1 week old chick sick!!

[Sydni Crawford]

Okay so we have come a LONG WAY from the beginning of this week. I have a completely different chick. Nutridrench for the freaking win!

I honestly think she is so gluttonous. She eats and eats and eats until she has nowhere to put it and then gets so lethargic and pitiful for an hour or two and then she’s back to normal.

On another note, tonight when I went to refill the food, my husband picked her up (she now are tiny/runty little favorite) and she shook her head and it literally looked like a blob of snot cane out of her mouth and landed on our cat (who was grooming her)
She isn’t acting sickly, so it was so random.
Could that be from her crop always full because she never stops eating? Or do I need to go a completely different route and seek out potential antibiotics for the whole brood as a preventative?

 

[azygous]

Let behavior dictate when to be concerned. A chick that is eating and pooping and is running around playing with the others is a normal chick. A single symptom is something to make note of and keep an eye on.

I'm a proponent of grit for chicks from the very start even though they aren't eating anything now but chick feed. Most folks say not to bother with it. But I brood my chicks on sand and have observed them eating the gritty sand pebbles as young as two and three days, and then they quit when they have consumed enough to kit out their gizzards.

Grit is one more insurance policy to assure chicks are able to digest anything that goes into their beaks, and like human babies, sometimes things other than food get consumed out of curiosity. Chicks can get into trouble doing this. So grit assures that whatever comes in can get processed. It's also crucial to see that they never run out of water. It's also essential for good digestion.

I suggest getting a bag of chick grit and sprinkling it around the brooder on a surface where they can see it and pick at it.

So very happy the chick is making good progress!

 

[Sydni Crawford]

Fantastic! I have some chick grit here that I will go ahead and introduce. I was waiting because that it just what I had read.

 

[Sydni Crawford]

@azygous
Okay so my puny little chick, that I have been asking questions about, made a huge turn around, but now I feel like we are going 10 steps back.
All of my chicks have double in size but her. She feels so light compared to everyone else.
I have been giving her tons of extra love and attention, and anything else I can do to keep her alive, but my confidence is dwindling.
Recently she is shivering and a little wobbly.

I can see her trying to scratch and forage but she looks drunk.
Not interested in food or water today as much as she usually is.

Her new obsession is her own feathers! She will not stop preening. I understand that they are getting rid of their baby down, and growing big girl feathers, but she doesn’t give up. She is always digging at herself.

any advice is welcomed. Even if I need to make the hard decision, and understand that she may not survive.

 

[azygous]

Is this chick eating?
Or is she mostly drinking?
What do the poops look like?
Is she trying to hog the heat?
Is she noisy?
Do her wings look way longer than her body?
What does her crop feel like?
Is it more full than the others?

Please answer each question. Put together they will give us a big picture.

 

[Sydni Crawford]

She is eating sparingly. Most of the time it just looks like she is pecking at it.
I haven’t noticed her drinking more than eating.
Poops are a little loose. No abnormal color or smell.
Her bottom is dirty (not pasty, more wet)
Not hogging heat. She just lays around today. Sometimes with the group, sometimes without.
Not anymore noisy than the rest.
Wings look a little droopy to me.
Crop feels empty.
@azygous

 

[azygous]

Give her some coconut oil. Measure a half teaspoon and chill it to make it solid and give her tiny bits until it's all inside her.

Clean up her butt so you're certain the vent isn't clogged. She may be constipated, not uncommon for a retarded development chick. Give her a warm place to rest and wait for the big poop to show up.

 

[Sydni Crawford]

Will do.
Would it hurt to give her selenium and b12 since she’s so wobbly?

 

[azygous]

Warm sugar water would be better for "wobbly" since it may indicate weakness.

 

[Sydni Crawford]

I’ve give her some sugar water and some wet food. She has massively pooped twice. First was very dark and stinky.
2nd was more solid.

I let her eat by herself until she was full.

Even under lamp/heater she is still shivering.

@azygous