Sick 4 week old chick *good update*

[Somshine]

Yesterday I moved my chicks from the brooder on my screen porch to an outdoor run. As they were getting two crammed in there. It was getting quite dirty quite fast. I noticed one with the wings a little dropped and looking a little lethargic so I went ahead and took it inside. Last night the crop felt very full and squishy. This morning it felt a third to a half of the size but instead of squishy more like soft Play-Doh. Poops are still normal. Has not eaten anything. I mixed two drops of oil of oregano with some coconut oil and gave that to the baby. Put oxy drops in the water and then making sure to keep the baby hydrated. What could I possibly be dealing with? They were not exposed to anything environmentally as they have been on my screen porch. The brooder they were in was getting very dirty very fast which is why I moved them. So possibly a dirty brooder. Everybody else seems to be fine. And as I said this chick still has normal poops. I also gave it some amoxicillin last night and this morning because I was worried about upper respiratory but I have not seen any sign of that.

 

[CluckyandPeepsFlock]

Hello!
I am so sorry that you are going through this.

What are the babies diet currently?

I recommend getting electrolytes/vitamins in their water, something like Hydro Hen.
I would also hold off on giving anymore amoxicillin until knowing if they really need it.

 

[Somshine]

Yeah I was really wondering about the amoxicillin. Chicks go downhill so fast I hated to miss the opportunity to start it when I saw the baby clearly wasn't feeling well. I set up a pet taxi with a heating pad on one end and put the baby in there around 8:00 last night. It laid in the same spot and never got up but as of about 10:00 this morning it's up and standing. But with its head tucked over it's back and in its wing. It has not eaten in about 15 hours and has pooped I would say seven or eight times. And they look normal. I did put some clean sand on the bottom and some granular enzymes so it has something to peck at and to possibly help if it's a crop issue. I just wish I knew what I was treating for. Everybody else is fine except this one.

 

[Somshine]

I gave them save a chick for the first two weeks and they are on medicated chick feed that we get from Orangeburg milling company, a local place.

 

[Somshine]

My husband told me he picked me up some rooster booster. So I will start that when he gets home.

 

[CluckyandPeepsFlock]

Poor thing, I really hope they feel better soon!

I wish I could be of more assistance, but I haven't had an experience with a case like this. I hope someone on here can be more help.

I can tell you really care about the little one!

 

[Somshine]

I got three of these from a friend of mine who runs a very nice little home farm. They're called zombie Chicks. It's a mix between a leghorn and a cemani. I have broken down everything run it through my head and I'm just going off of anything I could be aware of. Still no discharge no wheezing so I've kind of ruled out upper respiratory. I do not think this is coccidiosis as the stools are very healthy. Nobody else is sick. Yesterday when I noticed it was acting a little ill the crop felt big and squishy and when I massaged it it was burpy. I'm thinking maybe because I had 19 in there which was partially my hatch and a handful of my friends day olds mixed in the brooder was just abnormally crowded. They were dumping their food their water and just making an absolute mess in there quicker than I could keep it clean. Which is why I move them out into a bigger enclosure earlier than I normally do. I feel like maybe this baby just has a thrush infection in it's crop. I am regularly putting oxy-drops in its water, will add the rooster booster when my husband gets home but I also mixed about a quarter of a cc of coconut oil with two drops of oil of oregano. Every couple hours I'm giving it one drop of that mixture and then having it drink water to chase it down. I feel like it's okay for it to go 24 hours without food if I'm adding vitamins electrolytes and probiotics to the water, just to allow the crop to stabilize? I did put some sand and granular enzymes on the floor for it to peck at in case it starts feeling the urge but that won't feed the thrush for now. Just went in there to check again and it was walking around and peeping! I feel like we are at least headed in the right direction!

 

[Somshine]

Also, if anyone's interested the products I'm mentioning are from Nzymes.com. I owned a holistic pet supply store for 12 years and these were one of my favorite products. Great for all animals and people! The granular enzymes (immune building live nutrition), the oxy drops and the black leaf are great to have in your arsenal for bacteria fungus virus and parasites. The probiotics are probably not as geared towards chickens as you could buy elsewhere though. You can add a drop of the oxyDrops to a gallon of water to kill bacteria. I put a drop in my gallon of distilled water that I use in my incubator to prevent bacterial growth in the water.

 

[Somshine]

Okay so after a drop of coconut and oil of oregano about every hour or two, crop massage, no food, water with oxy drops and as of an hour ago rooster booster this chick has made significant improvement in the past 12 hours. It is up walking around peeping and starting to seem irritated by being in the taxi and not with its flock. Also, the crop suddenly feels like it should after not eating for almost a whole day. Sprinkled some food on the floor and the baby was very interested in eating. So I did two drops of my oil mix in the mouth first then put a little pile of food in there. Baby is eating hungrily and drinking well! Whew! I really do think it had a thrush infection in the crop.

 

[Somshine]

Ate well, crop feels full but like it should. I'm going to leave it in there until I'm done grooming my last dog so it still has access to water with all the good stuff in it and I'm going to check that crop again and probably give it two more drops of oil. But in between one check to the next that crop went from not right to feeling normal. It's peeping away and grooming itself and inspecting my hand for anything to peck at when I put it in there now. Only gave it a meal, no free feed. Probably put it back with the others around 7:00 if it's crop feels like it should after the meal it just ate and I'll put the magic water for all in the coop waterer.