Wry neck, leg issues, Stargazer?

[fatcatx]

We had a chick hatch this morning with problems. Legs are splayed a bit and when she tries to walk, she looks up and then topples over backwards and cannot right herself. She is stuck like a turtle. Is this a case of wry neck or does she have potential leg issues as well? Should I be hobbling her legs or just treating for wry neck? So far I have given her a little nutri drench and she is pecking at sprinkled food. Is there anything else I should be doing for her?

Unfortunately she was sleepy when I took the video so it is not the best example of her behavior. She was too tired to even fall over for me but you can see her splayed legs. (skip in about 40 seconds) I'll try and get a better video after naptime. She has otherwise fiesty all day. She is about 12 hours from hatch.

 

[fatcatx]

Can anyone confirm if symptoms are all due to wry neck and/or if she has multiple issues going on?

 

[fatcatx]

After looking through some links and threads, her case may be more likely to be stargazer (I think). But the nuerological problems may be more significant because she is constantly working her beak too. Has anyone successfully treated stargazing at hatch? How many days before improvement was shown?

We're trying to determine if we should put her down this morning. At a loss if trying or not trying is the more humane thing to do.

 

[chicchic25]

After looking through some links and threads, her case may be more likely to be stargazer (I think). But the nuerological problems may be more significant because she is constantly working her beak too. Has anyone successfully treated stargazing at hatch? How many days before improvement was shown?

We're trying to determine if we should put her down this morning. At a loss if trying or not trying is the more humane thing to do.

Oh my gosh..that breaks my heart. She looks like she's trying to come around just so hard for her right now. I wish I could offer you some advice I just don't know about all of the possibilities it may be. I really hope you can help her to recover. Best wishes and luck to you all.

 

[fatcatx]

Thank you for the good thoughts. We check on her frequently and almost every time she is splayed out on her back. Overnight we strapped her down into a shallow container with vetwrap to keep her upright - did not want her on her back for hours - and trying to keep in legs in the right position. We've tried placing her in a variety of mugs, cups, etc to keep her upright but she just either thrashes herself out of them or gets herself stuck upside down inside. We even tried vetwrapping her in with just her head poking out, but eventaully she gets it pulled in and twists herself up.

If she has a helping hand to stay upright, she is very chipper and tries to groom herself. We going to see how today goes since we will be around to babysit. Tomorrow will be the 48 hour mark so her reserves will be about used up.

 

[chicchic25]

Thank you for the good thoughts. We check on her frequently and almost every time she is splayed out on her back. Overnight we strapped her down into a shallow container with vetwrap to keep her upright - did not want her on her back for hours - and trying to keep in legs in the right position. We've tried placing her in a variety of mugs, cups, etc to keep her upright but she just either thrashes herself out of them or gets herself stuck upside down inside. We even tried vetwrapping her in with just her head poking out, but eventaully she gets it pulled in and twists herself up.

If she has a helping hand to stay upright, she is very chipper and tries to groom herself. We going to see how today goes since we will be around to babysit. Tomorrow will be the 48 hour mark so her reserves will be about used up.

I read on here about slings that people make for chickens that are not able to walk for one reason or another. It may be too soon to do something like this as your chick may be too small but they would fasten a cloth over something (like a plastic tote of sturdy box) and then cut two leg holes in it. You could probably stretch an old t-shirt over a box/tote too.
I believe the idea is to keep chickens up right and to keep their circulation going in their legs. Don't quote me on the reason behind it but from pics the chickens certainly looked like they were more comfortable. I know the sling doesn't solve the issues she's having but just throwing it out there. I really hope she makes it.

 

[fatcatx]

This is just a follow-up if anyone in a similar situation needs encouragement.

The peep is doing well! The first day she was hobbled (we used the bandaid method) she continued to tumble over onto her back. By the second day she had either learned or had enough strength to keep her legs tucked under her. After about three days we took them off to check progress and leg stance looked much better. It took a day for her to learn to walk properly and she still rocked back on her feet at first but she corrected that within a day.

I'm still not sure what the diagnosis of her neck was. It was pulled back so she was looking up and slightly to one side but not all the way across her back as you see in some "stargazer" examples. And when she melted into sleep, her neck flopped forward, but as soon as she woke up, it was at an angle again. Anyway, she could not eat or drink this way.

The first two days I used a small syringe to feed her full strength Nutra Drench in the am and pm and tiny amounts of water with Life Lytes throughout the day. The ND dose was about the size of an eye dropper drop but my syringe opening was much smaller so I let her "wick" about 4-5 tiny micro drops each time. By the end of the second day she showed marked improvement. Her head was still cocked and back a little bit but had come forward considerably and she could now eat moistened food off my finger though her aim was a bit off. By the end of the third she almost looked normal. By the fourth she could peck food off the ground. What a recovery in four days!

I will note again that this was a very lively chick from hatch and never acted like she felt sickly so this probably played a part in the rapid recovery. Hope someone finds this thread helpful.

 

[chicchic25]

This is just a follow-up if anyone in a similar situation needs encouragement.

The peep is doing well! The first day she was hobbled (we used the bandaid method) she continued to tumble over onto her back. By the second day she had either learned or had enough strength to keep her legs tucked under her. After about three days we took them off to check progress and leg stance looked much better. It took a day for her to learn to walk properly and she still rocked back on her feet at first but she corrected that within a day.

I'm still not sure what the diagnosis of her neck was. It was pulled back so she was looking up and slightly to one side but not all the way across her back as you see in some "stargazer" examples. And when she melted into sleep, her neck flopped forward, but as soon as she woke up, it was at an angle again. Anyway, she could not eat or drink this way.

The first two days I used a small syringe to feed her full strength Nutra Drench in the am and pm and tiny amounts of water with Life Lytes throughout the day. The ND dose was about the size of an eye dropper drop but my syringe opening was much smaller so I let her "wick" about 4-5 tiny micro drops each time. By the end of the second day she showed marked improvement. Her head was still cocked and back a little bit but had come forward considerably and she could now eat moistened food off my finger though her aim was a bit off. By the end of the third she almost looked normal. By the fourth she could peck food off the ground. What a recovery in four days!

I will note again that this was a very lively chick from hatch and never acted like she felt sickly so this probably played a part in the rapid recovery. Hope someone finds this thread helpful.

YEAH!!!!!

I'm so glad she's doing better! Keep up the great work with her and I hope she continues on the road to recovery!

 

[Lady Dre]

Thank you for this post. I now have some hope for my chick. This morning at 6:30 I had no idea what was wrong with her. Now I know I can try and make her feel better. I am going to start her on Poly-Vi-Sol until my Nutri-Drench comes tomorrow. Wanted to know what kind of container or set up you had for yours to sleep without rolling on her back. Thanks again!

 

[fatcatx]

Sorry this post is too late to help. Our issue fortunately happned over the weekend, so during the day we did not have her "secured" and I checked every 30 minutes to make sure she was not stuck on her back. At night we strapped her completely down into a Chobani yogurt container and forced her to "squat" all night as I was worried she would get tipped over directly under the heat source and potentially overheat herself. (We used vet wrap to secure her.) We only did that for 2 nights. After that she was mobile enough that I did not have to worry.