5 Week Old Chick In Coma Like Sleep?

[Indiana Dunn]

I have six 5-week old chickens and right before I got in bed I noticed something strange happening in the chicks sleeping quarters. Like normal chickens they often dig in their shavings, but five of the chicks seemed to be digging around the sixth chick to get its attention. They were kicking piles of shavings on her to where her face was covered, pecking her, and even completely stepping on her at points and she wasn’t waking up. It seemed like she was dead. Even when taking the roof off, which normally makes them all excited, she was still asleep and didn’t wake up until I had her in my hands and she was extremely lethargic. I brought her into the bathroom where she finally started to wake up and shake herself clean, and crazy amounts of shavings and dirt came out. Normally, she would’ve never slept through all that, and even after coming to consciousness she wasn’t acting like a chick and was making long, sad trills I’ve never heard any of the chicks make. Was she just in just really deep sleep or is something wrong? I’m going to check on her every now and then just to make sure even if it is deep sleep that she doesn’t suffocate because her beak was completely submerged when I found her. I’ve included pictures of how much gunk came off of her because it was a lot for her to sleep through.

 

[ChickNanny13]

Is it eating/drinking/pooping ok? I'm thinking it was in a deep sleep, did you just get them? If so it could be "stress" from the move that made her so tired. When it's up, does it interact with the rest? Anything unusual when up?

 

[Arya28]

Hello!

What breed of chicken is she? That might make a difference.

If you check inside the brooder do you notice any abnormal poops (yellow, runny, bloody or egg-yolk looking)?

Have they had electrolytes recently? What about vitamins?

Was she vaccinated, does she eat medicated food or organic food?

These things might help to determine. This does sound odd, but sometimes chicks are odd.

Generally when other chicks pick on another, it is because they can sense something is wrong. And if a chick peeps very loudly it can also indicate something is wrong. Is she acting normal at all now?

 

[Indiana Dunn]

Is it eating/drinking/pooping ok? I'm thinking it was in a deep sleep, did you just get them? If so it could be "stress" from the move that made her so tired. When it's up, does it interact with the rest? Anything unusual when up?

Every other aspect about her has been fine. I’ve had them for a while so she’s used to me and the siblings and was playing with them like normal earlier. She seems to be doing better now. She is very alert and is waking up without problems. I hope it was just a weird spell and not an underlying issue.

 

[Indiana Dunn]

Hello!

What breed of chicken is she? That might make a difference.

If you check inside the brooder do you notice any abnormal poops (yellow, runny, bloody or egg-yolk looking)?

Have they had electrolytes recently? What about vitamins?

Was she vaccinated, does she eat medicated food or organic food?

These things might help to determine. This does sound odd, but sometimes chicks are odd.

Generally when other chicks pick on another, it is because they can sense something is wrong. And if a chick peeps very loudly it can also indicate something is wrong. Is she acting normal at all now?

We don’t know what specific breeds she is, just that she is a “mutt”. Her eating, drinking, and pooping have been fine and she’s getting amount vitamins my vet recommended. She hasn’t been vaccinated and she eats organic food. I hope it was just a weird spell and not a underlying issue she has. She is acting fine now and is alert and waking up like normal. Still a little shaken up. None of the others have done this and I didn’t want to leave her and risk her suffocating. Thankfully the rest alerted me to it with their behavior.

 

[Arya28]

Ok that's awesome! I hope she continues to be ok. Keep us updated and let us know if there seems to be a more immediate problem because you will surely get helpful answers on here in an emergency.

Chicks can be weird, she could have just been sleepy. As chicken moms we tend to overthink things because we want our babies to be ok. But generally they are and we just have to let them be chickens. Lol.

 

[Arya28]

Oh, and by the way, !