Help....little chick sick...sour crop?

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watersoflethe

watersoflethe

Songster
9 Years
Apr 28, 2010
251
2
119
Corona/Mira Loma CA
hi i'm quite new to chicken raising and i found this forum.

i bought 3 bantams from the feed store 2 days ago. two of them are doing fine but one chick seems really sick. it eats fine but it seems lethargic. it is always standing around with its eyes closed not as curious as the other chicks. it only drinks very little water and twice i've seen it throw up water. it looked sort of thick but clear with bubbles in it.

i haven't seen it poo yet so i dont know if it is able to go. its crop is pretty big but soft to the touch.
it just stands around and cries for a while. it is the loudest of the chicks and will just stand in one spot with its eyes closed crying as loud as it can. then it'll go to sleep. i thought it was too cold but the other chicks seem fine and when i lower the lamp they seem to get hot and sleep on the other side except this chick.

please help. i do not want this chick to die. i also called all the vets in this area that i found on google but none of them see chickens. i tried to listen to it closely and it seems to have a slight bubble sound when it chirps but i'm not sure. that might be because its throwing up.

if anyone could help me i'll appreciate it greatly. thank you. oh and i dont know how old these chicks are but they seem about a week and half old. they have some feathers growing in on the tips of their wings but not on their tails yet.
 
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can you post a pic of him? try a couple things- i'm fairly new to it too, but try wetting the feed a little, it may encourage him to eat, the other possibility is he may have a problem with his crop- might have eaten some of the bedding, do you have any instant oatmeal? try making a thin gruel and see if he will eat it- do you handle them alot, try holding him and get a feel for whether he is cold...
 
I am not an expert on little chicks, so i will not be much help. Have you checked for pasty butt, since it is not pooping. maybe one of the experts will see this help. also i have heard of adding sugar to the water to make them drink more.
 
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He might need the warmer temperatures ... if the brooder is big enough can you lower the light so that the others can get away from it?

What are you feeding it? ... you could try some chopped up scrambled or hard boiled eggs (as much yolk as you can get) ... and some yogurt (get the probios in her) ... if it's been like this for a few days - your probably running out of time (but it may be doubtful that you could/can make a difference anyway - sometimes shipment is very hard on them
sad.png
) ...

Try to dunk it's beak into the water (electrolyte & vitamin OR sugar water) ... as often as you can (if your not sure its drinking) ...

That's just about the best you can do
sad.png
...

Sending good chickie vibes to you! ... !
 
thank you for all the replies

i've lowered the lamp and it doesn't seem cold.
its butt is very clean. i've checked it constantly.
and it eats very well. it eats just as much as the other chicks do.
the only problem is that it doesn't seem to drink as much water and it throws the water up.
i am feeding it chick starter mesh that i bought from the feed shop where i bought them from.

i will try the water with sugar. how much sugar should i put.
also what kind of yogurt would be good?
thank you for all the suggestions.
 
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Sounds like a yeast infection in the crop, also known as sour-crop which can lead to crop stasis. Squishy crop, gurgling, regurgitation all point to this problem. Could be due to an impaction or GI defect. Or could be a regular yeast infection. Look at AvianWeb for many good suggestions, or you can try this site. These infections are not easy to get rid of. I have found the best initial solution is to use organic apple cider vinegar in a solution with water. Stubborn cases may call for Nystatin (meds used for infants with thrush.)

Good luck!
 
i just tried feeling the crops of all my chicks
the two healthy chicks seem to have crops filled with feed
but the unhealthy one..the crop seems soft and filled with air like a little balloon. with the vinegar do i just add it into their water? any thing else i can do? thank you for all the help?
 
i massaged the crop of the chick right side up being too scared to choke it.
it threw up thick water twice and now the crop is a lot smaller. it also pooed the first i've seen it poo right after that. it wasn't like the other chicks poo it wasn't brownish redish with white. it was more of a greenish/olivish with white. i sent my brother to go buy some pedialyte and apple vinegar as well as some yogurt.

i also moved it to its own box lined with paper towels so i can see it poo. i also put a lamp lower so it'll be warmer.

please help what else can i do?
 
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Definately sour crop or maybe impaction. Pooping is good.

Add 1 tbsp ORGANIC apple cider vinegar to 16 oz of water. (The organic still has bacteria in it and has not been filtered.) Only give this water to the chick. Don't give the chick anything sweet or hard to digest, and feed only small amounts at a time to keep crop from becoming engorged. scrambled egg is good, yogurt, baby food peas or meat or pumpkin, a little olive oil on some soft bread wouldn't hurt. massage the crop very gently to keep things moving. keep chickie nice and warm and in a stress free environment. Make sure it can get away from the heat if it gets too hot for it. If you do not see improvement in a day or two, try one of the other methods given in the AvianWeb directory. It's a good source for treatment of sour crop/yeast infection in young birds.
 
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thank you
i mixed organic vinegar with some pedialyte and gave that mixture to the chick. she hasn't drank so i gently fed her by putting a drop on my finger and putting it to her beak. she drank about 5 drops that way. i didn't measure the vinegar out though. it might have been a bit too strong since i put about 3 tablespoons of pedialyte and 1/4 teaspoon of vinegar.

i also put some yogurt and pedialyte together and she has drank some of that.

she also started to peck on her feed a bit.

with my massaging she managed to throw up 2 more times with the sticky water liquid and now she has pooed 2 more times as well.

the crop has gotten a lot smaller but it is still a bit big. i will boil her some eggs to eat as well. thank you for the advice.

if anyone has more advice please help. i am very glad for all the help.
 

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