5 day old chick in a coma? HELP!

[WindyTreeFarm]

Just yesterday I got a new batch of chicks for our flock, and in one of the chick enclosures was a very sick little chick. i bought it hoping to help, and it was doing ok! she drank drops of water and ate some food, then went to bed. her head was a bit wobbly, but she was alert and seemed to be on the mend.

when i woke up this morning, she appeared dead (eyes closed, head flopped over, purple coloring on feet). i was about to bury her, but as i picked her up to move her, she was still warm/not stiff at all!?! at this point she had been "dead" for 5-6 hours, i think. i don't want to bury her if she's still alive at all, so i don't know what to do! she's VERY small and thin, so its hard to tell if she's breathing/has a heartbeat. I'm dripping a bit of egg yolk and water into her mouth, and she seems to somewhat swallow, but she's completely unresponsive. she's a bantam frizzle, is there some genetic thing that runs in that breed (i know thats far fetched but still)? Is botulism a possibility? or some other poisoning? its been about 12 hours since i first discovered her like this, and she's still warm and not stiff in the slightest. if anyone has had an experience like this please let me know what to do!

 

[WindyTreeFarm]

i hope someone who can help sees this, because if she is still alive, i doubt she'll be able to make it through the night without help :'( i forgot to mention this, but she's so small and fragile that attempting to feel for a heartbeat/pulse is impossible, as my hand isn't steady enough to feel for it. i have slightly shaky hands, so i can't tell whether her heart is what i feel, or if its just my hand shaking. she doesn't appear to be breathing, but when i feel her beak its hot, as if she's still alive!

 

[CHICKENX2005]

I've had "dead" chicks that I've had to bring back to life. They got cold and were "dead" at least most people would they that they were but I got a hairdryer and warmed them and in about 15 minutes they were back to running about and were perfectly fine.

Not saying this is what happened to your chick but just saying that it is possible for a chick to appear dead and not be. Hopefully someone will be able to help more.

Not sure what the chicks problem was like what was wrong with it.

Just remembered that I've had a couple of chickens get "knocked out" I suspect that they get hit in the head one was completing knocked out ( I thought it was dead ) but after about 8 minutes it got back up and the next morning ( it happened at night right before the went to bed ) it was like it never happened. The other one was just sitting with it head wobbling around for a minute and then it got up and went back to running around and stuff. It took about 25 minutes for it to like look completely back to normal. Well any one else would have thought it look normal before that but I could see it wasn't yet. They both turned out perfectly fine though.

Hope that you are able to figure this out.
Sorry that I couldn't help more.

 

[WindyTreeFarm]

I've had "dead" chicks that I've had to bring back to life. They got cold and were "dead" at least most people would they that they were but I got a hairdryer and warmed them and in about 15 minutes they were back to running about and were perfectly fine.

Not saying this is what happened to your chick but just saying that it is possible for a chick to appear dead and not be. Hopefully someone will be able to help more.

Not sure what the chicks problem was like what was wrong with it.

Just remembered that I've had a couple of chickens get "knocked out" I suspect that they get hit in the head one was completing knocked out ( I thought it was dead ) but after about 8 minutes it got back up and the next morning ( it happened at night right before the went to bed ) it was like it never happened. The other one was just sitting with it head wobbling around for a minute and then it got up and went back to running around and stuff. It took about 25 minutes for it to like look completely back to normal. Well any one else would have thought it look normal before that but I could see it wasn't yet. They both turned out perfectly fine though.

Hope that you are able to figure this out.
Sorry that I couldn't help more.

Thank you for replying. :') I assumed she had been knocked out or trampled before i bought her, so i separated her from the other chicks i bought. i'm just confused on why she isn't stiff and is still warm. But still, any info on what this might be is helpful, so thank you!

 

[CHICKENX2005]

i hope someone who can help sees this, because if she is still alive, i doubt she'll be able to make it through the night without help :'( i forgot to mention this, but she's so small and fragile that attempting to feel for a heartbeat/pulse is impossible, as my hand isn't steady enough to feel for it. i have slightly shaky hands, so i can't tell whether her heart is what i feel, or if its just my hand shaking. she doesn't appear to be breathing, but when i feel her beak its hot, as if she's still alive!

I feel like if she was dead that she would be quite stiff by now. Dose her body feel very warm. When I had to bring a cough of froze chicks by to life I other them just warmed them back up I very very gently rubbed at them it kind of helps wake them up. But you have to be very careful. I don't know what would help your chick because I don't know what her to it to cause this in the first place. But I don't say that my chicks are dead unless they have become stiff and they didn't "die" but they got cold because a cold chick can't be called dead until its been warmed back up

 

[WindyTreeFarm]

I feel like if she was dead that she would be quite stiff by now. Dose her body feel very warm. When I had to bring a cough of froze chicks by to life I other them just warmed them back up I very very gently rubbed at them it kind of helps wake them up. But you have to be very careful. I don't know what would help your chick because I don't know what her to it to cause this in the first place. But I don't say that my chicks are dead unless they have become stiff and they didn't "die" but they got cold because a cold chick can't be called dead until its been warmed back up

She's decently warm, slightly cold feet, but other than that she seems to be producing body heat. i just don't want to bury her alive. just thinking about that makes me upset. she's twitched a couple times, but i know after death that nerves do weird things, so i'm not sure what to do... she's under a heat lamp, and i've been breathing warm air into her feathers, but nothing seems to help...

 

[WoDia]

I’m so sorry to hear about your chick. It was very compassionate of you to take her and give her a chance at life. Every chick deserves that. If you can’t see her breathing or detect any movement at all, then I’m sorry to say that she’s likely already passed. She would still feel warm due to the heat source in her brooder. I am 100% for giving a weak chick every chance (and I have), but if there’s absolutely no movement then she has passed. Again, I’m sorry. It may make you feel certain to wait until morning.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

so i'm not sure what to do.

Have you checked for pasty butt already?

 

[Rose Quartz]

Is she hot from the heat lamp?

After some time the stiffness goes away.

 

[Emmaloveschickens9156]

Agree, pasty butt is a serious problem, def need to check.