chick leaking saliva/musous from mouth like a faucet help!

Hi everyone, I am new to chickens
I just received my babies from McMurray Hatchery a week ago
I lost 3 right away from unknown cause (did not appear sick)
This chick however has seemed off from the start and is not growing, he has pasty butt still (all of the others out grew it by now) and has some type of respitory symptom
it was very distressing i have never seen anything like this in any creature b4---i had him tipped forward abit to clean off his pasty butt and clear sticky fluid started pouring out of his beak like I was pouring a glass of water!!!!!
He has been hanging on for a few days now like this and I started 1/2 tsp/gal duramycin in the water yesterday (I honestly did not think he would have lived this long in such a condition)
What on earth is wrong with him???!!!
I think some of the other chicks are begining to have some respitory symptoms as well as they will shake their beaks like he does
There boxes are kept very clean, I clean out the waterers/feeders twice a day and the whole box once a day
Please help!!! I don't know what else to do!

Welcome to BYC. I'm sorry your first post has to be about the sick chicks you have.

Sometimes tipping them forward or upside down can cause them to lose the water they've been drinking especially if you happened to touch their crop (the place on their chest where food and water is stored till it goes to the gizzard for processing).

Shipped chickes arrive stressed and dehydrated. If given water right away they can sometimes drink themselves to death by drinking too much all at once.

Make sure they are kept warm with a heat lamp and are eating and drinking. Continue to clean off the pasty butt. You can also add vitamin/electrolytes to their water (bought at feed store).

what bedding are you using?

check the crops..feel for any lumps..
describe droppings..color and consistency.

what temp are you keeping them at?
any draft?

the bedding is aspen
the crop feels small even though he/she's eating, though not as voraciously as the others
hardly any growth at all,which concerns me a great deal (how can he not grow at all when all of the others are about 5-6 times thesize they were when they came to me!?) since being on the antibiotic seems to have become more interested in surroundings and wants to be held less (was constantly crying to be held b4 would calm down and eat from my hand and then hop on my hand to snuggle down for a nap when I came in)
temps were at 90 F now has been reduced to 85 since is getting older (although I'm wondering if I should keep at 90 still since has no where near as many feathers as the big guys) I don't detect any draft, and there is a heater in the room to keep the air outside of the box warm as well
poos are much smaller than the other chicks a little greenish grayish brown vary a bit, more white in some than others
i trimmed the tush fluff to prevent any further pasty butt and that has done the trick--although did not have it terribly bad to begin with
he makes a kind of gurgling sound and shakes his head once in a while, although it seems to have been decreasing a little since the antibiotics but Im not positive since I am at work all day its almost like how a person might get some congestion in their throat and trying to clear it
any ideas? I'd like to post a pic of him , how do i do that? does the photo have to be hosted on a website or can i take directly from my computer?
thanks!
ps i palpated the crop area gently and therre actually does seem to be a swelling going down his torso & while idont know thanatomy too well if what im feeling is thec rop its not in th right spot !the gurgling noise increased upon palpation- could it be gas ?? do birds get that? such a great personality in this chick id hate to lose him/her but everyday ikeep asking myself how on earthn it made it another day

send the pic through photobucket or image shack then copy and paste the link

sounds like the chicks are a week old or more? I would contact the hatchery and ask if there have been any problems reported. Do you have any other birds?

ok here goes my shot at adding photos


http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/photo/2530557200040013676QseQVL

sstehm said:

ok here goes my shot at adding photos

http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/photo/2530557200040013676QseQVL

Click to expand...

i just copy a pic from my computer and paste it in the reply it works fine for me. ive even dragged them off another page and just dropped it into my reply