3 day old chick not acting like the rest.

Sakai

Songster
10 Years
Apr 8, 2009
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206
I have a 3 day old Amerucauna (spelled wrong I'm sure)... and she's not acting like the rest of the 3 day old chicks.
The others are running about...gobbling down water and food and digging around in their litter and such... this one though, only stands there, or she lays down or is flat out asleep. If she stands for awhile I notice somtimes her wings droop. I see her drink little but I've seen her eat more. We thought maybe she was backed up a bit but her vent was clear and I've seen her poo a few times. When we reach in the brooder, the chicks bolt and sometimes she will bolt with them, sometimes not. She is often stepped on by my slightly bigger week old chicks and she will lay there and not attempt to get out from under them. The temp in the brooder is around 78F in the shade corner...about 82F in the warm corner.
I'm not sure why she seems weak, Any ideas?
 
The brooder is too cold, turn up the heat but let the chicks move in and out of the center. This one is probably struggling and Day 3 is critical because her yolk sac is now absorbed and she must begin producing from her feed. Try for 90F even a little higher in the middle. Please let us know how she is doing after you change things.

Also, why is she with older chicks? This is her time, and she may need a chance to get stronger with others her age...I know it doesn't seem like a lot in human terms but Days 1-3 are in fact infant times for hatchlings.
 
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Hi LynneP thanks for the ideas. I read it this morning and went right to work on the chick. We kept her in a seperate area once we noticed she was letting the other chicks walk on her. I changed the temp and she seemed to be doing okay.
She started to stand a little more and she ate and drank So I settled down and went to bed (night worker) When I got up, she looked much better, she was moving faster and didn't seem to sit as much. But about two hours later I noticed that she started breathing through her mouth and her wings were drooping bad. I couldn't give her as much attention as I wanted, as it is Easter today and there was family coming and going as well as a dinner to make. >_< she got worse the more I peeked in on her. Until about 30 minutes ago I found her dead.
I'm not too sure if there was anything more I should or could of done. It's the first time I raised chicks in a brooder. I always had mother hens to raise the chicks and if one died we figured an animal got it. (As my chickens were 100% free ranged on ther farm) I learned some things today and I hope I'll be able to catch the little signs better the next time around.
 

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