My chick is having trouble breathing!!!! HELP

sheridangirl

In the Brooder
12 Years
Jan 5, 2008
61
1
39
Campo, CA
My chick is 1.5 weeks old. She came with a group of 32. 24 are alive and she was doing well until this morning. She appears to be having trouble breathing. She is lethargical and is barely standing. As you can see by the photo, she isnt even holding up her wing.

I don't know what she weighs but she is smaller than the other chicks and doesn't feel like she is near as heavy.
She is some sort of black top hat breed and is the only one we got in the order.

She is not bleeding but her poop is greenish and not runny
She was vaccinated for coccidiosis and mareks before we got her.

She is eating chick starter and the water has broiler booster in it. (vitamins, lactobacillus, acidophilus, streptococcus faecium, lactobacillus bifidus, citric acid, amylace, protase cellulouse)

I just got her to take a couple drops of water to which I added Sulmet (sulfamethazine sodium 12%)which is an anti bacterial. She has been drinking a bit. I don't know if she is eating.
I will treat her myself as best I can. Thanks for your help.

Here are the photos
100_1903.jpg


100_1899.jpg
 
Have you seen her drink on her own? She needs to be drinking. Give her some water with a bit of sugar mixed in.
 
Her poop looks fine.

What are her brooder mates' breeds?

If she's a tophatted breed, she'll always be slender.

Are they warm enough? Chicks need to be around 90-95 degrees for their first week.

I wouldn't use any drugs because you don't know what the story is.
You may have to separate her from the others just to keep a closer eye on her.
 
I would just keep her seperate for a little while, make sure she's drinking and add a bit of sugar to the water. Keep an eye on the temps and see how she is. You don't want to over do it with the meds.
 
I will get right on the warm sugar water. I used it on my baby squirrel last year and it really made a difference.

Is is possible she has Mareks? She was vaccinated but I am wondering if they show symptoms anyway?

The other breeds are unknown. We ordered the ornamental layer collection from Mcmurray hatchery. They are all substantially larger than she is and are very active.
I have the chicks in the house. They are in an old water trough and have a heat lamp in there. They seem to be warm enough.

Thanks to both of you for the information.
 
Mericks would show up as paralysis. Also, make sure that feed you are giving does not contain any coccodistant, because that would nullify the coccosidistant vaccine. Other than that, just keep it warm with food and water away from the others.

Personally do not like to get birds vaccinated because it just adds to the stress of shipping. I also would avoid giving drugs as that is hard on their system unless you know 100% that it is bacterial, or in the case of sulmet, cocci.

Best of luck! Hope it can make it.
 
If your starter feed says it is medicated, then it is usually medicated for cocci. Look on your bag of feed.
 
Quote:
My feed says it is 22% chick starter mash. It has a lot of vitamins listed but I don't see anything that looks like medication.
 
recheck the bag and see if it says anything about being medicated..

what you might be looking for is amprollium, or amprol.

Sulmet is usually used as a cocci med, but does treat other things..

I would consider stopping that and just have a little sugar in the water.
dip the tip of the beak in the water to encourage drinking.
if the chick doesn't eat..maybe moistening the feed with a little warm water might help.

my thought is that the chick is stressed, and possibly cold..
could be having a reaction to the vaccines.

do you have a thermostat/thermometer in the brooder?

maybe dividing the brooder and putting the weak chick in with 1 other..
 
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