911!! pale/cold/weak peachick

[Sonia]

She was perfectly fine three hours ago. The only thing I have changed is that I switched them to medicated 22% starter from nonmedicated about two days ago. Please help, these were surprise chicks but we have totally fallen in love with them. The other two appear fine.

 

[casportpony]

Peas fade fast... Do you have an incubator or brooder? Heat is what she needs, ASAP. Can you get her to a vet?

From: http://www.harrisonsbirdfoods.com/avmed/cam/07_emergency_and_critical_care.pdf
Supportive Care
SICK-BIRD ENCLOSURES
Sick birds are often hypothermic and should be placed
in heated (brooder-type) enclosures


b (Fig 7.7) in a quiet
environment (see Chapter 1, Clinical Practice). A temperature
of 85° F (29° C) with 70% humidity is desirable
for most sick birds. If brooders are not equipped with a
humidity source, placing a small dish of water in the
enclosure will often supply adequate humidity. A moist
towel that is heated and placed on the bottom of a cage
or incubator rapidly humidifies the environment, as indicated​

by the fogging of the acrylic cage front.

FLUID THERAPY
Oral Administration
Oral administration is the ideal method of giving fluids.
This method is more commonly used in mildly dehydrated
birds or in conjunction with subcutaneous (SC)
or intravenous (IV) therapy. Oral rehydration (30 ml/kg
PO q 6-8 h) also may be used in larger birds (eg, waterfowl)
that are difficult to restrain for parenteral fluid​

therapy.

ORAL NUTRITIONAL SUPPLEMENTS
Below are listed some of the oral nutritional supplements
that can be gavage-fed to debilitated birds. Various
hand-feeding formulas are on the market and, as a
whole, are far superior to the homemade formulas used
decades ago that contained monkey biscuits, peanut butter
and ground seeds. Commercially available hand-feeding
formulas for baby birds are often utilized in the treatment
of sick and debilitated adult birds. The quantity
that can be fed at one time to a sick bird is greatly
reduced from that of baby birds. On the average, a baby
parrot can accommodate 10% of its body weight per
feeding due to the elasticity of the crop and its rapid
emptying. Adult birds have a greatly decreased crop
capacity, averaging 3% of their body weight. Additionally,
sick birds are less tolerant of food in the crop and care
must be taken to avoid regurgitation and/or aspiration.
A sick or debilitated bird should always have its
hydration corrected prior to attempting to initiate​

oral gavage-feeding.

 

[Sonia]

Thank you. She is in a brooder with a heat lamp but is avoiding the light. It is over 85 ambient temp here, not sure what the humidity is but its high today. Could it be the medicated starter? I don't usually use medicated but did with these because we had cocci in some of our chicks a couple weeks ago and advice given here.

 

[casportpony]

How old is she and what does her poop look like? Also, has she been on ground or wire that's had chicken poop on it? There are a couple of things that come to mind when one of my peachicks get sick - histomoniasis and coccidiosis.

*If* they're drinking, coccidiosis is easy to treat, just add Corid or Amprol (amprolium) to their water.

Histomoniaisis is harder to treat in chicks because they only need 30mg/kg of metronidazole (Flagyl, fish-zole).

-Kathy

 

[Yoda]

Ok, was it on the ground at all? Give it some curid if you have it. It is not the medicated starter. Treat all the birds cause they were together with curid. Stressing the bird by taking it away from the others will weaken it. You can also mix in some vitamins into the water. If the chick doesn't drink on it's own you will have to put the curid/water mix orally. Casportpony is the pro at that and can walk you through it. I have to leave for work and will not be home til 10pm.

 

[Sonia]

Poop looks fine. I have corrid, no zole yet, ordered it but hasn't arrived yet. She's never touchedd ground except when she first hatched (they weren't supposed to hatch lol) she's refusing to drink on her own so I'm giving her a drop at a time with an eyedropper. Ambient temp is 88 with 60% humidity and she has access to up to 95 degrees under the lamp but she is avoiding that. She cries when we leave her in the brooder though, seems to want held (she goes right to sleep) and I worry that she will weaken herself further by crying.

 

[casportpony]

How old is she?

 

[Sonia]

About a week

 

[casportpony]

Poop looks fine. I have corrid, no zole yet, ordered it but hasn't arrived yet. She's never touchedd ground except when she first hatched (they weren't supposed to hatch lol) she's refusing to drink on her own so I'm giving her a drop at a time with an eyedropper. Ambient temp is 88 with 60% humidity and she has access to up to 95 degrees under the lamp but she is avoiding that. She cries when we leave her in the brooder though, seems to want held (she goes right to sleep) and I worry that she will weaken herself further by crying.

If she pecked in the wrong place it's possible that she's got histomoniais, but more likely it's coccidiosis.

There is a very real risk that she will aspirate during dropper feeding, so be *very* careful. If you can tell me how much she weighs, I can tell you how much water she should get.

-Kathy

 

[casportpony]

About a week

Do you have a kitchen or postal scale?