Chick appears sleepy and listless

[67bus]

Hi Everyone,

I'm a newbie and this is my first post. We got our 4 chicks 17 days ago. All 4 of them were very healthy until yesterday.

One of the chicks appears to be sleepy. She stands off by herself and her eyes kind of squint closed then she opens then up again. She's not moving around very much and when you go to pick her up she doesn't put up much of a struggle as she normally would. One other action that seems unusual is that sometimes she extends her neck up and acts as if she's trying to swallow. This behavior has been going on for about 24 hours at this point.

I'm wondering if anyone has any suggestions on what this could be and/or what I should do. As this is my first go with pet chickens I'm at a loss.

I read on the disease and sickness board of people feeding plain yogurt and adding cider vinegar to water for grown chickens. Are these things I can give to 17 day old chick?

Thanks in advance for any help or suggestions! I love reading all the posts on this site. Everyone is very friendly!

Bryce

 

[missusduray]

I am sorry I am not much help, I just wanted tosympathize and you might try searching the net for the answer. You can give yougurt and cider vinegar to a chick. Just dilute the vinegar. Also dont give milk, their is to much lactose in it for the birds. Hope that someone has the answer for you.
Kristyne

 

[Equest94]

Quote:
Ok, I have a question... (sorry)... This feeding the chicks yogurt and stuff...how do u do it? You just scoop some in a little bowl and they jut peck at it or is this something that you have to medicine dropper/force feed? I'm just curious.


I'm new to this chicken-thing as well, but I think it would be best if you separated the lathargic one from the others; jsut incase it's a disease. Stick a mild heat lamp on a end of its enclosure for warmth and also stick a mirror and small stuffed animal in there (for faux company) so it doesn't get too lonely. Also try giving the chick sugar water for some energy and also some water with a little gatorade mixed in for electolytes... perhaps that'll help boost her engery up. I'm not really sure though. Good luck.

 

[67bus]

Thanks to both of you! I tried to mix some yogurt with her chick feed but she didn't go for it . the other chicks tried it out though. So I went to the pet food store and bought a syringe and some baby bird formula and ended up force feeding her. I actually mixed the formula with a little bit of her chick food thinking it would be best for her digestive system if the food wasn't completely unusual. She seemed to perk up a bit after this even though she wasn't too happy about the process. She seems very thin at this point. She did make a normal poo about 22 hours into this whole ordeal. She keeps doing this weird swallowing thing though. I'm still not sure what that's about. I'll keep you posted.

Also I tried to isolate her but she was freaking out about being alone so I put her back with the other 3 chicks. I'll take your advide Equest94 about the mirror and faux friend.

Thanks again!

 

[thndrdancr]

It kind of sounds like gapeworm. Have they had worms, earthworms or nightcrawlers? I guess worms can carry a parasite that attaches to the trachea in the throat, and it causes that very same symptom, where they look like they are almost 'yawning'.

I am pretty sure one of my chicks had it, Fenbendazole is one of the treatments if that is it. They say you can see the worms in the back of the throat with a flashlight, some treatments call for trying to "tweeze' the worms out if you can actually see them. It can get bad enuff the chick can no longer breathe, and can die.

I hope thats not it, but it sounds a bit like it.

 

[67bus]

Thanks thndrdancr. Last weekend I let them outside in their run during the warm part of the day. The area they were on was dry and wouldn't have had any earth worms. I saw them all "taste" an earwig but no one ate it. They may have eaten something else.

As I was feeding her again I tried to look in her throat for any worms but didn't see any. Though it's hard to get a good look. If she makes it through the night I'm going to try and get to her to vet tomorrow. I'll suggest the gapeworm possibility.

 

[67bus]

My little Ameraucana made it through the night but I decided to take her to the vet today because she was still doing this weird swallowing thing. The vet took a sample of the liquid in her crop and found a lot of yeast. So she save us some antibiotics to kill the yeast. In addition the antibiotics will kill worms if she has any. I'm hopeful she's going to make it!

 

[Motherhenandflock]

Yeah, Keep on a-peepin' little girl!

 

[dlhunicorn]

Quote:
Antibiotics will worsen a yeast condition (nystatin is the most common med for this not antibiotics!) and certainly will not in anyway have any effect on worms. Are you sure you understood your vet correctly?
When I first read your story about your chick it sounded to me to be one of those common instances where it is not being able to get to feed and drink sufficiently (there is a bully and an underdog in every group) and results in the chick becoming weak and dehydrated. Separate the chick and ensure she gets sufficient fluid and feed (help if necessary by dribbling fluid along side the beak NOT SQUIRTING IT IN WITH A SYRINGE as this will often get down the wrong "tube" into the airways and cause pnuemonia!!!) Add electrolytes to the water (you can get this at your feed store or petstore>ask for bird electrolytes) in a pinch you can use a bit of pediolyte (childrens rehydration) or even a bit of gatorade. Good luck!

ETA: did your vet give you perhaps a sulfa drug to combat coccidia (a protozoan) and is this what you meant by "worms"... are your birds on medicated starter?

 

[67bus]

I'm happy to say that our little chick appears completely back to normal! She's running around and "playing" with the other chicks and seems fiesty as ever. For the yeast infection the vet gave us Panacur to administer once a day for three days. And for potential worms she gave us Fluconazole for 10 days.

I don't know for sure if they are on is medicated. When I picked it up at the feed supply store the person helping wasn't sure. Other then saying it's chick food the sack it comes in is very generic and has very little information other then it's Guaranteed Analysis of content like fat, protein, iron etc. I'm guessing it's not medicated.