Help! Sick chick

[tjb123]

Hi everybody. Brand new to Byc. I have an 8 week old golden lace polish (aka Sweet One) and she is not doing so well. (Maybe a rooster....we are new at this stuff) Something has been wrong for almost 2 weeks now. To start off we found her in the run by herself crouching and barely moving. Her mouth was open and she was drooling with her head as far back as she could get it (resting it on her back). We immediately took her out and got some water in her. Long story short, we have had her inside a few times, she's on agrimycin 343 (only thing available in town) eats, drinks, poops, seems fine. So we put her back out after 4 or 5 days on antibiotics, she ran and sent the message to everybody not to mess with her, and everybody was getting along. All day long ....then it happened again but not as bad as the first time, her mouth opens up, drool starts flowing...but is alert (unlike the first time).. We now have her separated within the coup, seemingly fine, but every now and then her mouth opens up...and she gets weak. The others take advantage of this....so that is why she is separated. No foul smells, no runny eyes or nose. Nothing to see in her throat... Crop is fine....not seeming to have trouble breathing..sometimes when her mouth is open I can hear her breathing though. She generally shakes her head back and forth one or twice when she opens it up. She has an occasional sneeze. No cough. Any ideas?

Thanks for reading and for any comments/ideas

 

[iwiw60]

What part of the country do you live in? It's been a sweltering summer for most of the country...could be she's stressed from heat exhaustion. From the pics I don't see any type of SHADE for them. Try putting a sprinkler on low where it just hits inside the run and makes the ground damp...they love that when it's hot. Take a pan and drop some ice and water in it. Do everything you can do to keep her COOL!!

 

[Eggcessive]

She looks a little boyish to me with the pointy feathers. It sounds like she either is having a crop problem, or she is showing some neurological signs such as wry neck, or having a seizure. First I would feel of his/her crop to make sure it is not impacted. The crop should be full, but not overly hard at bedtime, then mostly empty first thing in the morning. If it is full and hard, that would be impacted crop. If it is full, balloon-like it may be sour crop or slow crop.

Wry neck is a symptom of a head injury, vitamin deficiency, or a disease such as Mareks, or some respiratory diseases. Wry neck can be a twisted neck to the side, bent downward, or upward like the picture below. I would start some poultry vitamins in the water--these are available at most farm stores. The most important vitamins are thiamine, E, and the mineral selenium for treating wry neck. Eggs and canned tuna contain selenium. Here is a link about wry neck: http://www.browneggblueegg.com/Article/Crookneck/Crookneck.html

I also second the thoughts about shade. In summertime I put shade cloth up to create shade, make sure may coop is near trees for shade, and put out shallow pans of water to walk in to cool their legs and have plenty of shaded drinking water.

 

[tjb123]

Thanks for the replies! I live in northern michigan. It is breezy and in the 60s today. I put her in the sun because she seems to thrive inside under a heat lamp., I'll make sure she has the choice of sun/shade. Her crop fills and empties everyday/morning. I'll check more into the wry neck and put some vitamins in her water. Any more thoughts, let me know. Thanks! That picture is sort of what she looked like when we first found her....but her head was up and facing forward. I'll check into it

 

[Eggcessive]

I just re-read your post and missed the part about the breathing and occasional sneeze. If he/she seems cold and needs the sun or heat lamp to keep warm she may have a respiratory virus called infectious bronchitis. IB, mycoplasma, ILT, and coryza are a group of respiratory diseases that can look alike with similar symptoms, although IB is the mildest of those. Sneezing, cold intolerance, and a bit of clear nasal drainage may be all that is seen. The others may include eye drainage and swelling of eyes or face, plus rattly breathing. Agrimycin (oxytetracycline) would help treat some of these. Frequently they will shake their heads to dislodge mucus plugs in their airways. Here is a link to read about those diseases if you think this might be a problem:
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ps044