Dropped wing?

[Matzwd]

This little 2-week-old blue laced red wyandotte has had one wing dropped slightly lower than the other for a few days. It started when she was up on top of the brooder plate four days ago and sounded like she had a peg leg. Turned out she had a big clump of poo on her foot, so I washed it off. That evening she looked as if she had a slight limp/waddle. I kept an eye on her, and that seemed to improve, but her wing was down a little and has stayed down. Now she seems only to want to walk to get food and water, and sometimes she lies down to eat. Everything looks fine on inspection. I don't see anything wrong with her legs or wings. What could this be? Mineral deficiency? Injury? Should I separate her? I have 22 others brooding with her, and a couple are rowdy. She seems like she tries to stay under the brooder plate mostly.

 

[azygous]

Chicks this age should be very lively, scurrying around on feverishly important business, then suddenly going back under heat for a quick nap. Any chick that is keeping to itself and only moving minimally, and the dropped wing is a symptom of weakness, or is hanging out mostly under the heat source, has issues of not efficiently utilizing calories.

A general term for these chicks is "failure-to-thrive". These chicks may lack fully developed digestive organs and even heart and lungs. They can get off to a slow start, and it doesn't take long for them to fall behind the others.

Unless a chick is hatched with permanent genetic defects, this condition is treatable with chicken vitamins and frequent high protein feedings to give it the boost it needs to catch up. Poultry Nutri-drench is specially formulated for this purpose, and added to high protein, easily digested foods such as minced boiled egg and crumbled tofu, we can see noticeable improvement in as little as one week.

Such a chick is also prone to developing pasty butt and constipation, so careful monitoring of their vent for pasted up poop and their pooping habits to notice when they are backed up is very important to treat immediately.

 

[Matzwd]

Unless a chick is hatched with permanent genetic defects, this condition is treatable with chicken vitamins and frequent high protein feedings to give it the boost it needs to catch up. Poultry Nutri-drench is specially formulated for this purpose, and added to high protein, easily digested foods such as minced boiled egg and crumbled tofu, we can see noticeable improvement in as little as one week.

Thank you for the information. My chicks are deathly afraid of anything that is not starter feed, lol. I've tried giving hard boiled egg yolk twice so far and also placed the wyandotte baby on a paper plate alone with some. Just not interested yet.

I did give a couple drops of Nutri-drench last night, though I think this might be a malformed little girl. She has never had pasty butt. She eats and drinks fine but does isolate herself most of the time. She walks with a slight limp and only has one wing a little low. She occasionally sheriff's in atoe of the opposite foot when walking. When I had her out last night, I did notice that one hock is significantly larger than the other. Can this girl still live a normal life with this deformity?

 

[chickens really]

I'd just leave it and see how it does. I have a Speckled Sussex chick being raised by my Broody Silkie Hen. It got wrapped and tangled in her feathers. I thought for sure it's wing was broken or dislocated. It's now 3 weeks old and perfect.

 

[azygous]

All chicks will warm up to a new food if given the time. They are naturally suspicious out of instinct. Usually a broody hen will show them what they should eat. So they need to take their cues from us.

You begin by just placing a few bits of the new food on the floor of the brooder. I drop a tiny morsel at a time. This calls their attention to the new food. Eventually, the boldest chick will go up to the morsel and look at it, pick it up and drop it, then snatch it up and run with it, the other chicks madly chasing after.

You don't overwhelm the chicks by sticking a big plate of food in there. It's just like human toddlers. You don't place a whole plate of food in front of a baby. You start with tiny bits of food dropped onto the highchair tray. (Do they still have highchairs?)

 

[MissChick@dee]

She could of injured herself. They often hop up okay but landings can be a learned skill. I’d keep an eye on her.

 

[Matzwd]

All chicks will warm up to a new food if given the time. They are naturally suspicious out of instinct. Usually a broody hen will show them what they should eat. So they need to take their cues from us.

You begin by just placing a few bits of the new food on the floor of the brooder. I drop a tiny morsel at a time. This calls their attention to the new food. Eventually, the boldest chick will go up to the morsel and look at it, pick it up and drop it, then snatch it up and run with it, the other chicks madly chasing after.

You don't overwhelm the chicks by sticking a big plate of food in there. It's just like human toddlers. You don't place a whole plate of food in front of a baby. You start with tiny bits of food dropped onto the highchair tray. (Do they still have highchairs?)

I don't know how, but I just saw this. You are so right! I was hesitant to sprinkle the egg in their food because I didn't want any to remain, spoil, and make them sick I did relent and put it on their feed, and they went crazy over it! There is no way any was left behind.

Also, just an update. .I let her do what she wanted, and she is not as crooked as she was and is much more active now. I think she had been injured by the other chicks.