15 Week Old Emergency!!

[The_Coop]

This morning, as I was going out to do my chickens, I noticed that one if my 15 week old chicks was sitting there with its eyes closed and feathers puffed up. She looked like she was going to die so I brought her inside in a box. She has perked up alittle bit but I was wondering if there is anything I should be doing. She seems to be out of energy and close to dying. A few weeks ago I treated them for coccidiosis with corid for 8 days and was wondering if I should do it again.

 

[ackie]

shes pretty!

I'd suggest keeping her warm and hydrated. If she wont eat, try an electrolyte solution - I'm not sure where to get a recipe but its mostly just sugar water with a pinch of salt and a pinch of baking soda -while you wait for answers.

I suspect people are going to ask: what youre feeding including treats, are other birds acting the same, does she have any other symptoms

and probably other things. the sticky thread on this forum will give you a good idea of what kind of info they might want.

the more info you give, even if it seems unrelated, the quicker things can be ruled out and you can get your bird on it's way to recovery

 

[The_Coop]

shes pretty!

I'd suggest keeping her warm and hydrated. If she wont eat, try an electrolyte solution - I'm not sure where to get a recipe but its mostly just sugar water with a pinch of salt and a pinch of baking soda -while you wait for answers.

I suspect people are going to ask: what youre feeding including treats, are other birds acting the same, does she have any other symptoms

and probably other things. the sticky thread on this forum will give you a good idea of what kind of info they might want.

the more info you give, even if it seems unrelated, the quicker things can be ruled out and you can get your bird on it's way to recovery

Ok, thanks! They got sick early november and I posted a thread. 3 of them died suddenly for no reason. After some replies came through, I came to the conclusion that it was coccidiosis. They recommend that I should treat them for 8 days with corid which I did. It's been just over a month and they've all looked fine until this morning when this chick wasnt looking good. They've been under a heat lamp since November. This is the only one that hatched out of my batch from my own chickens so I would really like to keep it alive.

I have been feeding them DuMOR chick feed until they got sick and since them I've given them medicated feed. They are still 3 weeks early for layer feed but I did give them some layer feed yesterday because I didn't have time to run out and grab some more chick feed. I'm not sure if this has anything to do with it.

Hopefully this is enough information!

***since I've been watching it today, she has been doing diarrhea with green stuff in it. Not sure if this is a sign of something. She doesn't seem to want to eat or drink***

 

[The_Coop]

At the moment she wont open her eyes either!!

 

[Anime2lover]

Layer feed has calcium that chicks that age shouldn't have, that's all I can say about the feed. As for the way she's acting, we have a few chicks with diahreah and one that had the bloody diahreah that's currently inside getting corid and an antibiotic and she seems to be doing better so far.

 

[Eggcessive]

The change in feed to layer for a day is not going to be the problem, but I would get them back on chick starter grower, whether it is medicated or not. Another choice would be to buy some Purina Flock Raiser or the Dumor brand, and when they do start laying, put out some crushed oyster shell in a sepearte dish to take for extra calcium as they need it.

I would go ahead and treat again for possible coccidiosis. It may not be the problem, but Corid won’t hurt them. It is always hard to diagnose a chicken without lab tests, or sometimes with them. A fecal float by a vet could rule out coccidiosis or worms. But trying to get a vet this week before the holiday would be hard, and many of our dog and cat vets will not do a test without seeing the chicken.

Make sure that you give the maximum dose of 2 tsp of the liquid or 1.5 tsp of the powder per each gallon of water. Also drench her with 1/2 tsp of the undiluted Corid once or twice a day. Do not give vitamins while giving the Corid, but you can give them afterward.