Baby Chick Emergency

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mpostlind

mpostlind

In the Brooder
7 Years
Apr 16, 2012
10
0
22
Virginia
I posted yesterday about my chicks having "pasty butt" and how I cleaned it off and am trying to keep them ok. One of the chicks has been extremely lethargic today and his poop is extremely watery and mostly clear except for a little white stuff. He was also clogged up again this evening, but when I cleaned him up, he was pooping fine but an hour or so later, he was laying around while the other chicks were playing. I checked on him a few minutes ago and he was laying with his mouth open shaking, I thought he was dead, but he's still holding on right now. I'm not sure what to do. I've syringe fed him water, a couple CCs but I dont know what else to do!
 
i'm pretty new to this chicken stuff. what i've read here regarding pasty butt is two things. one person indicated it was due to constipation & the solution was adding molasses to the drinking water so it looks like weak tea.
the other information indicated pasty butt comes from being too cold.
since your baby is so ill, maybe give her some water w/electrolytes & if you don't have that, give her some warm sugar water. i had one pretty ill. the sugar water helped her regroup.
good luck
 
We tried regular water first, and then gave sugar water. He declined very rapidly and fought as long as his little body could. He passed shortly after I posted. I'm not even sure how old he was, but I'm becoming more convinced that TSC shouldn't be selling chicks so little.
 
the chicks that all locations are selling are straight from the hatchery, healthy and with the propper handling will thrive. it is not totally uncommon to lose a chick or two. the biggest problem with chicks is getting chilled. when that happens they get lathargic and often fail to thrive.


mpostlind said:
We tried regular water first, and then gave sugar water. He declined very rapidly and fought as long as his little body could. He passed shortly after I posted. I'm not even sure how old he was, but I'm becoming more convinced that TSC shouldn't be selling chicks so little.
Click to expand...
 
Poor little guy. I missed your 1st post and don't know how old they are, but if you wrap him in a warm hand towel, (microwave the cloth just a little.) and if he is not too far gone you can give a few drops of very weak sugar water. I think your brooder is too cool.
 
I say that I think they sell chicks too soon, because these little guys are literally about 3 inches tall/long. I have tiny hands and two can fit comfortably in the palm of my hands. We tried everything we could. Unfortunately, we didnt have electrolytes here, so we had to use sugar water, but no matter what we did. He didnt improve at all. It was a very sad loss. He opened his eyes and looked at me just before he passed, but it was my first loss, so I'm still a little upset.
 
The water like poop with small chunks in it I think I read is from either the chick being too hot or not eatting enough. Have you checked the temp in the brooder or seen if it was eating normal?

edited to say I missed the part about your chick passing. Sorry to hear that.
 
Last edited:
When I had chicks that had pasty bottom I would carefully cut away the fuz around the chicks bottom so that no poop could get stuck to anything.
It makes cleaning easier too.
 
Sorry to hear about your baby
hit.gif
 

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