Baby chick was doing great.... Now sick and dying?

[connor97]

My little week and a half old chick has been doing great all week, then all of a sudden yesterday, it was lying down on the ground and not getting up to eat with the others, and its eyes were very heavy. Today, he is so weak that he can barley get up and he has just been lying down all day. Is there any hope for him at all ? Can I do something to make him feel better? How could this have happen ? The only thing I can think of is that sometimes they poop in their waterer and maybe they drank so poopy water before I cleaned it out. Another thing I did was feed them some worms from my garden but I have been giving them some little worms since they were like 5 days old and all the other chicks are doing just fine.

 

[friendlyfowl97]

Did you give them grit with the worms? They cannot digest treats properly if they don't have access to grit. Drinking dirty water could have gotten the little one sick too... Sometimes chicks fail to thrive

I've raised some babies that were perfectly fine one week and passed the next. When i see a droopy chick I put a little sugar or electrolytes in the water to try to give them a boost. I hope your chick gets better!

 

[flgardengirl]

Also check his butt and make sure it isn't pasted up so the poo can't come out. If it is, soak his booty in warm water to get it off.

 

[connor97]

I don't think I have grit, I just bought a sack of chick food at the feed store, is there usually grit in that? :C
I'm new too this. Is there anything I can do to help them digest it ? I did notice that after I fed them the worms and some carrot peelings that their poop started to get more runny and it almost looked like they just ate the worm and pooped it right out, the poop was skinny and long just like the worm. I didn't know I hope its not my fault if they all die :C

 

[PiGE0N]

I woulnt recommend feeding them earthworms (assuming thats what your garden had) because they can carry a smaller form of parasites. But people give their chickens cloves of garlic or apple cider vinegar as a preventative, though I'm not sure if baby chicks can have that at that age, ask around. You can feed them little mealworms though. Go to a pet store to find some grit/gravel because they do need that after eating other things than their startergrower feed.
I hope they all do fine.