Chick Stopped Eating and Drinking?

[AccentOnHakes]

I haven't seen one of my EE's eat or drink on her own all day! I only have 4 chicks, so I know I'm not mixing up some chicks. I've had them for exactly a week, so it's not stress or anything. She eats like she's starving if I feed her chick crumbles out of my hand, and will peck at them if I drop them on the ground. I tried showing her food in the feeder--no luck, even though the other 3 are happily pecking away. I did see her peck a bit at the pine shavings, could she be accidentally eating them? I dipped her beak in water a couple times, she's not drinking, either. She was one of the most active(first or second to eat and drink after I got them). What could be going on?

 

[FMAFarms]

It's always possible that your chick could be ingesting pine shavings, since chicks will peck at anything. If that's the case, she's not going to be eating or drinking much because the shavings will expand inside her. We lost a chick to this recently, so you might want to isolate her and give her plenty of water -- eyedropper her if possible -- until she poops on her own. Once she's able to do that, she should be able to eat just fine.

If she is still refusing to eat or drink, you may want to observe her interactions with the other chicks. It's possible that she's been designated the low-rank chick and she is simply the last to eat or drink. This is awfully young for pecking order to be designated, but who says chicks read the rules?

Good luck... keep us posted!

 

[CityGal / CountryWorld]

Maybe get her some chick grit, i got some at my local tractor supply it can help break up
the shavings if she did injest some... i put my babies on newspaper for the first week or two
until they figure out what is food.

 

[AccentOnHakes]

I got her to drink some water by putting my finger in the water then lifting it up, she drank off my finger. I'll try to explain the way my brooder is set up. It's made from two printer boxes taped together, with a towel laid over it. On top of the towel is 2-3 layers of newspaper. There's a shoe box with pine shavings in it, and a shoe box with dirt in it.

I took her out earlier today and she did poop. The poops looked normal, but she pooped twice in the span of about 3 minutes. Right now, she is in with the other chicks.

There's plenty of space around the feeder as it's a three pound feeder and there are only four chicks. She just doesn't seem to want to eat or drink--if I set her down near the feeder or waterer, she heads back to the box of shavings under the lamp. She will eat and drink from my hand, though.

 

[speakup4kids]

Is she acting otherwise normal? Are you maybe not seeing her eating? If she is pooping, she is eating something… Mine tend to eat a ton at night. Don't know why but they are nocturnal little snots

 

[AccentOnHakes]

She just pooped again. It was a very small poop, but looked very poop-ish. By that, I mean that it was brown with a clear shape and a white cap. I also got her to drink a bit of water on her own, but not from the waterer; I gave it to her in a small plastic cup.

Also, they range in age because they are from the feed store, but she is the 2nd oldest, from what looks can say.

 

[AccentOnHakes]

This morning, I saw her eat from the feeder.

Haven't seen her drink yet. Fed her about five drops of water from my finger.

 

[AccentOnHakes]

UPDATE:

Put water and a tiny bit of crumbles in the plastic cup they kind of associate with treats. She drank(by herself out of the cup) then went back to sleep.

I really want her to drink out of the waterer at which point I will be pretty sure she's okay.

Other than that, she's just a bit sleepier than normal, still running around and chirping.

 

[AccentOnHakes]

Held her until she pooped. The poo was pretty soft, but not gloppy. Still held its shape when I picked it up and put in into the brooder(she pooped onto the carpet).