3 Day old chick gasping, squirted liquid eyes closed....

[aaggjg]

HELP!!!

My biggest healthiest 1st born chick, black Orpington, has all of a sudden gone south!! I picked him up to let him out to run and play today and it was like he was having an epileptic seizure ..... He squirted out some clear liquid flipped on his back and started gasping for air. I picked him up and held him for a long long time he barely moved.... I gave him some baby vitamins and kept him warm. I put him back into the incubator to keep him isolated and warm..... His eyes are closed and he hasn't moved more then lifting his head in a few hours. He is breathing I gave him some sugar water .... He is very sad laying there in a little hump.


Is there anything I can do to help him? What could have caused this.... I'm so so so sad all, I can do is hover over my bator making sure he is breathing

Thanks for you help...

 

[Frost Homestead]

Sorry to hear about your little chick. Did the liquid come out of its vent? Did he react that way when you picked him up or was he not in your hand when it happened? I have not heard of anything like this before so I just wanted to get filled in on some things.

I'm assuming you're using your incubator as a brooder? I know you said you were taking it out to let it run around, but a 3 days old is awful young to be without heat. Could it be a reaction to being in the cold room or something? I'm just running over a tons of ideas about what could have caused this. Please keep us posted about how its doing

 

[aaggjg]

I'm not sure but think the liquid came from his vent. I'm in southern California and its very warm right now. He had been away from brooder for 20 seconds if that..... I have a proper brooder setup but have now put Tank in the incubator to use as a brooder as he's not moving much, I wanted to make sure he stayed warm enough. He has twisted onto his back a couple times and I thought for sure he was dead. He has also been craning his neck back from time to time ......

I went out to run some errands and when I came back he was holding his head up a little more...... I gave him more vitamins and electrolyte water.

Upon return to my house one of the other chicks has become lethargic. I'm at a loss ..... No idea what could be causing this. I thought maybe Tank had had a seizure..... But now that there is a second one I'm not so sure. I don't think Tank has pooped at all since yesterday..... I checked and no pasty butt.

Is there anything else I can do .... He's not interested in food... I was thinking of giving him some yolk but don't think he'll eat.

Does this give anyone more insight???

 

[aaggjg]

Ok so I am updating this so that hopefully it proves useful to somebody in the future.

Last night I fed Tank some egg yolk and more electrolyte water. He just stayed huddled in a ball not moving much or lifting his head or opening his eyes. He seemed to have kind lost some coordination wasn't standing and when he tried he often ended up twisting onto his back....I would turn him over and dropper feed him more water etc etc. His feet looked a little strange like they were over extended if that makes sense.... If he did walk he was going backwards only .... so strange.. Not to mention that he had not pooped since the clear liquid squirt on Saturday!! The other one that was a little lethargic did poop..... I tried massaging his crop and belly and nothing .... So this morning still no poop so I had read to feed him a drop or two of olive oil. Well a minute later he pooped! It was like a clear mucus with a little brown. Since he pooped he is now standing, lifting his head, cleaning himself etc etc.... These things came back slowly and he was still walking backwards but has progressed and can walk forward and DRANK on his own!!! Still not 100% but seems to be on the road to recovery.

 

[Frost Homestead]

good to hear he's at least drinking on his own. the walking backwards seems weird. I have heard of chickens doing that before but I think it was usually due to neurological damage from being attacked and pecked on the head. it does kinda worry me that you're saying another one of them is acting lethargic. keep us posted about how they're doing, maybe someone else will see this and chime in with some thoughts about what might be happening

 

[aaggjg]

Yeah I was really worried about the backward walking and also thought it must be neurological but I think the pain from the blockage is what was causing that... I had to go to work so when I get home hopefully he will have continued to improve! But after a few hours he was walking forward again.... So I am cautiously optimistic