3 Day old chick having scratching episodes

[Estellare]

My baby 3 day old chick is having episodes of scratching at her face and squealing. I thought it may be that the pine shavings were irritating her so I switched to using bath towels as the chicks bedding (I have two other chicks and two ducklings in the brooder with her). This switch seemed to help for a few hours but now she has started having episodes again. She eats and drinks well I’m feeding a starter feed from Scratch and Peck and I add ACV to the water along with Sav-a-chick electrolytes. She just arrived in the mail one day ago and when I saw these symptoms I immediately looked up if anyone had a similar situation with a solution but of all the threads I’ve read no one has a definitive solution and I’m worried this may progress and cause injuries. Something else I noticed is that she seems to shake her head a lot during the episodes. Any advice would be amazing. Thanks

 

[LaFleche]

Welcome to BYC!

Baby chicks in the brooder should not have ACV in their drinking water as it can interfere with the calcium uptake thus compromising their sceletal development.

The electrolytes should not be given for more than three consecutive days. The chick starter will contain all the well balanced nutrients the chicks will need and just plain fresh water several times per day will be ok.

It was a good move to switch to towels for the first week which helps them to better distinguish the feed from the bedding and prevents them from crop issues that can arise when eating the wood shavings.

The chick with scratching issue might have a little lesion that starts to itch when coming into contact with ACV and electrolytes. Switch to just plain fresh water.
Check inside of the chick's mouth and also the ears for anything stuck or adhering, might even be a diminute piece of eggshell or similar left from hatching.

What breed are your chicks?

 

[Estellare]

Hi,
Thank you for you quick response. I heard that ACV was great for preventing pasty butt which two of my chicks arrived with. I’d never heard of its effect on calcium intake, I’ll switch to just plain water from now on. I’ve inspected her head but there’s no sign of redness or irritation so if there is a lesion I don’t know how I’d treat it. Ears and mouth appear clear of obstructions but I may be missing something if it’s too small to see.

The chick with the scratching is a blue Cochin. I also have a Silkie and silver laced Wyandotte. The two ducklings are both Indian runner ducks and I plan to separate them if they get too big to be with the chicks but for now they’re getting along great.

 

[GirlsHuntToo]

What kind of bedding are you using? Is she in a dusty environment? Is there a chance she could have mites?

Its sounds like something is bothering her skin, the hard part is figuring out what.