Baby chicken lethargic, droopy wings, can’t hold head up.

[Sunshine Chick]

I feed layer crumbles/pellets with poultry nutribalance and fish meal added in. I also give yogurt and veggie scraps. Free choice grit and eggshell. They are on wood chips with access to an outdoor area penned in with poultry netting, with green stuff to forage.

Noticed this evening a baby chicken wanted to lay down a lot. She could walk around okay, she just seemed tired. She was able to walk to the feeder and eat some, and the waterer and drink some, but then she wanted to lay down. She didn’t eat nearly as much as she usually does.

Now she seems almost incapable of lifting her head at all. She quietly chirps just a bit, but not much. She lets me pick her up and hold her without fuss, which is unlike her. She can stand a little bit, but not long. She can flap her wings if she really wants down. She can move both of her legs. Her eyes are open and she seems alert when I’m making noise or touching her, but she doesn’t move her head much. Her poops look normal to me.

I put the proper amount of corid in her water (as recommended here), and gave her 1 ml by dropper. What else should I do? Any idea what this is? It reminds me of how another hen acted a couple of months ago. I treated her with corid for coccidiosis, and she recovered very quickly.

 

[SmiYa0126]

Her poo looks normal, can you give her nutri drench and raw yolk. Also if you have a b complex vitamin crush it into the yolk.

 

[Iluveggers]

If that is a young pullet, she should not eat layer feed or eggshell until she is close to laying. Do you have all-flock or starter/grower you could feed her? I had one chick with coccidosis last year, and I would feed her wet mash (dry food mixed with water), but I used water with Corid to make it instead of regular water.

If you are treating with Corid, DO NOT give Vitamin B complex until AFTER their treatment. Corid inhibits Vitamin B1, and you will negate it working if you give them together.

Egg yolk is a great addition for a weak chick, plain greek yogurt is as well. You can mix the Corid wet mash in with either:

How many other chickens do you have, and are they all the same age?

 

[Kiki]

Stop all treats/scraps and get her off layer feed and on to chick feed first.

How old is she?
Do you have Marek's disease in your flock?

 

[Sunshine Chick]

If that is a young pullet, she should not eat layer feed or eggshell until she is close to laying. Do you have all-flock or starter/grower you could feed her? I had one chick with coccidosis last year, and I would feed her wet mash (dry food mixed with water), but I used water with Corid to make it instead of regular water.

If you are treating with Corid, DO NOT give Vitamin B complex until AFTER their treatment. Corid inhibits Vitamin B1, and you will negate it working if you give them together.

Egg yolk is a great addition for a weak chick, plain greek yogurt is as well. You can mix the Corid wet mash in with either:

How many other chickens do you have, and are they all the same age?

Thank you.
She’s about 6 1/2 weeks old. In the same pen are 9 others her age, and the broody hen who hatched them. There are 14 hens and one rooster, varied ages, in the pen right next to theirs. The babies are still small enough to be able to squeeze through the fence to visit them.

 

[Sunshine Chick]

Stop all treats/scraps and get her off layer feed and on to chick feed first.

How old is she?
Do you have Marek's disease in your flock?

6 1/2 weeks old. I don’t know if I have merek’s in my flock or not. I gave CORID water, and the little one recovered within 24 hours. I continued giving her that water as recommended, I think 5 days.

 

[BelovedBirds]

Thank you.
She’s about 6 1/2 weeks old. In the same pen are 9 others her age, and the broody hen who hatched them. There are 14 hens and one rooster, varied ages, in the pen right next to theirs. The babies are still small enough to be able to squeeze through the fence to visit them.

I would suggest putting better mesh up, you absolutely do not want these babies getting into the adult pen and mixing with a rooster.

 

[BelovedBirds]

I feed layer crumbles/pellets with poultry nutribalance and fish meal added in. I also give yogurt and veggie scraps. Free choice grit and eggshell. They are on wood chips with access to an outdoor area penned in with poultry netting, with green stuff to forage.

Noticed this evening a baby chicken wanted to lay down a lot. She could walk around okay, she just seemed tired. She was able to walk to the feeder and eat some, and the waterer and drink some, but then she wanted to lay down. She didn’t eat nearly as much as she usually does.

Now she seems almost incapable of lifting her head at all. She quietly chirps just a bit, but not much. She lets me pick her up and hold her without fuss, which is unlike her. She can stand a little bit, but not long. She can flap her wings if she really wants down. She can move both of her legs. Her eyes are open and she seems alert when I’m making noise or touching her, but she doesn’t move her head much. Her poops look normal to me.

I put the proper amount of corid in her water (as recommended here), and gave her 1 ml by dropper. What else should I do? Any idea what this is? It reminds me of how another hen acted a couple of months ago. I treated her with corid for coccidiosis, and she recovered very quickly.

definitely get her off of layers pellets and egg shells. Her poop looks normal, but is it possible she has gotten into something toxic?

 

[Sunshine Chick]

I would suggest putting better mesh up, you absolutely do not want these babies getting into the adult pen and mixing with a rooster.

That isn’t an option right now. He’s always been perfectly nice to them, so I’m not worried. The hens are a bigger concern, to be honest. Some of them are kinda snots. But the little ones know which hens to avoid.

 

[Sunshine Chick]

definitely get her off of layers pellets and egg shells. Her poop looks normal, but is it possible she has gotten into something toxic?

The corid treatment seems to have worked.
Unless it’s a weed they aren’t supposed to eat that I’m unaware of, no. There isn’t anything toxic they could get into.
I don’t feed them eggshells, it’s just what’s available for the hens.