Listless and Sick Chick

[Kiki]

Yes, I'll get a picture. Unfortunately I do not have a thermometer. They don't act too hot or too cold. The rest are acting completely fine, and as I said earlier, even the sick one didn't act cold...just listless.
I am giving them 18% chick starter/grower.

Is this box indoors or outside in cold weather?

If in doors it's almost guaranteed too hot.

 

[coach723]

If you take the coconut oil and freeze it or refrigerate it you can break it up into tiny pieces to give the chick so it's not liquid and less chance of aspirating. If I have to give fluids when they are so small, I hold them with my hand wrapped around so that their beak rests in the crease of my finger. I drip the fluid one drop at a time into the crease and let it run down to the beak, and they will swallow it. It's not a fast process, but works and reduces the chance they will aspirate. I would treat for constipation unless you have actually seen the chick poop and it looks normal. If it's constipated then everything is going to back up and can be a reason fluid is coming up.
Seeing your set up might be helpful, if the chick is weak or not getting access to food and water adequately, that can contribute. Some chicks just don't thrive. But best to try to rule out anything that can possibly be fixed.

 

[danielle2003]

Is this her on the left?

That is an actual heat lamp you are using?
It is most likely way too hot in this box.
Post in thread 'One Mean Chick.....' https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/one-mean-chick.1553317/post-26274794

No, this is a different one. We had to quarantine this one because she was being mean and pecking some of the others. We took her out of that section, and she is now separated in a box in the house...with a heat lamp.

 

[danielle2003]

Is this box indoors or outside in cold weather?

If in doors it's almost guaranteed too hot.

It is outdoors.

 

[danielle2003]

Okay. But giving it coconut oil will not hurt it, and it could save its life. Chicks die from constipation.

Okay.

 

[danielle2003]

Are you sure it has been eating?
The walking backwards could be from malnutrition or deformity....or injury. Is injury...dropping or being pecked in the head a possibility?

Do you have a thermometer under your heat source?
Can you post a picture of your set up?

Here the setup of the brooder

This is the sick one

 

[coach723]

Do you have any poultry nutri drench on hand? If so, I'd give one drop once or twice a day for a couple of days.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

One of our Welsummer chicks is very listless, just standing fluffed up in a corner with eyes closed. She acted like she couldn't eat the crumble so I wet some down and she ate quite a bit. I also gave her a little bit of colloidal silver, as I've used it before to help a chick in the past.
Now what she's been doing is dozing off, then suddenly opens her mouth, moves backwards or in a circle and cheeps loud. It almost looks like she's going crazy! She also has a clear liquid coming from her mouth. I am so worried for her!! What should I do?!

She is a little over a week old. We got her a couple days ago. She was already about a week when we got her.

It is possible, but she had the clear liquid and was acting listless before I gave her the silver.

They are outside?
How cold is it outside?

Looking at the photo, they are avoiding the circle of light, so raise your light just a bit more. Chicks only need one warm spot, but that spot appears to be too hot they way they are hanging out on the edges.

The chick you are concerned about, please get some photos of her and her poop without red lighting. (Her standing naturally as she normally does, puffed and fluffed up)?

I agree, I'd try the coconut oil and see if that helps.

I highly recommend that you provide chick grit (crushed granite) for your chicks. They are on shavings and chicks will pick at and eat some shavings. Sometimes tooo much and those are a bit hard to process without grit. Yes, Yes, I very much know that chicks don't HAVE to HAVE grit IF the only thing they have to eat is chick starter, but guess what, they will eat shavings, so chick feed is not the only thing in there that they will eat. (oh and poop too!) I Recommend that chicks get grit at Hatch. Yes, at Hatch! It's amazing to watch just hatched chicks right out of the incubator begin to take one or two pieces of grit, then they will start eating crumbles. When a pile of chick grit is put beside chick feed outside, I watch broody Mamas show the grit to the chicks BEFORE she shows them food. Yep.
That's My 2¢ Rant For The Day

 

[azygous]

There's a lot of so-called common wisdom out there that people treat as the Bible, but things do evolve. We discover better ways of doing things. Here on BYC, we try things when they make more sense to us than the old way of doing things.

I discovered day-old chicks consume grit before they learn to eat because I brood in my run on sand. The babies consume sand like it's some sort of manna, and then they stop. Their gizzards are then equipped for them to eat anything they can fit in those teensy beaks. And I've only had one case of constipation in all the years, and that was from a four-week old chick pigging out on live meal worms. Coconut oil was the cure. (You should have seen the turd. Gads.)

 

[coach723]

I agree, I always provide grit from day one also. It's never hurt a thing and the only constipation issues I've ever had were in shipped chicks. The stress of shipping can really do a number on them. Just make sure it's 'chick grit' and not 'poultry grit'. The poultry grit is for older birds and is too large for little ones, the chick grit is sized for chicks.