Emu chicks can't stand on their feet

[kerikal]

We have dozens of 3 to 4 months old emu chicks. In the last two weeks there is a tendency that few of them can't stand on their feet. One of them recovered in a day, but at the time we have two other with similar symptoms. One of them has a good appetite, he gets away on his ankles and sticks to the others, but he had to be drunk from a syringe for days. I examined his achilles but it doesn't seem to differ from healthy chicks. If I lift his body, he holds himself but his legs get crossed as soon as he tries to take a step.
I can't decide if there is a problem with his joints, nerves, or is it a sign of general weakness caused by digestion problems. Have any idea or similar experience?

 

[kerikal]

Update: it seems to start with weakness in one of the legs. The bird is limping or jumping on one leg. Later it sits down and tries to move on its ankles but can't stand up any more.

 

[MGG]

I would maybe try making a sling for it, like this. Have it's feet touching the ground so it can put some weight on them. Here is a picture.

There are lots of other ideas online. Good luck with your emu chick, and welcome to BYC!

 

[kerikal]

I would maybe try making a sling for it, like this. Have it's feet touching the ground so it can put some weight on them.

Thanks for the advice! Fortunately we don't need a sling now. We had to keep four chicks in isolation last night and two of them stood up today. The two others were trying their legs too. So we are out of panic mode, huh. Thanks for all who took a look at my post.

For the records, what happened in the meantime. Yesterday evening I found two gentlemen from the village watching our emus. One of them turned out to be a kind of "bird whisperer" who immediately noticed that the sitting birds suffered in bone weakness. I knew I had to take his words with a grain of salt, but I had no idea at all so I was grateful. He admitted he is not an emu expert, but very experienced with local poultry. Finally, we applied his advice and gave the birds fine-grained wet corn and wheat grits, and threw crushed hard-boiled eggs with eggshells broken to powder on shredded cabbage. The birds hesitated for a while but they ate up all the cabbage with the eggs on it, and asked for more. We hand-fed and drank sick birds when we had to and guarded them in the daytime.
For the sake of correctness I have to add that several chicks in our flock show symptoms of diarrhea, and I guess that also contributed to their weakness, so we gave amoxycillin for the whole flock.

 

[allbirds4me]

are you getting the birds out in fresh air and sunshine? If not you should be or they could be developing rickets.
As long as it's warm enough for YOU to walk around outside barefoot it is ok for them to be outside also.
No need the throw antibiotics at what you have going on unless you can get a diagnosis that would render them necessary ...they're not a cure all and can actually do more harm than good if not needed.
Runny stools...to a big extent...are normal for these birds.
What are you feeding them on a regular basis?
Could also very well be dietary related issues.

 

[kerikal]

Yes, they spend most of the daytime outside, except when it's raining.

Since I wrote the post, we have changed their diet. We give them wet wheat, corn, and oat grits, green leaves like cabbage, salad, nettle, carrots, cooked rice, hard-boiled eggs, ground eggshells, lime grits, rarely apple or other fruit. Stools look better, but sometimes I see green water running from their bottoms.

In general, the whole flock is in better shape now. They are taller and picked up bodyweight, but we still have a few limping birds, and I worry for them.

 

[Caseysfarmadventures]

I would maybe try making a sling for it, like this. Have it's feet touching the ground so it can put some weight on them. Here is a picture.View attachment 2155349
There are lots of other ideas online. Good luck with your emu chick, and welcome to BYC!

I need something similar to this but my problem is my emu is almost 3ft tall now his upper leg bone is curving the xray confirmed it so that being said how to I keep him in it from hoping out like lt Dan off of forest Gump bc we have to put popsicle sticks on the upper part and hobble the bottom to try and push the bone to make it grow back straight

 

[MGG]

I need something similar to this but my problem is my emu is almost 3ft tall now his upper leg bone is curving the xray confirmed it so that being said how to I keep him in it from hoping out like lt Dan off of forest Gump bc we have to put popsicle sticks on the upper part and hobble the bottom to try and push the bone to make it grow back straight

I've tied big pieces of fabric over the top of the bin or around the bird before. You could even get the lid for the storage tote and cut a head hole in it. I'd probably pad the edges if you make a hole though so he doesn't cut his neck.