Baby chick can't stand, walk, not thriving.

[bigboat83]

Hi,

Bought 24 chicks from a hatchery about 4 days ago. They're 20 broilers and 4 black hens. Everyone is doing fine except for one broiler chick. She's noticably smaller and more delicate than the others. She doesn't stand or run around/keep up with the rest of the flock in the brooder. She will hobble herself, half on her wings and half on her feet towards the heat lamp. Otherwise she'll really only eat and drink if I place her next to it every hour or so. Her feet aren't crooked, and she isn't "doing the splits" as it's called for straddle leg. What I've noticed though is that when I pick her up she hugs her left foot close to her body. When I stretch the foot she doesn't peep or holler (so she's not in pain). She's eating the same starter feed and same water as the rest of the flock. They're all vaccinated for the pasty butt and Marek's.

I've tried putting a band-aid around her feet to see if that would help anything but she has zero motivation to get up or even try to walk around at all. She just sits on the woodchips and sleeps. I'm at a loss for what to do. I've noticed her behavior yesterday but I wouldn't be surprised if she was like this 4 days ago and I haven't noticed.

Any help is appreciated.

 

[DobieLover]

They're all vaccinated for the pasty butt and Marek's.

I think you mean vaccinated for coccidiosis and Marek's? Pasty butt is a condition, not a disease.
What breed are the broilers? Are you keeping them with the "black hens"? Are the black chicks layers? Are you planning to harvest the entire batch of birds?

Sadly, the little one that isn't thriving is just that. Not thriving. It happens with some chicks. You can try to give it some extra support by giving it a drop or two of poultry vitamins to the side of the beak every few hours or giving it some sugar water. But in my experience these poor little chicks just fade and die.

 

[bigboat83]

I think you mean vaccinated for coccidiosis and Marek's? Pasty butt is a condition, not a disease.

Yes, this exactly.

The broilers are cornish cross. I'm keeping them in the same brooder as the australorp hens. The black ones are layers. I'm going to harvest the 20 cornish cross, and keep the hens for eggs.

Sadly, the little one that isn't thriving is just that. Not thriving. It happens with some chicks. You can try to give it some extra support by giving it a drop or two of poultry vitamins to the side of the beak every few hours or giving it some sugar water. But in my experience these poor little chicks just fade and die.

I'll try giving her some sugar/honey water and see if she improves. I'll keep a close eye on her, I really don't want her to die. Thanks for your input.

 

[bigboat83]

Update: A week later she's doing much better. We fed her egg yolk consistently which seemed to give her much more energy. Every hour or so I would come by and hold her in front of the water and then the food to make sure she was getting proper nutrition. Now, she is able to stand and walk around with the rest of the chickens. She's not 100% like the others but is definitely much better and can take care of herself now.

We did have one chick (one of the largest ones at about 5 days) die spontaneously with seemingly no cause. She was running around fine with the others and when I checked in an hour or two later she was dropped dead. Buried her out back.