3 day old chick - lethargic and droopy wings

[azygous]

The thing about shipping stress is it can sometimes be delayed. You can carefully pick out the liveliest chicks from the chick tank at the store, they can be perfectly fine when you get them home, and the next day, you will suddenly see one doing the droopy act.

The best practice is to dose each chick as soon as you get them home with a few drops of Nutri-drench and dip every beak in warm water. During the first few day, only warm water should be given, and the second you see a chick slow down, drop its wings, nod off standing up, treat with warm sugar water.

And as @EggSighted4Life mentioned, chicks need to be with the other chicks, even sickly ones. I had a failure-to-thrive chick (FTT) that was half the size of the others and required special food. I left the sick chick with the other chicks and fed them ALL the special food. This enabled the sick chick to learn to be competitive instead of withdrawn, and it would squeeze in under the legs of the other chicks and end up in the middle of the dish of food getting all it needed and then some.

 

[sarahconnor]

I bought a blue Plymouth Rock pullet from TSC yesterday and the poor thing was standing with its wings drooping. It moved around some, but would stay in one spot for the most part. I had to keep dipping it’s beak into the water ( the water has the durvet vitamins & electrolytes mixed in ) to get it to drink. It didn’t want to eat either, so I made a mash with the electrolyte water and put some in its mouth but this is the first time I’ve had to put food into a chick’s mouth. It’s way easier with a full grown chicken...any tips or ideas on what’s wrong with the chick? I think it might have gotten too cold on the trip home yesterday, but the rest of the chicks it came with are doing just fine and running around the brooder.

I’m attaching some pictures of its poop and of the chick. I have it separated from the rest right now

That’s so worrisome. Once in a while we would get a sick one while the others thrived. We would use a plastic vet syringe (just a few inches long and cut the tip off to feed it. Never used a kit like you showed. We would take plain Greek yogurt and mix it with Gatorade and syringe feed it. Finished up with a little straight Gatorade. Small amounts at a time as not to choke it. Some chicks pulled through and others not. The small syringe worked great. Sometime a baby just doesn’t thrive and it’s nothing you did wrong. I’ll share a pic of syringe in the morning. Best luck.

 

[sarahconnor]

The thing about shipping stress is it can sometimes be delayed. You can carefully pick out the liveliest chicks from the chick tank at the store, they can be perfectly fine when you get them home, and the next day, you will suddenly see one doing the droopy act.

The best practice is to dose each chick as soon as you get them home with a few drops of Nutri-drench and dip every beak in warm water. During the first few day, only warm water should be given, and the second you see a chick slow down, drop its wings, nod off standing up, treat with warm sugar water.

And as @EggSighted4Life mentioned, chicks need to be with the other chicks, even sickly ones. I had a failure-to-thrive chick (FTT) that was half the size of the others and required special food. I left the sick chick with the other chicks and fed them ALL the special food. This enabled the sick chick to learn to be competitive instead of withdrawn, and it would squeeze in under the legs of the other chicks and end up in the middle of the dish of food getting all it needed and then some.

Great idea to let sick chick stay with the others. We generally did that too.

 

[cluckingheck]

Sometimes caused by pasty butt.. what to check if it returns maybe.

I have a couple infant medicine syringes, often provided by the pharmacy for free if asked, for future have on hand reference.

With little ones like this I face the beak toward the bend in my forefinger and let the drip from my finger just below the nostrils roll around and be swallowed by the chick instead of sipping beaks if needed.

Looks like you already got good feedback AND results even!

Congrats on your new babies!

Returning her to her crew sooner than later will HELP her thrive.. alone is never good.. it insights encouragement and healthy competition plus gives them others to mimic the behaviors of.. you've done great so far, so if you don't think you will see her slow down again if it happens, then YOU know best!

I kept the flock mate that showed her how to eat and drink in with her. Apparently, she just wasn’t getting it when i pecked the food with my finger or dipped her beak in the water. She’s honestly doing so much better, they’ve even scratched at the food and made a huge mess...lol.

I have been checking for pasty butt, though. One of my brahma chicks had it bad ( completely plugged ) and I was worried since it happened. Poor thing pooped a bunch when I finally got the dried poop worked off. Anyways!! They’re butts are still clean, so hopefully this will be the end of the health scares.

The droopy chick is in the front and the other blue rock is in the back. I also got two Easter eggers along with them

 

[cluckingheck]

That’s so worrisome. Once in a while we would get a sick one while the others thrived. We would use a plastic vet syringe (just a few inches long and cut the tip off to feed it. Never used a kit like you showed. We would take plain Greek yogurt and mix it with Gatorade and syringe feed it. Finished up with a little straight Gatorade. Small amounts at a time as not to choke it. Some chicks pulled through and others not. The small syringe worked great. Sometime a baby just doesn’t thrive and it’s nothing you did wrong. I’ll share a pic of syringe in the morning. Best luck.

Thankfully, she seems to be doing way better. I’m still going to keep her and one of her flock mates separated for another day, but I think she’ll get back to 100% in no time.

The only reason I even have the lamb syringe was to tube one of my leghorn roosters that had gotten hit in the head, but he had died before I even got home with it.

 

[sarahconnor]

Believe it or not, you can get chick stuff on Amazon. I keep a supply of everything, and different meds in the fridge. Syringes in a couple sizes as well. You did good! I had a year old black bantam frizzled cochin fall in my dog's water bucket in Oct. My husband thought she was dead. I took her in held her, dried her with the hair dryer and put her on a heating pad. She felt like ice! Gave her electrolytes, and drench.She just laid there not moving. She is 3 years old now!

That’s fantastic. You really saved her.

Use a Q-tip. Saturate it with the warm sugar water and hold it to the right side of the chick's beak. Keep doing this as long as the chick slurps the water. Or dip the chick's beak in a small cup of the water, and hope it will continue to drink on its own.

Sugar water is key. It elevates the glucose level and infuses the chick with energy so it will eat and drink on its own. You can get an oral syringe from any pharmacy just by asking for a slender one for your sick baby chick.

In addition to the sugar water, Poultry Nutri-drench was formulated for weak chickens to get nutrients into their blood stream without needing to be metabolized by the liver. It acts on a chick immediately. You need to get some from your feed store.

thanks for the tip on nutirdrench. I always used Gatorade, which worked.

 

[azygous]

Gatoraid and Nutri-drench work even better together.

 

[sarahconnor]

Thankfully, she seems to be doing way better. I’m still going to keep her and one of her flock mates separated for another day, but I think she’ll get back to 100% in no time.

The only reason I even have the lamb syringe was to tube one of my leghorn roosters that had gotten hit in the head, but he had died before I even got home with it.

That’s great news. I think she will make it. What a happy moment. Good job! Sorry about your rooster no matter what we do they have accidents.

The chick started drinking on its own too!

yyyyaaayyyy!!! Go chick go!!

 

[sarahconnor]

That’s great news. I think she will make it. What a happy moment. Good job! Sorry about your rooster no matter what we do they have accidents.

yyyyaaayyyy!!! Go chick go!!

I love happy endings.

 

[sarahconnor]

Gatoraid and Nutri-drench work even better together.

Thanks. I’ve learned even more!!