stagger?

[jklfarm]

Hi- I am writing this for my husband, who is the raiser of the chickens....
We have about 30 chickens, mostly bantys and Rhode Island Reds. We let some hens set so we could have some chicks, and they are now about a month old. This is our first batch of chicks in a while, and the roosters and hens are unrelated. Of the approx. 20-25 chicks that we have three indicate a neurological problem. One could not walk at all, he would just heave himself around with no control of his legs. There are a couple more who have some staggering, but not as serious as the other. Can anyone direct us to some possible causes? They get regular chick starter. They are kept in a fenced chicken house and when we are home, they are let out in the yard as often as possible.
Thanks!

 

[tiki244]

Their immune systems arent up to the adult birds, so they may have caught something that the adult birds are immune to.

They may have a vitamin defficiency, so you might want to adde some vitamins to their water.

Maybe they got a hold of some damp feed or straw or anything damp and got a toxic ingestion of something. Or a toxic plant.

So you might want to seperate and keep them on very dry pine shavings and give vitamins and chick feed only and see how they do. And maybe seperate the sick ones too.

Hope this helps, because I am not all that experienced with chicken ailments. Good Luck.

 

[bugladyleah]

Sounds like it could be Marek's to me.....