6 day old chick-trouble walking?

[esavvymom]

I bought day-old chicks last week from our local farm store...so they are about 6-days old. They were adopted by our broody hen...although she hasn't gotten the message to stop being broody I think. She's still sitting, but she at least lets the chicks lay under her and doesn't bother them.

One of my chicks is showing signs of distress or something. he won't really walk...he hobbles. he kind of leans to one side and isn't really standing on his legs, but more squatting. he's clearly having trouble walking, but does hobble a bit. I don't know if he was eating or drinking properly, and if he's just dehydrated maybe?? It's been very warm here in NC. Quite muggy too...it feels more like August than May.

We took him out of mama's box and brought him back inside in our chick brooder setup. I hand-fed him some water and directed him to the water bowl by hand...which has some electrolytes and such in it (I have some chick electrolytes). He drank quite a bit and when I put him back in the box, he hobbled back under the brooder warmer (i have that yellow heater from Brinsea..instead of heat lamps).

We're going to watch him, but I'm wondering if you of more experience have some ideas of what to try or watch for? He is definitely not SPLAY legged....based on pictures I've seen of that.
When we hold him, his feet kind of curl up a bit.


Ideas???? I hate to lose him. We got chicks specifically to get a new rooster (we bought 2, just in case).

 

[esavvymom]

Well, I have strong suspicion we are dealing with cocci. When I got home tonight, he just wasn't coming out from under the brooder heater. I did more digging and that was one thing folks mentioned...seeming cold and lethargic. He was very quiet, then about midnight...chirped loudly a few times. Come to find out, he died.

I'm glad I found him though and not my son. He takes it so hard when they die..and this would be our first baby we'd lost out of the 2-dozen or so birds we've raised from chicks over the years.

So tomorrow, I head to the store to get medicated feed for the little ones and just hope they aren't already sick. and I'll get some Corid 20.