Aspirated chick

[Brigabart]

My sister in law has a serama chick. She fell into the water and almost died the first week. Somehow my sil revived the baby. She's been giving her vitamins and care, and the chick is seven weeks old. She just sent me a video - very tiny, very lightly feathered, staggery walk, and seems to breath very hard (chest heaves, tail goes up and down in tandam). When I asked about that, she said it always breathes that way and almost dies every five days or so. Nutridrench helps. I'm thinking aspiration pneumonia. Any suggestions for a helpful fish antibiotic and doseage? I breed, so honestly I'd have put the chick down, but she's worked so hard - I'd like to give her some advice about trying an antibiotic. Any advice for me? Thanks!

 

[azygous]

Can you post the video on YouTube and copy and paste the link here? It would embed and we can see how this chick behaves.

My hunch is it's a failure-to-thrive issue now, and special feeding to build the little one up would be the way to go. Poultry Nutri-drench rather than simple baby vitamins or chicken vitamins would be more beneficial. Tofu, egg, and strained baby food would also help.

Falling into the water may have caused pneumonia, but the resulting hypothermia could also have set this chick back, and now it has trouble processing nutrients and calories. If it still craves heat at seven weeks, then my hunch may be confirmed.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

I breed, so honestly I'd have put the chick down, but she's worked so hard

I'm in agreement with you.

Can you put the chick down for her? This is one of difficult choices in poultry keeping. Otherwise, going to a vet and getting a good rx, is highly recommended. I know it cost about $65 at my vet and many are not able to do that, if they even have access to an avian vet. Maybe this link can be helpful to your actual question...
https://www.merckmanuals.com/profes...neumonia/aspiration-pneumonitis-and-pneumonia

So sad for that babe to have to struggle for every breath. I'm sure she must have worked very hard to help it! She will be relieved when she can finally move on and enjoy the rest of her chicks without worry or fear of one finding one dead EVERY morning, in MY experience.

So sorry your sister in Love is facing this.

Thank you for trying to help her and her birds!

I hope her and the chick a speedy a recovery!

 

[Tiny pippin]

Hello there, I saw your post about the Serama chick and created an account to respond to it.
I raise several breeds of chickens and Seramas are my favorite, however they are very prone to vertigo especially if they were hatched in an incubator,caused by a chemical imbalance and can be corrected with quick chick water supplements and adding scramble eggs to feed.
My chick that showed the same symptoms was completely normal after a few weeks and is now my favorite little rooster.
Good luck I hope you can save her.

 

[coach723]

Agree with all previous posts. IF it is pneumonia then cultures would really be needed to determine best treatment. It could be bacterial or fungal, so treatment would depend on what it actually is for best possible results. I wish you well, it can be hard to lose a little one.