Slower growing chick won't go to warm side so hecan be with siblings

[Jannbo]

I posted this last night I'm the raising chicks forum by mistake and I'm just copy and pasting it over here as the issue has persisted. I've added some more info on at the bottom though about what he's doing today.

So I have 4 coturnix chicks that are just now 10 days old. They've been fine mostly besides not liking it when I move them to clean their brooder and one being extremely vocal. That one that is extremely vocal is really concerning me tonight. He's stayed a lot smaller than the others and his feathers haven't developed much since he was 8 while his siblings have all continued to grow and develop more feathers. All through today he's been just fine though, eating, drinking, pooping and sleeping like normal. He hasn't been stretching his wings like the others though or trying to flap them while jumping like the others started doing earlier today. I didn't pay much mind to this, just figured he's a bit of a late bloomer/the runt.

Its well past when they've usually been fast asleep right now and he's been crying for the past few hours while his siblings are trudging to sleep. He's running around the brooder while he cries, trying to go to the cooler side and snuggle with them, but they get up when that happens. He'll then run back over to the warm side and quietly cry for a few moments before falling asleep for a few minutes. Despite complete silence and darkness, he'll wake up again and start all over. Occasionally he'll quiet down when I make soft kissing noises and speak gently, but that only works maybe 50% of the time. The rest of the time he just keeps going. His crying is a mix between almost panicked chirps and that distressed cry they'll do when they're looking for their momma.

Since all his siblings have more developed feathers, they're not liking the warmer temps, but he still needs them, so they're having to stay on opposite sides of the brooder while the less developed chick desperately wants to be with his siblings. Right now I have the brooder at 89°F which was fine for all of them earlier today, but now all but that smallest one clearly could use a cooler temperature.

I can't just take the little guy and put him in another brooder that's warmer while lowering the temp in the main one for the other chicks. He would just be crying all night long and hearing the smaller one panicking even more would most likely just keep the other chicks awake all night. He seems to have calmed down mostly, but he is still waking up and chirping like he's distressed every now and then. I know that picking him up makes him freak out so I don't think that would be a great idea for calming him or warming him up, but I've only ever held him for a few seconds to move him so I can clean their brooder.

It seems tonight it might have just worked out by letting him tire himself out, but I'm worried that the same issue will happen tomorrow tonight and I want to be prepared for how top deal with it if it happens tomorrow or picks back up tonight

Everything above was written last night and is still accurate today, except it didn't work itself out until almost 1am. Today his behavior isn't so bad, but that's mainly because the ambient temperature is much warmer now that's it day time and I had read the brooder shouldn't be in an air conditioned room, so the lovely Arizona summer sun has my room at 91°F as well as their brooder. I now have the fan setting on my window ac going to cool it down some but not down to the 65° the actual ac would bring the room to. They're all hanging out on the cool side mostly and occasionally go to the warm side for a couple minutes. The little one is needing to go over there more though and hasn't developed any more since yesterday while all his siblings have noticeable feather growth each day. One has more noticeable growth, but that's cause most of his feathers are white while the two other siblings that are growing normally have darker feathers.

They've all been eating and drinking normally today, and they're pooping just like they always do, nothing abnormal. The smaller one isn't looking very good though. He's been laying down most of the day and he just looks overall like he's not feeling too great. He's still getting up and eating on his own, but he only eats or drinks sitting down now. The rest all stand up and he used to as well. Occasionally they'll do that low to the ground walk when they eat, but only one of them really.

He's got me pretty concerned because two days ago he hadn't been looking super great so I gave him drops off honey water from the tip of a syringe. He bounced back pretty quick. I just gave him some sugar water that I warmed just a bit above room temp and he barely let me give him some. I got one drop on the tip of his beak which he drank, then took a drop himself to drink, but after that he tucked his head away so I couldn't give him anymore. He did get up for a bit and has moved to the warm sides while all his siblings are on the cool side. I'm really worried about him, I'm just at a bit of a loss on what to do or if I need to do anything. I don't want to see him pass away cause he's also the one I'm most fond of. He hates being picked up, but he seems to like having his back stroked, which none of the others liked. I've kept a close eye on all of them to be sure none of them have pasty butt, so I know that's not a problem. I've also talked about him in other threads and mentioned how much he hates being picked up so I can't really even do any sort of health check on him cause I'm worried with how he is right now, the stress of being picked up would makes his heart stop.

Scratch what I said about him being in the warm spot, he's back on the cool side, alone. Occasionally one of his siblings with snuggle with him during the day, but not too often it seems.

Here are some pictures of them all for a bit earlier today, he's the yellow one. The brownish one looks the same sizes in the pictures, but he's a good bit bigger than him in person, but he is a bit smaller than the two big ones. The last photo is one I just took a couple minutes ago

 

[Jannbo]

Update: He's barely been getting up. I've noticed him awake quite a bit but not moving out of his spot unless one of his siblings walks on him. I got him to drink more sugar water. At first he didn't take much but he ended having a good few drinks. Before he had that he had very little energy in his eyes, but nows they're open more and he seems more aware, but he still isn't getting up. The brown one seems to pay more attention to him and will snuggle against him when he goes to lay back down. Its definitely a small improvement, but I'm still worried about him

 

[casportpony]

Does his poop look normal?

 

[Jannbo]

Does his poop look normal?

Yep, I've been watching him to be sure and its the same consistency as his siblings who are all doing great. He also has stopped eating it seems. They all usually run straight to the food when I put new stuff in, but he's ignoring it. Ignored it when I sprinkled some in front of where he's laying down. He got up to get some water though when he got a bit spooked by me laying down a new paper towel for the food which is near where he's laying down. Besides that he hasn't gotten up in a few hours for anything other than to move out of the way of the two biggest ones so he doesn't get trampled

 

[Nabiki]

If this one isn't eating, its chances aren't good. Instead of sugar water, do you happen to have some Nutri-Drench or Save-a-chick? I would try diluting either of those in some water to see if it will take it.

If it's still pooping and the poop isn't watery and green, it's still eating. It sounds like it may not be getting enough to eat, however. Do you have just one feeder? You might also try making sure that there's a bit of crushed feed near the chick in case the bigger ones are keeping it from the food.

 

[Jannbo]

If this one isn't eating, its chances aren't good. Instead of sugar water, do you happen to have some Nutri-Drench or Save-a-chick? I would try diluting either of those in some water to see if it will take it.

If it's still pooping and the poop isn't watery and green, it's still eating. It sounds like it may not be getting enough to eat, however. Do you have just one feeder? You might also try making sure that there's a bit of crushed feed near the chick in case the bigger ones are keeping it from the food.

I was just checking to see if I could get either of those delivered same day here cause the feed stores that are close by are about to close, and tractor supply is too far to get there and its too late for them to do same day, but unfortunately Amazon takes a few days to get it here. I read that unflavored pedialyte and poly-vi-sol without iron mixed with water will make a good substitute so I'm getting ready to head to the pharmacy to pick those up.

I tried sprinkling some food that was ground up a bit more than what the other chicks are eating, around him but he just looked at it then closed his eyes again. I haven't seen him poop in awhile so I don't think he's anything to eat for a couple hours. I'm kinda preparing myself for him passing at this point, but I've seen enough people have chicks that bounced back that I really don't want to give up on him.

Are the things I'm going to the pharmacy for a good alternative till I can get some actual Sav-A-Chic or NutriDrench? Are there some better alternatives that a pharmacy will most likely have that I should pick up instead?

 

[Nabiki]

I was just checking to see if I could get either of those delivered same day here cause the feed stores that are close by are about to close, and tractor supply is too far to get there and its too late for them to do same day, but unfortunately Amazon takes a few days to get it here. I read that unflavored pedialyte and poly-vi-sol without iron mixed with water will make a good substitute so I'm getting ready to head to the pharmacy to pick those up.

I tried sprinkling some food that was ground up a bit more than what the other chicks are eating, around him but he just looked at it then closed his eyes again. I haven't seen him poop in awhile so I don't think he's anything to eat for a couple hours. I'm kinda preparing myself for him passing at this point, but I've seen enough people have chicks that bounced back that I really don't want to give up on him.

Are the things I'm going to the pharmacy for a good alternative till I can get some actual Sav-A-Chic or NutriDrench? Are there some better alternatives that a pharmacy will most likely have that I should pick up instead?

I don't know what would make a good substitute for those two items. You might see if you can tempt it to eat with some boiled, crushed egg yolk. That will give it some good nutrition, but only if it will eat it.

 

[Jannbo]

Update: figured I should check on him before leaving. He was barely breathing. Had to give him a few drops of sugar water. He perked up a lot and ran to his water bowl. He then went back to his spot but kept looking at the bowl right next to the brooder with their food to crush it up so I crushed some up and he ate it up super quick. He's doing a bit better now, but I'm having someone pick that stuff up so I can keep an eye on him and make sure things don't go south

 

[Jannbo]

I can tell he wants to eat more but he's getting pushed around by the big black one mainly when it notices that theres food on the ground and he start digging for it. I can tell he's not pushing him around on purpose cause it'll still snuggle up to him. I'm wondering if I should put him in a separate brooder though. I could line it up so he could still see and hear his siblings but they wouldn't be able to push him around at all. I hate to seperate them at all cause he clearly loves them, but I'd rather him be a bit sad and alive than dead. Should I just leave him with the others or should I put him in a separate brooder? I think theres hope for him if he can eat more, but I'm worried that won't happen in this brooder, but I'm worried the stress of being moved could kill him while he's this weak

Edit: The others also keep kicking the pine shavings over him while he's trying to eat so he just keeps getting buried

 

[ChickNanny13]

Have you considered separating him from the others, or partition it off so it's with the others yet won't get "shoved/trampled"? IF you do put a mirror and/or a small stuffed animal in with it, a feather duster works great too. Of all the single hatches I've raised, the mirror never worked until this last one. I make a cave, supported up front with a stuffed animal for warmth. I will admit every situation gets adjusted to fit the chick.

Poulty Cell is another good product to have on hand. You could also try softening its food, adding vitamins to it IF it has difficulty drinking. Very possible it's one of those that take longer to grow (failure to thrive) but do our best to help it along.