Chick dazed and confused

[Bird Brain]

I have an EE chick about 6 weeks old that cannot seem to stand up for long. Its almost like this chick is intoxicated. I have seperated it and brought it inside. It eats and drinks. Sometimes when I check on it it is laying on its back. What's up with my chick?

 

[meriruka]

I would check to make sure he hasn't gotten into anything moldy or poisonous, check the feed to make sure it's fresh. If you rule all that out, maybe try some poultry vitamins and/ or electrolytes.

 

[Renee]

Sometimes chicks just fail to thrive.

You can get some PolyViSol liquid baby vitamins (no iron) or a generic equivalent and give your chickie three drops on the beak three times a day, tapering off after about three days. Sometimes it is a vitamin B deficiency.

If you think the chick is sick, you may want to separate it from the healthy chicks.

 

[Bird Brain]

I seperated it Saturday with one chick for company. I have it polyvisol then. Since then it seems to have improved. I will check again when I get home from work.

 

[threehorses]

Quote:
If you find an improvement in this one bird, then it's likely that your entire flock might have a slight vitamin deficiency with only this one bird presenting symptoms. Alternately maybe this baby didn't absorb as well.

Can you tell us what type of feed you're feeding at the moment? Also make sure that it's fresh, fresh enough to where when you smell it you smell good fresh ingredients. It shouldn't be overly powdery and shouldn't smell of cardboard. Also it's best to use feed within 2 weeks, but at least within the month.

It wouldn't hurt to put all the babies on a vitamin/mineral supplement for poultry for four to five days and then taper off.

Additionally, I would give all the babies a dose of yogurt daily for a week and then taper off. The milk product is a source of riboflavin, and the living bacteria within the yogurt help to colonize the gut with more of the same bacteria they already have in there (lactobacilli). The beneficial bacteria will help keep your birds more resistant to digestive issues as well as helping them more efficiently use the nutrients in their feeds.

 

[Bird Brain]

Poor chick is still intoxicated. They were on dumor chick starter but I got medicated feed from the co op and they started on that about 2 days before I found the chick this way

 

[threehorses]

How about that new feed - could it have been made improperly? When something like that happens after a feed change, I discontinue the feed. Is it only that chick? Is he at all better? Can you start it on vitamin E and B? E would be a 400IU capsule, slit the end give the guy 2-3 drops from the capsule. One a day. PolyViSol isn't very high in E, and is one of the more safe oil vitamins to give and is for neurological issues. I'd try that. The vitamins are inexpensive, get the human kind from Walmart or something therelike.

 

[Bird Brain]

Only the one chick. I'm at work at Walgreens so I will try the other vitamins. Seemed better then earlier still couldn't pass a sobriety test.

 

[threehorses]

Quote:
LOL I like the way you put that. It puts a vision in my mind of him trying to drive a little chicken sized car. I'm glad he seemed a little better anyway. Maybe this will help push him to the next progression point.

 

[AK Michelle]

Some of those sobriety tests are hard. I'd have to study...