5 day old chick is lethargic not eating and drinking.

[Twalk12]

Hey everyone. The rooster that I got in my day old order is back to not doing well. I lost 2 chicks last night with the same symptoms. Not eating or drinking ( they will when I dip their beak), wobbly when walking sleeping a lot. brooder temp is 95 according to thermometer all the other chicks are acting fine. I did give him some sugar water and electrolytes ( same with other chicks but that didn't help )

Sick chick also has diarrhea and pasty butt which I have been trying to keep clean.

 

[SandyRiverChick]

Turn down the heat. No reason to keep it at *95 so well worth it to see if that has been the problem.

 

[Twalk12]

Turn down the heat. No reason to keep it at *95 so well worth it to see if that has been the problem.

Okay will do! I gave him some egg yol to try to get him some more energy so he will eat on his own. Only redeeming factor is that he will occasionally get up and walk around ( wobbly of course). The other 2 did not. What temp do I need to turn it down to?

 

[SandyRiverChick]

Okay will do! I gave him some egg yol to try to get him some more energy so he will eat on his own. Only redeeming factor is that he will occasionally get up and walk around ( wobbly of course). The other 2 did not. What temp do I need to turn it down to?

Good call on egg yolk... Nutri drench is helpful too. Lot's of fresh water available. I don't know what your brooder is like. *95 in one area is okay if you for sure have much lower temps in another area. But if they have no way to get away from *95, then I'd go down to *85 immediately and keep going down. Mine start out day 1 at *85-*90 with option of *70. After a week they're at *80 - *70. I've still never had a chick with pasty butt.

 

[Twalk12]

Good call on egg yolk... Nutri drench is helpful too. Lot's of fresh water available. I don't know what your brooder is like. *95 in one area is okay if you for sure have much lower temps in another area. But if they have no way to get away from *95, then I'd go down to *85 immediately and keep going down. Mine start out day 1 at *85-*90 with option of *70. After a week they're at *80 - *70. I've still never had a chick with pasty butt.

Yea they have a good amount of cooler area to go to, however i don't have a thermometer there, way bad on my part. I'll get one.

This is my second time raising day olds. They had a rough start as I got them after the 72 hours after hatch. The ones that passed and this rooster are all really small compared to the other 5. Part of me wonders of it was shipping timing, another part has me wondering if they were just sick chicks to begin with. Day one they had diarrhea right out of the box. I think I'm going to move them to a bigger brooder so they have a little more temp range to move around in. I really appreciate everyone's help. Praying this little guy makes it

 

[SandyRiverChick]

Good call. For the life of me I cannot understand why excessive heat is recommended all over the Internet. It's very confusing for people to then get told no, that's wrong. I'm glad you're open to turning it down! I promise you they don't need it especially now that's they're older. That first day after shipping, yes, they need a big warm up, then, not so much. I'm sorry you lost a few.

 

[Twalk12]

Chick passed away.

 

[SandyRiverChick]

I'm so sorry. How many other chicks do you have? Did you turn the heat down? What is your brooder setup? It looks like a tub? Is that a Red heat lamp in a tub?

 

[Twalk12]

I'm so sorry. How many other chicks do you have? Did you turn the heat down? What is your brooder setup? It looks like a tub? Is that a Red heat lamp in a tub?

I did turn the heat down and the heat lamp is about 1.5 feet above the tub. There are 5 chicks in there. It's a temporary set up until my 4 week old chicks move outside, then I can disinfect the big brooder and put these chicks in there. I had originally ordered a hatch date in May, but the had an earlier one come up and sent me them almost a month early. Hence the plastic tub. Do you have alternative suggestions for a brooder? Is the plastic heat combo bad for them? The plastic is not getting hot, so I figured it was probably okay.

 

[SandyRiverChick]

Tubs on a temporary basis are okay but lack of ventilation and reaching down in over their heads makes them stressed. And obviously the concern with heat. The fact that you turned down the heat should really help. It's probably a combination of shipping stress and then heat. Just keep a close eye on them. Behavior shows you what temps to use. If they're not acting cold, go lower and lower. What I use for a brooder is hardware cloth screens from a pre-fab coop and OSB as coop floor. The older and messier they get, the tub just holds in moisture too. So OSB with paper towels and then pine shavings is what I use in my brooder. I use heat plate and ceramic lamp for first days, then a MHP and ceramic lamp out in my coop brooder. I just took the ceramic lamp away for my 6week olds. It's *30-40 night temps.