Chick Making Crackling Sounds in Chest? Very Lethargic and Won't Stop Chirping? Help Needed!

I have a chick I hatched out three days ago. She hasn't ate anything but she has drank some water with Save-a-Chick in it and I have been giving her seperate water with polyvistol without iron in it. She is very lethargic, keeps chirping and I noticed when I put my ear near her back that she has a crackling noise and I can feel it when I hold her.
What is this, and what can I do for her? She is with one other special needs chick too so should I keep her seperate? I don't want the other chick getting it?

She also hasn't walked much. She has crooked toes. But that may have been due to my low humidity during incubation.
Thanks in advance.

Edited to add: I am using Pine shavings by the way. So the bedding is not the problem.

She is not doing too good. I need some advise fast. She is very uncomfortable but will drink water with polyvistol . She is not getting any better and I am extremely worried. Please Help!

Sounds like fluid in the lungs plus other development issues. Put her on an antibiotic such as penicillin, amoxicillian etc..for people is fine,m250 mg. To 1/2 quart waterer . Or if you have Tylan. Not the feed store yellow powder stuff. You can dip your finger in the pill powder and smear a small amount in her mouth. Keep her warm and drinking. But honestly it doesn't sound good......

chickenzoo said:

Sounds like fluid in the lungs plus other development issues. Put her on an antibiotic such as penicillin, amoxicillian etc..for people is fine,m250 mg. To 1/2 quart waterer . Or if you have Tylan. Not the feed store yellow powder stuff. You can dip your finger in the pill powder and smear a small amount in her mouth. Keep her warm and drinking. But honestly it doesn't sound good......

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Thank you. Unfortunatley the feedstore is closed. I had some amoxicillian too, but I through it away just about a week ago. She is drinking some water with polyvistol right now. I really hope she makes it through the night. Thanks for the reply, I really hope I can save her.

If you have some children's cold and flu med that may help a little.

chickenzoo said:

If you have some children's cold and flu med that may help a little.

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I don't unfortunately. All I have that is similiar is Clariten Allergy medicine. Would Flax Seed Oil help her at all? She just won't stop chirping and it is breaking my heart.

By chance have any Predisone?

Hello,

I am responding here, instead of returning the pm. If I remember right, when I had chicks that were doing that, they were otherwise healthy, eating, etc. I never did figure out what the crackling was, but I gave them all a round of tetracycline and to be honest, I don't really know if it helped. The birds were acting fine the whole time, eating fine and all, I don't think I had any deaths, and I began to think that maybe they would be kind of crackly sounding from dust, or I don't know what, but maybe not necessarily an infection. I think I worried a lot more than I should have.

That doesn't mean that yours doesn't have an infection, it could have. I would like to help if I could. Could you give me the details about your chick? Such as where is it staying(inside or outside), type of brooder, type of heat light, how far above bedding is light, , temperature, etc. At three days old the chick should probably have used up it's yolk, and will need food. It is good you are giving it vitamins. Have you tried to show it how to eat by "pecking" the chick starter with your finger? How does the chick behave? Is it always lethargic, or does it get up and check stuff out sometimes? Does it always chirp, or does it sleep quietly some?

I am not sure about the cold medicine thing someone else suggested, I would like to hear more about it, but I would be afraid to try it. Sometimes it helps to just kind of list every detail about the environment and care of the animal, because maybe an outsider would be able to suggest something helpful that we maybe didn't see. Well, hope your little one gets better, and hope I helped some. I will be following this thread.
Carrie

clkingtx said:

Hello,

I am responding here, instead of returning the pm. If I remember right, when I had chicks that were doing that, they were otherwise healthy, eating, etc. I never did figure out what the crackling was, but I gave them all a round of tetracycline and to be honest, I don't really know if it helped. The birds were acting fine the whole time, eating fine and all, I don't think I had any deaths, and I began to think that maybe they would be kind of crackly sounding from dust, or I don't know what, but maybe not necessarily an infection. I think I worried a lot more than I should have.

That doesn't mean that yours doesn't have an infection, it could have. I would like to help if I could. Could you give me the details about your chick? Such as where is it staying(inside or outside), type of brooder, type of heat light, how far above bedding is light, , temperature, etc. At three days old the chick should probably have used up it's yolk, and will need food. It is good you are giving it vitamins. Have you tried to show it how to eat by "pecking" the chick starter with your finger? How does the chick behave? Is it always lethargic, or does it get up and check stuff out sometimes? Does it always chirp, or does it sleep quietly some?

I am not sure about the cold medicine thing someone else suggested, I would like to hear more about it, but I would be afraid to try it. Sometimes it helps to just kind of list every detail about the environment and care of the animal, because maybe an outsider would be able to suggest something helpful that we maybe didn't see. Well, hope your little one gets better, and hope I helped some. I will be following this thread.
Carrie

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The chick is pretty much always lethargic. When she is awake, she is pretty much always chirping. She wasn't this loud yesterday.
She chirps softly when she sleeps and sometimes not at all. It is staying inside of my house (in my basement) in a large dog crate. The heat bulb is a 250W Red heat lamp. The temperature in the brooder is about 90 and all of the chicks are very happy (ie: not in a big pile or really spread out). She is currently in the right side of my brooder (I put a divider in the middle) and she is living with another special needs chick who has a leg problem.
Thank you for your help.

If I were you I would find some way to measure the temperature down at the chick level, at several different spots in the brooder. I know too well how easy it is to assume the temp is steady everywhere. I had several problems with that myself. To keep myself from making the same mistake again, I had a thermometer in each section of the brooder. I checked each one at least once a day, usually several times. I still nearly chilled my birds once, and nearly set their bedding on fire another time. If your chick is lethargic and chirpy, I would really question the temperature; just from my experience.

Also, the crate they are in, is it an open cage like one, or is it one with plastic bottom and top with holes in the side?
If it is an open cage, you might want to put up a windbreak(cardboard or paper, or something to prevent drafts into the brooder.
Is there protection from the cold of the basement floor? I mean a layer of insulation between the floor of the brooder and the basement floor.

If it is the plastic kind of crate, is there enough air circulation? Does it smell? If it does, there might be fumes building up inside that are irritating to their lungs. Not sure what you would do about that, though, other than making another brooder. My setup was pretty easy, very rough, I kept them in my garage, and I had a play yard(for kids) that I used as the support for one; but they were basically cardboard taped together and made into circles, ovals, whatever, and duct taped to the floor. They had about 3 inches of bedding between them and the concrete floor, mainly to hold in the heat. I think I uploaded some pics here, if you were interested.

Is there a chance your chick is eating some while you are not watching? It does have access to a food dish all the time, right? Can it find the food easily? Maybe try sprinkling some chickstarter on a white napkin in front of the chick, maybe that can trigger it to want to peck.

I hope this is somewhat helpful to you, I am really tired right now and can't seem to get the words out the way I would like.
Carrie