4 week old chick can't move

[Eggcessive]

It could be blood, so you could try getting some Corid to treat her for coccidiosis. Treat all birds at once. Dosage is 1/2 tsp per quart given for 5-7 days. Give the sick chick 0.1-0.2 ml orally of the undiluted Corid twice a day. Do not use vitamins while on Corid.

 

[iowacricket]

So sorry about your sick pullet. Could she have fallen or sustained a head injury? I would probably bump the heat back up to 75-80, since she may not be able to maintain her body temperature due to this illness. How much over 4 weeks is she exactly? Mareks would be very rare this age especially in a brooder, but it is possible after the age of 3 weeks. It usually is seen in chickens a few weeks older up to 6 months or older. I would make sure that she is getting enough water, and some electrolytes with vitamins or a couple of drops of Poultry NutriDrench or Poultry Cell daily would be good. I hope that she gets better. If you should lose her, I would contact your state poultry lab here from this list to get a neceopsy and testing:
https://www.metzerfarms.com/PoultryLabs.cfm

The brooder has a short roost, about a half foot off the ground, and the only head injury I can imagine would be from another chick. I'll be sure to increase the heat for her and give her some electrolytes. Thanks!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

She finally pooped a little bit ago. There are some brownish red spots in there - do you think that's blood? She drank a little bit of water from the eye dropper, which she swallowed okay.

View attachment 2399176

Looks like it may be intestinal shed.
Do you have Corid on hand?

Is she improving at all?

 

[iowacricket]

Looks like it may be intestinal shed.
Do you have Corid on hand?

Is she improving at all?

Yep, she's getting Corid right now via an eyedropper. She hasn't improved, still limp and won't eat or drink on her own. She will occasionally clench her feet and tail and slightly move her wings. The other chicks are all doing fine. Not sure what else we can do.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Yep, she's getting Corid right now via an eyedropper. She hasn't improved, still limp and won't eat or drink on her own. She will occasionally clench her feet and tail and slightly move her wings. The other chicks are all doing fine. Not sure what else we can do.

You're doing the best you can. It doesn't sound very good

 

[iowacricket]

Thought I would give a brief update in case it might help somebody else going through something similar. Yesterday (day #2), she wasn't doing much better. She was tensing her muscles a little and could kind of keep her head up for short bursts, but still couldn't eat or drink on her own. A vet friend came over with saline solution, gave her 2 ml, and now we've been injecting her subcutaneously with 2 ml every two hours since 4:00 this morning (day #3). We've also given her some vitamin E and we've had water with Corid available to her. This morning around 9:30, she can walk slowly without falling over and she drank some water with sugar and egg yolk on her own. We're cautiously optimistic The other chicks are all doing well.

 

[iowacricket]

Update #2: Our sick chick continues to get better. She's generally back to her usual self - eating, drinking, preening, dust bathing, etc. I've noticed that she has a little bit of a head twitch, but it's going away. She lost a lot of weight while she was sick and she's very slowly gaining it back. We reintroduced her to the brooder today and it went pretty well. I'm hoping she gains more weight from eating with the other chicks. Still no idea what caused this, but we're thankful she's getting better and we hope she keeps getting better.

 

[Eggcessive]

So glad to hear that she is doing much better, thanks to your vet friend. Giving the normal saline must have helped her get rehydrated. How are her droppings looking?

 

[iowacricket]

So glad to hear that she is doing much better, thanks to your vet friend. Giving the normal saline must have helped her get rehydrated. How are her droppings looking?

Thanks! I think the saline injections were crucial to the quick turnaround and we'll be keeping syringes and saline solution on hand now. Her poop was a pretty dry yesterday, so she may have been more dehydrated than we anticipated. But I've seen her drinking on her own and her poop has gotten more normal looking today.