Baby Chick Drinking Water But Not Eating

[emmsx3]

Hello,

This will be long but I hope you all will bare with me. I have a one month old chick (just made one month on November 13th) and she's been doing really well during her first weeks til now since we have been raising her. Just recently she had an injury when my mom was bringing her in the house cause she usually walks up the stairs by herself and goes through the door. The door just shut on her just right before she could get it and it squished her a bit according to what my mom had told me. The first day she could barely fly but was still walking around and eating. And then around the second day she was doing well. Then a few days after she started to fly around again in the house and could eat and drink on her own. However, this past Wednesday night before Thanksgiving, as my baby chick was in her pen eating her food, my niece accidentally knocked over the heating lamp that was over her and she got really scared and ran around and then flew out. She gets really frightened of it even when we tried moving it away at times or adjusting it.

Moving on, around that same night she started acting odd. She was moving away from my mom when my mom tried to hold her. And when I checked on her again at a later time. Her feet was so cold and she was just standing up sleeping and looked very weak. I put her under the heating plate and kept her warm til the next morning. Then next day comes (Thanksgiving) throughout the whole day she wouldn't eat and we would only just spoon feed her water. And thankfully she kept drinking the water. But she had no appetite to eat (even tried putting water in her chick feed and feeding that to her but she doesn't eat it), she slept the entire day and at times she would lay on her side and sleep, no chirping or anything. At times when she did stand up she would walk but then fall over or roll to the side...Then the worst came when that night she kept jerking her head and at one point she laid on her side and then she started chirping loudly and it looked like she was afraid and she titled her head way back and she was walking while laying on her side and we all thought she had died or was having a seizure..Thankfully she did not die and she stopped and just slept again. But at that point, the water she drank some of it she spat out and her poop is mostly watery (white and a little brown) In the beginning it was normal but now its just water and white since she doesn't eat. But now today we bought her electrolytes since she's still drinking water and we gave her some of that along with regular water. We're hoping that it will give her a little more strength since she's not eating still. Today she is now standing up and she walked a little at times but mostly sleeps while doing so. She now opens her mouth and closes it again and shakes her head. And this whole time she's been sick, she ruffles her feathers. We live in a small town, so the vet we wanted to see is closed so we have to wait til Monday...

I'm trying everything I can to pinpoint what could be wrong with our little chick. We don't know if it was because she was scared because of what happened with the heating lamp. Because she was getting better before then. And I've read that chickens, because they do get scared easily they can die or get a weak heart. Maybe explains why her feet gets cold? No circulation going to her legs? If it could be something she ate? She does eat regular chick feed and we do put a little organic oatmeal and flax seeds that she loves. We did have her on medicated feed before to prevent her from getting coccidiosis. But it was only for a short while. Don't know if maybe she could have worms/parasites now? And is it okay if we leave her under the heating plate at night. Her feet does get cold and we tried wrapping her in a blanket as an alternative but she does tend to get out. Also her vent is clean and there are no signs of bruising anywhere on her. I'm sorry if this is such a long post but I'm trying to make it from start to finish to give out much information I can and I just really don't want her to die. We all love her so much and I'd be so devastated if I lost her especially my mom who spends the most time with her because she's always home alone when we are at work and her grandchildren are at school. Please..any advice or help that anyone may know of what I can do to save/help her I would appreciate so much. Thank you.

 

[emmsx3]

She's just been sleeping most of the day today, spoon fed her water, and she stood up a few times and walked but still off balanced. Also her legs and feet look black and blue. As if theres no circulation going to her legs? Is that a normal color? Her name is Nugget (my little niece named her because she thought of "Chicken Nuggets". The picture I have on my profile was her when she was 2 weeks old.

 

[BDutch]

How awfull. Sorry. Can’t tell you what to do.
But if it was my chick I would not go to a vet. That will give more stress and the vet might not now what to do either. To care, wait and see as long as the chick has no pain seems the right thing to do.
Good luck with your Nugget.

 

[emmsx3]

Above is the last dropping she had tonight. Not sure if anything looks abnormal. But this is the first solid dropping she had. Since yesterday it was all watery.

 

[emmsx3]

How awfull. Sorry. Can’t tell you what to do.
But if it was my chick I would not go to a vet. That will give more stress and the vet might not now what to do either. To care, wait and see as long as the chick has no pain seems the right thing to do.
Good luck with your Nugget.

Thank you...I'm just worried that if she may have Coccidiosis, taking her to the vet and getting it treated asap would help? But at the moment I really don't know what's wrong. And we're just hoping that she'll survive til Monday at least.

 

[glassdragonfly]

Poor Nuggets! You might try some scrambled egg,or tuna. If you could get a small piece in her mouth she might go for it. Homemade electrolytes or some vitamins in the water might help.

 

[Eggcessive]

Welcome to BYC. Where are you located? Do you have any buttermilk or plain yogurt? Would you be able to go buy some Corid liquid or powder at your local feed store, to treat for possible coccidiosis? Pick up a couple of syringes as well in case you need to measure something. Corid dosage is 10 ml (2 tsp) of the liquid, or 1 1/2 tsp of the powder per gallon of water or divide those by 4 to use a quart waterer. The buttermilk or yogurt would be good give her in a small amount to coat her digestive tract, and good for probiotics. You can also mix a little chick feed in water or buttermilk to make it runny and offer that.

 

[Mybackyardpeepers]

How is your baby doing today?

 

[emmsx3]

Welcome to BYC. Where are you located? Do you have any buttermilk or plain yogurt? Would you be able to go buy some Corid liquid or powder at your local feed store, to treat for possible coccidiosis? Pick up a couple of syringes as well in case you need to measure something. Corid dosage is 10 ml (2 tsp) of the liquid, or 1 1/2 tsp of the powder per gallon of water or divide those by 4 to use a quart waterer. The buttermilk or yogurt would be good give her in a small amount to coat her digestive tract, and good for probiotics. You can also mix a little chick feed in water or buttermilk to make it runny and offer that.

Thank you so much. I’m located in a small town in Hawaii. The island I live in is more of the country side than city so we can only get by by so much with the small markets we have. So the place I bought her medicated feed was at an Animal, Garden & Agricultural Shop. A lot of people raise chickens here so they have a bunch of bulk items to sell. I’m going to try and stop by that place today and buy some vitamins to put in her water and see if they have Corid Liquid or powder that you mentioned. If anything, I would have to buy it online and have it sent here, but I know that’ll take awhile, at least a week or more to get here so I'm afraid it won't be here in time if anything I will also buy that plain yogurt too and try that out. If we do have buttermilk, do I feed her just as it is or do I have to dilute it with water? Thank you so much for your help and advice!

 

[emmsx3]

Poor Nuggets! You might try some scrambled egg,or tuna. If you could get a small piece in her mouth she might go for it. Homemade electrolytes or some vitamins in the water might help.

Thank you! We did try some scrambled egg but she would not eat it. I don't know how to get her mouth open since she seems to resist and shake her head. I'm going to try again today and see if I can get some food in her. Going to get some vitamin powder today and we have already bought electrolytes to put in her water and we've been feeding her that every hour yesterday and she's been drinking it so far.