drunken walk, extra big ameraucana chick--cause?

[cimarron]

hi all, this is my first post! i would love some feedback about belinda, one of my ameraucana chicks.

my new chicks are about 4 weeks old, got them as day-olds. of the six chicks, five are robust and have been perching easily. one of the americaunas though is giving me some concern. she has been bigger from the start and she staggers drunkenly. her walking has gotten more unsteady as she grows. she does not hold herself up when i handle her, she feels different, like she has poor muscle tone compared to the others. she eats and drinks fine and gets around with her stagger, and does not seem to have any abnormal poop.

i would like to home treat her if this is a disease and am concerned that it could spread to the others. but if it's congenital i am inclined to let her be, cause we're all a bunch of freaks around here anyway. if anyone has advice on how this affects the flock, or ideas of her ailment, please share. thanks!

 

[kstaven]

Does she have a head shake/tremors along with this?

 

[pebblessix]

I am having the same problems with 3 of my guinea fowl. Please see my post from a few days ago. "Help....Drunken walk... guinea hens". My birds do not have head shaking or tremors. Just very unsteady and staggering. I keep thinking it is diet, as they will only eat crumbles. Today I mixed some mealy worms in with their crumbles in hopes I can get them to eat bugs/worms. My birds are about 6 months old. Also, they are smaller in size/thinner than other guineas. Maybe someone can figure this out. Good luck!

 

[SharonX]

"she has been bigger from the start and she staggers drunkenly. her walking has gotten more unsteady as she grows. she does not hold herself up when i handle her, she feels different, like she has poor muscle tone compared to the others. she eats and drinks fine and gets around with her stagger, and does not seem to have any abnormal poop."

This was also the symptoms of my new big girl pullet after a couple of days after I bought her as a day old. She staggered and spent most of the time sitting on her hocks. She ate and drank well and had no diarrhea. She got so bad she could not stand and was almost spastic. I separated her from the others.

I found VitaFlight bird vitamins with high riboflavin (see Riboflavin deficiency in poultry) fed to her with a dropper and also in her water has helped and she is back standing now. She seems to be recovering from what seemed like a downward spiral. Try some bird vitamins. Could help, wouldn't hurt.

 

[cimarron]

pebbles, yes it was your post about guineas that got me to post about my ameraucana! are you thinking to try the vitimins?

K, she doesn't have tremors, but she tends to move backwards using her wings if she is alarmed. she gets around by staggering, otherwise.

i did some more research on her symptoms and was wondering if it's spraddle leg or a tendon problem. she can walk some, but her legs are unsteady and splayed out to the sides. she is an extra big chick and her legs are proportional to her size, they're not emaciated or anything. i tried hobbling her with a bandaid last night but she is far too big already (about 4 wks old). so i looked around some more about spraddling and am thinking of a sturdier hobble to see if that helps.

i wonder if anyone's had luck correcting splayed legs with a hobble at this age (4 weeks)? most of what i found on the web was about hobbling tiny chicks. belinda seemed normal when we got her, and didn't cause concern until abut 2 weeks ago. she seems like she grew too fast for her legs.

i will also track down those vitamins, Sharon. i would hope there's something i can do to get her back on track.

thanks, all.

 

[pebblessix]

I have tried vitamins. Poly vi sol and liquid vitamin b in their water. I am really at a loss. I hope someone comes up with something I haven't tried.

 

[pebblessix]

I just thought of this as I was rereading the posts. My muscovy ducks will have unsteady legs when they grow to fast. In ducks, this can be caused by to much protien. Maybe if your chick is growing faster than her legs can keep up, this may be the problem? Just an idea to research.

 

[cimarron]

hmmm, i wonder about the protein...i have them on the medicated chick starter that i got here in austin at callahan's, which i think is standardized amounts of nutrients.

i am going to go on a hunch that this is a physical defect/hobble from her growth spurt and treat it like spraddle. tonight i'll try to rig up a sturdy hobble, and will post any updates on her condition. and get some vita flight vitamins.

i wish you luck with your guinea hens, let me know how it goes! any anyone else with experience with a big wobbly baby, please weigh in.

 

[SharonX]

"hmmm, i wonder about the protein...i have them on the medicated chick starter that i got here in austin at callahan's, which i think is standardized amounts of nutrients. "

Yes, I also got my chick starter at Callahan's in Austin also. The pullet I was worried about also got very large for her age within a few days of bringing her home as a day old pullet.

My son and his GF just dropped by and they said they were amazed at the improvement since I started dosing her with VitaFlight and also another multivitamin called Vita Sol. I was putting dropper fulls in her mouth every hour or so. The book said they need 200 mu-grams in the first dose to get them headed back to normal since they are B vitamin depleted or they would not be so wobbly and spastic and showing neuropathy signs.

My son says that just since Friday she is now starting to act like the others -- at least she can walk on her two legs now. It was definately a neurological problem and we got our chick starter at the same store. Even so, it may not be the chick starter. She just may have needed extra vitamins due to her growing so fast.

http://www.vetpathology.org/cgi/content/abstract/25/1/9

http://books.google.com/books?id=qI4XrLhKZFUC&pg=PA467&dq=riboflavin+deficiency+in+chicks#PPA469,M1

As soon as I got some vitamins in her, her curly toes relaxed but she was still sitting on her hocks and toppling over until yesterday. It has taken about 4 days of dosing her with a dropper full of extra strength bird vitamins.

The book says it may not be the feed. It can be genetic and the fast rate of growth was taking up all the nutrients and or some toxin could have interfered with the absorption of the B-vitamins. Whatever caused it, I just know my "Raising Poultry" book suggests multivitamins (not just chick starter) for all baby chicks when raising them. I think I learned my lesson with this pullet. Vitamins for any new babies.

PS: If you have any Brewer's yeast, that is also a very good source of B-2.

 

[chickenzoo]

This reminds me of a few chicks that I got from the Hatchery. Two are Buff Bramahas and one is a Blue Cochin. They have always been wobbly and easily go off balance and fall over. They are a heavy breed and I think it is due to a Vitamin deficiency. I've added Vitamins to their water and they seemed to improve some, they are now about 8 months old and are less wobbly.