Wobbly Chick... Is she sick?

[jettgirl24]

I'm a first time chicken owner and I brought my babies home yesterday, 2 Buff Orpingtons and 2 Barred Rocks. They are 5 days old today and they all look healthy, seem to be active, and are eating and drinking fine. However, one of my Barred Rocks seems a little clumsy and wobbly. He runs around but seems to fall over more easily than the other chicks when he's grooming himself, playing, etc. There don't seem to be any signs of injury or trauma and no other obvious signs of sickness in her or the other chicks. I'm feeding them medicated starter and regular tap water, her poop looks normal. I'm currently housing them in a large rubbermaid type container with pine shavings. They were on pine shavings when I got them and they don't seem to be eating them as far as I can tell.

Can anyone tell me if I should be worried or doing something?

 

[redrocketrooster]

He could be just clumsy, my Rhode Island Red has huge honking feet and sometimes falls over.
Keep an eye on him though, feel around his legs for anything bumpy or out of place.
If he keeps falling over maybe his legs are too far apart? Is there anyone to test his eye sight?
You might want to try this: http://www.poultryhelp.com/spraddle.html and just see if it helps.

There might be other causes, Im sure other members can chime in with more, this only what i've heard.

 

[jettgirl24]

Thank you for the input, I hope she's just a clumsy one!

Her legs seem normal and definitely don't resemble anything like the spraddle leg pictures on the page you recommended, so that's good. She seems to be alert and running around with the other babies so hopefully it's nothing to worry about. The eyesight thing did cross my mind but I have no idea how to test that one. So far she doesn't seem to be running into things though.

I'm going to keep an eye on her and if anything new develops I'll update the post!