Abnormally sleepy chick

[bgitta]

Hi, folks. I have a chick that's struggling and I don't know what to do for it.
They hatched Monday or Tuesday of this week. She came in a group of 3 Rhode Island reds that we got from a reputable breeder. On Wednesday night, we found her laying on her side and when we reached into the brooder she didn't react much. She perked up after some handling and was fine until last night. I took her and the other chicks out of the brooder to stretch their legs and she just wanted to sleep in my hand. When put back in the brooder, she just wanted to sleep and had trouble walking, was doing a kind of duck squat. I mixed up some electrolytes and fed her by syringe. At first she wasn't interested, but after a few sessions she perked up, seemed to be walking fine, walked over to the food and ate by herself but still went to sleep in the brooder. Switched to regular water in the syringe and she drinks it willingly but as soon as she's back in the brooder she goes straight to sleep. What can I do for this baby? Thank you so much in advance!

 

[mcdze]

ive had them like that before, and what usually happens is theyll hold on for a couple three weeks then just dont wake up one day .. just a weak chick .. dont see any reason to not give it a chance though, who knows, it may pull out of it ..

 

[bgitta]

ive had them like that before, and what usually happens is theyll hold on for a couple three weeks then just dont wake up one day .. just a weak chick .. dont see any reason to not give it a chance though, who knows, it may pull out of it ..

I'm gonna really try, I hope she pulls through

 

[maryn7]

Hope she's improving for you. I'd check to make sure her crop is emptying. I had a failure to thrive chick, and we just could not get the crop moving. But it may have been because we started too late. See the advice there about getting coconut oil in the crop and massage if you're feeling any blockage.

(Just a note, the story with our chick in that thread ended in euthanasia - so if that's not for you right now, totally skip it! But there are lots of threads on here about impacted crops in chicks and how to treat, if you get into the search engine).

Good luck. Some of them simply have problems we can't solve, but wishing you and your chick the best.