Help! Something is wrong.

[Skinny rooster]

Last night all the chicks were happy and healthy. This morning two were going paralyzed, now five are going paralyzed. Everything is the same, I have not changed feed or anything else. Everything I read says they are too young for Marek's, they will be 3 weeks on Tuesday. They are in my house so no exposure to adults. They are bright and alert, just going paralyzed. Any thoughts on what is happening? So far it's only the Welsummer chicks, none of the bantams.

[WLLady]

do you know if any of your chicks are vaccinated? if some are mareks vaccinated and some aren't then the vaccinated ones will have infected the non-vaxxed and they will have mareks, doesn't matter how old they are-so if you can contact the folks you got the chicks from and see if they vaccinated....

other thing to check is are they eating? the fact they are bright and alert suggest yes to me, but if they were real dumb and didn't figure out how to eat they could be malnourished and weak.....
other thing i would check is vit B-if you are using a commercial feed then it should be okay......
you can try hard boiled mashed egg to give them a pick me up and sugar or electrolytes and sugar in the water for a boost.....
but paralysis to me makes me think mareks vaccine....

[Skinny rooster]

Just to let people know I sent a private message of thanks to you, I appreciate the feed back. To recap, they are on commercial chick starter, were all hatched by me so not exposed to any other chickens, not even the parents in the barn and they eat really well. In fact they are still crawling up to the feeders to eat. They show no sign of illness other than going paralyzed. It's hard to watch, poor little guys.

[windwalkingwolf]

Are they walking on their hocks to get to feed? Using their wings to help push themselves along?

[Skinny rooster]

Are they walking on their hocks to get to feed? Using their wings to help push themselves along?

No, stumbling around, they lose power in their wings as well. They try to stand and just stumble forward until they get to where they want. However they don't appear sick, they are alert, they just seem to have lost control of their body. I was wondering if they somehow were poisoned by the feed or something but I think then they would become weak and sick. Sometimes they even panic, they think something is doing this to them and they try to get away. I guess it's Marek's disease, I was hoping someone else had a similar experience and fixed it. I have had that here but usually it's one bird only every now and then, not so many in a few hours.

[Ontario Chick]

That sounds terrible, I don't have much experience with disease, my first move would be to check the feed for mold,
although the fact only one breed is affected probably eliminates that, I would put everybody on Super booster for a week,
to see if it will make a difference.
If these chicks are from purchased eggs, there is a possibility that the eggs themselves were contaminated.
Either way, I would separate the affected chicks until you know what is going on.

[kenya]

That sounds like bad feed.

[Skinny rooster]

Just in case I'm going to get feed from a different supplier. Feed looks good, nice and dry. Not much change this morning. I have stress aid so I'm using that for now but will try to get Super Booster tomorrow.

Something odd I noticed, if I frighten them, they can jump up and run from the adrenaline rush, then after a few seconds lose control again.

[Shnookie]

Maybe a vitamin deficiency? I think I would try the Super Booster.

Here's some information from a document I have.

Depending on the quantity of vitamin A passed on from the breeder hen, day-old chicks reared on a vitamin A-deficient diet may show signs within 7 days. However, chicks with a good reserve of maternal vitamin A may not show signs of a deficiency for up to 7 wk. Gross signs in chicks include anorexia, growth retardation, drowsiness, weakness, incoordination, emaciation, and ruffled feathers. If the deficiency is severe, the chicks may become ataxic, as with vitamin E deficiency (see Vitamin E Deficiency). The yellow pigment in the shanks and beaks is usually lost, and the comb and wattles are pale. A cheesy material may be noted in the eyes, but xerophthalmia is seldom seen because chicks usually die before the eyes become affected. Infection may play a role in many of the deaths noted with acute vitamin A deficiency.

Young chicks with a chronic vitamin A deficiency may also show pustules in the mucous membrane of the esophagus that may also affect the respiratory tract. Kidneys may be pale and the tubules distended due to the uric acid deposits. In extreme cases, the ureters may be filled with urates. Blood levels of uric acid can rise from a normal level of ∼5 mg to as high as 40 mg/100 mL of blood. Vitamin A deficiency does not interfere with uric acid metabolism but does prevent normal excretion of uric acid from the kidney. Histologic findings include atrophy of the cytoplasm and a loss of the cilia in the columnar, ciliated epithelium.

While vitamin A-deficient chicks can be ataxic, similar to those with vitamin E deficiency, no gross lesions are found in the brain of vitamin A-deficient chicks as compared with degeneration of the Purkinje cells in the cerebellum of vitamin E-deficient chicks (see Vitamin E Deficiency). Also, the livers of ataxic vitamin A-deficient chicks contain little or no vitamin A.
Because stabilized dry, vitamin A supplements are almost universally used, it is unlikely that a deficiency will be encountered. However, if a deficiency does develop due to inadvertent omission of the vitamin A supplement or poor mixing, up to 2 times the normally recommended level should be fed for ~2 wk. The dry, stabilized forms of vitamin A are the feed supplements of choice. Forms that can be administered through the drinking water are available and usually result in fast recovery than medication of the feed.


Riboflavin Deficiency
Many tissues may be affected by riboflavin deficiency, although the epithelium and the myelin sheaths of some of the main nerves are major targets. Changes in the sciatic nerves produce “curled-toe” paralysis in growing chickens. Egg production is affected, and riboflavin-deficient eggs do not hatch. When chicks are fed a diet deficient in riboflavin, their appetite is fairly good but they grow slowly, become weak and emaciated, and develop diarrhea between the first and second weeks. Deficient chicks are reluctant to move unless forced and then frequently walk on their hocks with the aid of their wings. The leg muscles are atrophied and flabby, and the skin is dry and harsh. In advanced stages of deficiency, the chicks lie prostrate with their legs extended, sometimes in opposite directions. The characteristic sign of riboflavin deficiency is a marked enlargement of the sciatic and brachial nerve sheaths; sciatic nerves usually show the most pronounced effects. Histologic examination of the affected nerves shows degenerative changes in the myelin sheaths that, when severe, pinch the nerve. This produces a permanent stimulus, which causes the curled-toe paralysis.

[Skinny rooster]

The only place I could get food today, only had chick grower, so I got it anyway until tomorrow, better than giving them something that could be killing them. So I open the bag and AAAAAAH! Big giant pellets that they can't eat. I am thinking about wetting them and mixing in cooked egg yolks, think that would be ok?