sick chick - botulism?

16 years ago

We brought home our first four chicks from the farmers co-op last Friday. Yesterday morning one of them was cheeping loudly and flopping around. We put it in its own box, put the other three in a new clean box, and did an internet search of chick diseases. Today the chick is still floppy - legs, neck - and just huddles, although it struggles when we try to give it water, and it won't eat...no change since yesterday morning. A couple of days ago, for fun, we had given the chicks a red wiggler worm from the garden to see what they'd do with it. One chick ate it. I'm not sure if it was the one that is now sick. I'm reluctant to call a vet about this - thought I'd check here to get first hand experience. We thought we were doing a good job of keeping things clean - changing bedding and water every day, although water and food are in tuna cans, which get messed up pretty quickly...

Any advice? Would anybody venture a prognosis?

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (4)

velvet_sparrow
16 years ago
What breed is it? Any of the other chicks showing any symptoms? I'm sure you know this, but if you suspect bad or moldy feed, throw it out right away and get fresh. Another cause of Crookneck/Limberneck is a head injury with subsequent brain swelling.

Read up online about Limberneck/Crookneck and Stargazing/Twirling to see if the symptoms match your situation. The short version though, is this: Head injuries can happen during shipping of birds or if the bird is startled and bumps it's head, another bird pecks it on the head, or a nasty respiratory infection such as a head cold can also cause the brain to swell. I call this a Head Boink. :) Symptoms are the birds' inability to stand properly or lift it's head, backing up constantly, tucking it's head between it's legs, a drunken stagger, dragging it's head from side to side on the ground or flipping upside down/tumbling.

Crookneck/Limberneck can also be caused by a nutritional deficiency (or moldy seed), but in these days of balanced nutrition chicken feed it doesn't happen very often--usually it's because someone has raised a chicken on a diet of just bird seed, for instance. There are home treatments for Head Boinks that work well most of the time, but they can be lengthy and the bird takes a lot of care and some handfeeding. Happily, I have used the Vitamin E/Selenium treatment with complete success.

Here's what I do for affected birds. If started before symptoms get severe, the bird should totally recover. It is important to be sure the bird gets enough to eat and drink while it has this problem. Birds with severe cases of crookneck can't eat and drink enough to survive. You will need to gently place their head in the feed dish and carefully dip just the tip of the beak in water. Be careful not to dip too far into the water and to not stress the bird while trying to help. If VERY severe, you may have to handfeed the bird for a few days.

Once a day, give orally:
50 mgs. of Selenium
400 IU of vitamin E

Poke a hole in one end of a vitamin E capsule and squeeze the contents into a small dish. Cut a 200 mg. Selenium tablet into quarters, take one quarter and crush it, mix crushed amount with vitamin E. Handfeed the mixture to the chick (I use a matchstick).

You can get both medications over the counter at any drugstore. I have successfully and safely used this treatment on baby chicks--I have a 5 month old Silkie hen running around in the back yard right now who had a VERY bad case of this and fully recovered after only a week of treatment. You need to isolate the chick to keep the other birds from pecking it and making things worse. Keep it warm and quiet. More info is on my chicken info site, here:

http://home.earthlink.net/~velvetsparrow/VSChickHealth.htm

Good luck with the chick! :)

Velvet ~:>
paulns
Original Author
16 years ago
It's good to know, for future reference, a home treatment for crookneck. So thanks Velvet! Our chick, which is still hanging in there, but barely, is a golden comet, it's the only one sick, and the symptoms match descriptions of botulism. Our neighbour was over (she's been away this past week), she has a lot of experience with hatching and raising chicks, and doesn't know what's wrong either but says factory farmed chicks are more susceptible to disease and toxins than farm raised ones, that the former shouldn't be fed 'wild' food when they're so little, but that it might be a genetic problem kicking in, considering the chick is still alive. Some environmental toxin would probably have killed it quickly.
Related Discussions
Baby chick is Sick
Q
Comments (11)
All the extras are not for heat, it is so they get a number that will survive the first 48 hours leaving you with the amount that you ordered. This saves them having to credit or ship replacements. Most of the times you'll keep loosing chicks after the guarantee time is up. Out of the last 1400 chicks I've ordered in the past 3 years only 4 were lost. One died from smothering during shipping, two were lost to a rat, the last one due to being stepped on after being dropped. There are only two different tests you can do yourself, but they are for Pullorum (you'll need to go to a 1 day school to be certified-check with you County Cooperative Extension Office) and the other is for the level of e-coli in their poo (this requires a hand counter and a microscope-even a toy one will do). You'll have to learn what e-coli looks like and learn their acceptable levels. E-coli levels can be lowered by feeding probiotic rich feeds or you can buy an additive for their water, one brand is called Fastrack-but there are many brands out there. It is a powerful preventive measure the small poultry keeper can cheaply employ to prevent 7 out of 9 common poultry ailments. Many of these ailments won't kill your birds but will lessen there productivity, be it weight gain in meat birds or eggs in layers. It sounds like you run a clean joint there, when can I move in? 'LOL' Giardia is from drinking water that has been contaminated by animal waste run-off. In dogs there are many natural ways to treat/prevent this. Most find it simpler to vaccinate for it. It is so important if you have water sources to not allow large animals free access to it. It is not only your water but the water of everyone downstream from you. It is so easy to create a reservior (tank) that is feed thru a pipeline from that water source to a reservoir that your animals can drink from. This reservoir can be easily designed to allow one way water flow as not to contaminate the water downstream. When your stream is "yukky" call your county health office. They will back track and find who is the source of this and will take steps to prevent this in the future. Fresh water is important for your birds. This water should be placed in heavy shade to keep water borne organisms at or below safe levels. This is the #one cause of illness in poultry.
...See More
Are sneezing chicks sick?
Q
Comments (5)
It might be just due to dust from the shavings...but pick them up and check out their eyes and nares (nostrils) for any kind of discharge. Other signs of illness are gasping or labored breathing, sitting around fluffed up all the time, soiled vent feathers, being lethargic and eating/drinking/poop changes. Observe them for a bit to see. Enjoy your chicks! :) I have a chicken info site that might help, located here: http://home.earthlink.net/~velvetsparrow/VSChick.htm Velvet ~:>
...See More
a sick chick
Q
Comments (3)
It sounds like she may be suffering from Crookneck/Limberneck, caused by either a head injury or a nutritional imbalance. You can treat her using Selenium and Vitamin E. Also, just as you would never give Gatorade to a human infant (too much sugar, can actually worsen diarrhea), you need to switch to unflavored Pedialyte ASAP for the chick in order to boost her electrolytes. Continue the handfeeding until she can eat on her own. Crookneck/Limberneck In Birds Symptoms range from inability to hold up head and kind of it twisting backward thru full convulsion. Another is that their legs won't hold up their bodies. Here is my theory and therapy for what some call "limber neck" and I call crookneck. The symptoms first show as a crook in the neck. It progresses to tucking the head, then tucking the head between the legs, then backing up, and tumbling over. The youngsters will make a distressed peeping. It usually hits young birds but can happen at any age. It is unclear what causes crookneck. American Silkie Bantam Club members suggest water on the brain, vitamin E deficiency, and injury to the brain that is outside the skull and forms the knob on the top of Silkie's heads. Water on the brain was seen in a necropsy of an affected bird. Prednisone was suggested as symptomatic relief. Vitamin E and B complex are both good for neurological disorders. Selenium helps absorb vitamin E. Since prednisone is prescription-only, most people have to make do with what they can get at the grocery or drug store, which is the treatment below. It is important to be sure the bird gets enough to eat and drink while it has this problem. Birds with severe cases of crookneck can't eat and drink enough to survive. You will need to gently place their head in the feed dish and carefully dip just the tip of the beak in water. Be careful not to dip too far into the water, and to not stress the bird while trying to help. Daily Dosage: 400 IU of vitamin E (one human capsule) Selenium 50 micrograms (You may have to get a larger tablet and cut it in half or quarters) Crush the Selenium into a fine powder. Take the Vitamin E capsules a poke a hole in one end with a pin, then squeeze the luquid out into a tiny dish. Mix the powdered Seleium into the Vitamin E liquid using a wooden matchstick or something similar. Hold the chick in one hand, with the other scoop up a small amount of the mixture, pry open the chicksÂ beak and place the mix inside the chickÂs beak, allowing it to swallow it on itÂs own. Feed the chick the entire mixture. Do this once a day for 7 days. This isn't an injury that heals rapidly. It takes medication and TIME. Results aren't instantaneous, but this treatment DOES work.
...See More
Urgent! Is this canning method a major botulism risk?
Q
Comments (7)
The vinegar should be boiling - it won't burn the sugar. If he's getting it close to boiling (not just warm) it may be OK but jars should be processed in boiling water. *IF* he's using straight vinegar, then they're probably OK to open and stick in the fridge even a couple of days after they were made. Even if they never sealed (better that way - botulism needs low-oxygen environment). I don't know if I'd keep them on the shelf - certainly not long-tern. If he's mixing vinegar and water without following an approved recipe (at least half vinegar, depending on how tightly the slices are packed and how much onion - which is very watery), warming it just enough to dissolve the sugar, and not processing the jars (but they seal b/c it's hot enough to do that - called "open kettle" method), then I wouldn't touch them, not even to put in the fridge, since botulism can grow to toxic levels within 48 hours. If they never seal, then botulism shouldn't grow, but other yucky things can if not enough vinegar and/or not heat processed. Really, if he wants to keep making these, he should use approved recipes including processing times. Here is a very useful site Here is a link that might be useful: NCHFP
...See More
velvet_sparrow
16 years ago
Sorry, maybe I wasn't clear--TRY THE SELENIUM/VITAMIN E treatment right now--don't wait. It can't hurt, and time is of the essence here. With quick intervention this bird can fully recover, quickly.

Velvet ~:>
paulns
Original Author
16 years ago
The little tyke died yesterday. We are sad. I talked to somebody who keeps chickens most years - layers, broilers - described this chick's problems, and they said the exact same thing happened to them all the time, some years they've lost as many as half of their chicks, the same symptoms setting in even when the chicks weigh a couple of pounds. They think the cause is in the breeding - over-hybridizing. This made me more hopeful the worm wasn't the problem.

Velvet, I considered making a special trip yesterday to the pharmacy 10 miles away to spend money on vitamins to treat a sickness that didn't look like crookneck but decided against it. It just went against common sense.

It would have been good to get an opinion here on what, exactly, this chick's problem might have been..

sick chick - botulism?

Comments (4)

velvet_sparrow

paulns
Original Author

Related Discussions

velvet_sparrow

paulns
Original Author

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

sick chick - botulism?

Comments (4)

velvet_sparrow

paulnsOriginal Author

Related Discussions

velvet_sparrow

paulnsOriginal Author

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

paulns
Original Author

paulns
Original Author