4 day-old not eating/drinking; liquid poo

[stretchc1]

My little RIR was perky this morning. I took the paper towels out of the brooder, so today was the first day on shavings. By about 11:00 a.m. she was lethargic. I thought she was just tired, but she wasn't waking up every three seconds to eat/drink like before.

I realized she wasn't eating or drinking anything. I had been watching and wiping for pasting up--she had some crusty poo, but not over the vent. The VERY LOVELY woman on the help line at MyPetChicken suggested PolyViSol. I gave her a drop of that and have been pretty much forcing her to drink all afternoon. She only seems to want to sleep. She doesn't scoot away from me when I reach in and seems pretty wobbly on her feet--though she is still standing sometimes.

She has "evacuated" three times that I have seen. One was pretty much liquid, but didn't seem like it was different "stuff" from usual. One was like a white watery mucus, and the last was just liquid.

I only have four little ones--these are my first. I don't want to lose her. Any thoughts?

 

[Homesteading_Bound]

What type of shavings are you using? What feed are they eating? I would just put them back on paper towels for now....I hope she perks up...

 

[TurtleChick]

i had one that was a little weaker than the others when they were a few days old - i mixed up a bit of water w/sugar and vitamin electrolyte in it, and dipped her beak a few times... she was still willing to drink and try to eat at that point. then, deciding that maybe she was having a hard time with the chick starter (the crumble seems awfully big to me), i food processed some down to mash-like consistency and mixed in a bit of warm water. she voraciously ate that once i'd given her some drinks of sugar water (being very careful just to barely dip her beak in it) and perked up a bit. since then, i add a little plate of warm mash several times a day (and only leave it in there for about 2hours on the RARE occasions my little piggies don't eat it all) - and they've gotten me very well trained to bring them their mash when they ring the dinner bell (peeppeeppeepPEEPPEEPPEEP!). hopefully you can get her to eat and then the runny poos should resolve themselves if she's just not quite getting enough...

and i'm sure you know it - but make sure you're not using cedar shavings (fumes cause respiratory probs), and i'm with homesteading, i'd put the paper towels back until you figure out what's going on....

good luck with your little one! my first batch of 4 were from mypetchicken, too - and i have a rir!

 

[stretchc1]

Thanks for your replies. She didn't make it.

I am using pine shavings and feeding her Purina Sunfresh ( medicated for Cocci). I did the vitamins and mash as best I could, but she just wouldn't eat or drink at all on her own. I'm wondering now if she didn't swallow a big shaving and get it stuck in her crop. I had the chicks on paper towels on top of shavings and they seemed fine, footing-wise. One of my books was adamant about no paper towels after day 2--but that might have mean paper towels only (no shavings underneath).

Life on the farm...