TwistedTayy
Songster
Born Feb 4th (so 20 days old). Yesterday this chick (a blue Isbar from Greenfire hatching eggs) was breathing very heavily and was somewhat lethargic. It’s worse this morning. I tried doing a search on BYC and there were LOTS of posts with the same symptoms and no resolutions. I’m some posts, the chick died and in others there was no update and in both cases there was no update on whether it affected the other chicks. I will try to be detailed but let’s be honest, I’ll probably forget something.
Some history. I incubated and hatched the chicks myself. 15 hatched successfully and one of my farm eggs failed to survive the hatching process. Some were greenfire eggs and some were eggs from my own hens. They spent a week and a half inside in a tote, then moved outside to my carport in a brooder box I built 2.5x3.5. Then after a week they started having play dates outside in a covered run 4x8 (part of a new coop that has not been lived in) they are now living in the run part (it’s been 60 degs at night). Plenty of enrichment (tree branch from plum tree, baby cake, brooder plate, baby roost bar). There has been some aggression but from what I can tell I think it’s the males sorting out a pecking order. Interestingly it’s the greenfire chicks causing issues.
(Copy and pasted this from someone responding to one of the other threads, I thought it was a concise list of questions)
Edited to add that @janiedoe made and posted this list… it is a great template for these situations
1.Is she eating and drinking on her own? What kind of feed is she on?
Eating and drinking fine. Purina med chick starter.
2. How does her poop look? (Color and texture)
Same as the others, no abnormal color, maybe on the watery side.
3. Have you noticed any strong orders?
I assume this means odors, but no.
4.Any swelling in her face or around her eyes?
No swelling and no whistling from nose
5.Any nasal discharge?
No discharge
6. Are her feathers fluffed up?
YES I thought this meant she was cold but all the other chicks are fine and honestly if anything she should be too warm (because I am and I don’t have supplemental heat).
7. Have you looked in her mouth to see if anything is visible?
I have not… what would I look for?
8. She appears to be feathered in well; is she in a brooder or outside? Have you changed her housing recently? Is it possible that she is overheated?
They are all feathering in like they are molting but I don’t see anything that concerns me besides the one chick being fluffed up.
9. Do the other chicks seem healthy?
None are breathing heavy but some see lethargic. That may be the different breeds though. The Swedish chicks are kind of all a-holes (thinking mostly cockerels unfortunately) and the farm ones are fayoumi mixes which are high strung naturally but this is my first batch of those so I’m not sure how they will mature.
I had originally thought (yesterday) that the chick was in shock because one of the hedemora chicks was being a bully to the point of needing to go to prison for ten mins. And the svart hona wasn’t far behind. But like I said today it’s worse.
I have corid, poultry rx, nutrient drench, rooster booster, hydro hen but ima go ahead and assume I shouldn’t put ALL those in the water together. What’s step one?
Also I’ll post a video shortly showing activity levels etc.
Some history. I incubated and hatched the chicks myself. 15 hatched successfully and one of my farm eggs failed to survive the hatching process. Some were greenfire eggs and some were eggs from my own hens. They spent a week and a half inside in a tote, then moved outside to my carport in a brooder box I built 2.5x3.5. Then after a week they started having play dates outside in a covered run 4x8 (part of a new coop that has not been lived in) they are now living in the run part (it’s been 60 degs at night). Plenty of enrichment (tree branch from plum tree, baby cake, brooder plate, baby roost bar). There has been some aggression but from what I can tell I think it’s the males sorting out a pecking order. Interestingly it’s the greenfire chicks causing issues.
(Copy and pasted this from someone responding to one of the other threads, I thought it was a concise list of questions)
Edited to add that @janiedoe made and posted this list… it is a great template for these situations
1.Is she eating and drinking on her own? What kind of feed is she on?
Eating and drinking fine. Purina med chick starter.
2. How does her poop look? (Color and texture)
Same as the others, no abnormal color, maybe on the watery side.
3. Have you noticed any strong orders?
I assume this means odors, but no.
4.Any swelling in her face or around her eyes?
No swelling and no whistling from nose
5.Any nasal discharge?
No discharge
6. Are her feathers fluffed up?
YES I thought this meant she was cold but all the other chicks are fine and honestly if anything she should be too warm (because I am and I don’t have supplemental heat).
7. Have you looked in her mouth to see if anything is visible?
I have not… what would I look for?
8. She appears to be feathered in well; is she in a brooder or outside? Have you changed her housing recently? Is it possible that she is overheated?
They are all feathering in like they are molting but I don’t see anything that concerns me besides the one chick being fluffed up.
9. Do the other chicks seem healthy?
None are breathing heavy but some see lethargic. That may be the different breeds though. The Swedish chicks are kind of all a-holes (thinking mostly cockerels unfortunately) and the farm ones are fayoumi mixes which are high strung naturally but this is my first batch of those so I’m not sure how they will mature.
I had originally thought (yesterday) that the chick was in shock because one of the hedemora chicks was being a bully to the point of needing to go to prison for ten mins. And the svart hona wasn’t far behind. But like I said today it’s worse.
I have corid, poultry rx, nutrient drench, rooster booster, hydro hen but ima go ahead and assume I shouldn’t put ALL those in the water together. What’s step one?
Also I’ll post a video shortly showing activity levels etc.
