Chick has air and “jell” in puffy crop

[Mebrou]

File this away for future use. This is the amoxicillin dose for a two-month old half grown chicken. I would halve the adult dose of 250mg which would be 125mg per day. The pills are gel caps so twist one 250mg capsule open and dump out the powder. Divide in half. That gives you two days worth. You will treat for ten days.

Take one half, 125mg and mix it into a tiny amount of applesauce, yogurt, or coconut oil. use only a small amount because you want to be sure the chick takes it all. You can give it all at once or divide the 125mg into two doses and give one in the morning and the second in the evening. This is more efficacious than once a day, but busy people can safely give just the one dose of 125mg. It's what I do, and the sick chick still recovers okay.

By the time this chick is four months old, if you need to treat it with this antibiotic, it will be nearly full size then and will require the adult dose of 250mg per day for ten days.

Is that clear? The only immediate danger of not getting the dosage correct is that you may not give an adequate amount and it won't work. It's better to err on the side of too much than not enough.

To repeat, the chick doesn't need treating at this time. We still need to confirm there is a problem.

Okay, I’ll keep monitoring before making any further decisions (or freaking out lol). Thank you sooo much!!

 

[Mebrou]

Okay, I’ll keep monitoring before making any further decisions (or freaking out lol). Thank you sooo much!!

Well, there were more sheddings when I checked this morning. Probably about the same amount as yesterday. Maybe a tad less. I forgot to mention that a week or so ago ACV was placed in the main water bucket that she drinks from. Found mixed info online about it for chicks: mostly good, but a few saying bad for chicks’ intestines. Wondering if that could be the culprit. Unfortunately, as I mentioned, I only recently started to pay closer attention. Another finding this morning, she weighs slightly less (~half an ounce) than yesterday. I did however find a large stool under her roost. Too big to be hers but too small to be any of the adults roosting next to her. So I’m wondering if she actually passed it. There were no white urates which is consistent with her droppings, that’s why I’m wondering if it was hers. Could explain slight drop in weight. Anyhow, I’m going to monitor for a few more days and see how she does before taking next steps. Thank you!!!

 

[azygous]

Good observation skills. Keep it up.

You're right to keep watching for now. It's troubling that the shed lining has reappeared again so soon.

Drop the ACV. It's of dubious value. Recently I was giving it to my flock in their water to supplement gleet treatment. I found that it caused very soupy stools. The day after I discontinued it, the flock stools all reverted back to more or less solid except for the one hen I suspected of gleet the most. ACV is very high in acid, and feeding fermented feed with ACV in the water is too much acid. ACV may be behind this chick's irritated intestines.

 

[Mebrou]

Good observation skills. Keep it up.

You're right to keep watching for now. It's troubling that the shed lining has reappeared again so soon.

Drop the ACV. It's of dubious value. Recently I was giving it to my flock in their water to supplement gleet treatment. I found that it caused very soupy stools. The day after I discontinued it, the flock stools all reverted back to more or less solid except for the one hen I suspected of gleet the most. ACV is very high in acid, and feeding fermented feed with ACV in the water is too much acid. ACV may be behind this chick's irritated intestines.

Hello- here’s an update: the three other chicks, approximately 5 weeks old, started shedding as well (also hen-hatched and unvaccinated). I started all four of them on Corid but there hasn’t been much of an improvement. It appears Piglet (now 7.5 weeks old) has had a slight decrease in shedding but hard to confirm. Her crop issue hasn’t improved. The water is still sitting in her crop when she drinks, thus ballooning throughout the day. It does still empty overnight which is good but it doesn’t allow room for enough food intake. I’m also afraid it’s being stretched so much that she may end up with pendulous crop. She’s still gaining a tad bit of weight each day because I feed her eggs with a bit of yogurt and cheese. I also douse it in olive oil in case there is a partial blockage somewhere. This is in addition to her organic starter mash and free ranging all day. She’s up to 14.22 ounces on an empty crop. Only gained 2.72oz in 7 days. Not sure if that’s a normal rate or not. I haven’t weighed the others as their crops are completely normal and they don’t exhibit any troubling symptoms aside from the shedding. At this point, do you recommend the amoxicillin? Or anything else? I was considering X-rays for Piglet to rule out a blockage. Truly appreciate your help and guidance!

 

[azygous]

Do you suspect coccidiosis? Is there diarrhea in the flock? Are any puffed up and lethargic. standing around in one spot doing nothing? If none of these symptoms are present, Corid will accomplish zero since all it does is to block thiamine (B1).

Unless there are serious symptoms of sick chickens, we don't recommend antibiotics, either. I would just keep doing what you've been doing. Any small improvement is good.

 

[Mebrou]

Do you suspect coccidiosis? Is there diarrhea in the flock? Are any puffed up and lethargic. standing around in one spot doing nothing? If none of these symptoms are present, Corid will accomplish zero since all it does is to block thiamine (B1).

Unless there are serious symptoms of sick chickens, we don't recommend antibiotics, either. I would just keep doing what you've been doing. Any small improvement is good.

I read a lot of posts that recommended Corid with the shedding so I thought I’d give it a try. No other chickens appear ill but they’re all vaccinated. All four chicks shed lining in their stools each night which alarmed me. I don’t believe any of our 35+ others did that (again, all are vaccinated). The three 5-week olds act 100% normal so I’m not as concerned. I was mostly trying to treat Piglet. I may just take her for X-rays to at least rule out or confirm a blockage. I can’t seem to find any other similar cases here so I’m at a loss at this point