Baby Chick Won't Stand Up

[jbrandon12]

I purchased 11 baby chicks about 24 hours ago. They are in a large wooden box with food, water, and a heat lamp. A few hours ago I noticed that one chick seemed very lethargic. I watched her for a while and she tried to stand up but fell over. One of her wings is stuck out while she is laying down and she won't stop chirping. All of the other chickens seems healthy and are running around. Is there anything I can do for her? I'm afraid if she's sick with a virus or bacteria it will spread to the other chickens. Should she be isolated?

 

[AmeliaBedelia]

Maybe take her out and give her some electrolyte solution if you bought it or sugar water if you didn't. Also mix some of the chick food with water to make it like oatmeal and feed it to her. She may perk up after some food and water - maybe she didn't figure out where it was. If not, she may be injured or sick.

 

[rosemarythyme]

If she has any sort of illness the others are already exposed so no reason to remove her. But if these are these very young chicks (< 1 week old) from a major hatchery, I doubt it's any sort of virus or bacteria, as it'd take weeks for most illnesses to show, and biosecurity should be pretty tight for chicks sourced that way.

If you do need to separate her for her own protection, I'd build a little safe area into the brooder so she can still see the other chicks.

I would get some Poultry Nutri-Drench and dose her directly, as well as have some mixed into the drinking water. Some hard boiled egg yolk might be a good supplement to her feed if she's not eating well since it has all the nutrition a chick needs.

 

[AmeliaBedelia]

Oh, yes, sorry. Didn't mean to say separate her permanently. Just to take her out for a special feeding session. Sorry if that was unclear, and very glad rosemarythyme clarified and added more info!