Chick stumbling around after being pecked-no visible injuries-help!

[lizage]

One of my chicks got pecked at by some of the others. Luckily, my MIL swung by to refresh their water (it's in the mid-90's here) and found her getting pecked at. She took her out and put her in the run (the others are in the coop where it's cool) alone (which has plenty of grass and she put a bowl of water out). At the time, my MIL said she wouldn't walk or get up. When I got home (2 hrs later) I checked her out and there was no sign of injuries, blood, etc. and she was up and moving around so I put her back in the coop and watched her. None of the others bothered her and she dove her head into the chick feed right away. She has been wobbly on her feet (drunk-like walk) ever since and has been eating and drinking a lot. She pants every now and again as the others do, but nothing major. The others are out in the run now and she is in the coop with a couple of her (timid) buddies.

Should I worry about the drunken walking? Do I need to be worried about her being pecked at again with no visible signs of injury/blood? The chicks are 6.5 wks old (16 total, two roos) and I have never seen one act of aggression yet. Is this normal at this age to start? FYI, she is eating and drinking and even dustbathing in the coop...

 

[chickensarefamily2me]

She may be stunned, but I would definatly watch her. I had a chicken get pecked on the head, hard. No blood, nothing except not walking for a while. She was dead the next morning. Keep a close eye on her, and keep us updated.

 

[lizage]

Anyone else?

Seems to have not changed overnight (for the better or worse). I can't decide now if she had a stumbling problem and that's why she was getting picked on or the other way around. The other chicks seems to be leaving her alone as far as I can tell.

 

[Happy Chooks]

What breed of chicken is it? I know that chicks with vaulted skulls are more likely to be damaged if pecked in the head.

 

[lizage]

She's a red something-or-other (New Hampshire or Isa Brown). The picture below was taken of her over the weekend.

She also had a very 'watery' sac (crop?) below her throat, in front of her chest yesterday. Felt like a small water balloon. It was big enough that you could just barely notice it sticking out (compared to the other chicks). I tried feeling some of my other chickens and couldn't feel anything similar. She had been eating and I don't know what a crop is supposed to feel like.

I researched almost everything last night and couldn't find anything that seemed to really fit (marek's, botulism, sour crop, ear infection, etc.). I (tried) smelling her breath, checked her ears, etc. and found nothing out of the ordinary.

The only thing that seems to make the most sense is if she got jumped on and injured? The chicks have been stuck in their coop since they moved there a week and a half ago (just finished their run last night and it was cooler to keep them in the coop anyways) and are jumping off their roosts all over each other, but like I said, I have not seen any 'intentional' aggressive behavior (even with my alpha Roo).

 

[beverly0223]

Is it just me? Why do all these threads seem to end cold? no resolution... I feel like I'm only getting "page 1 of 5" or something! I'm having similar trouble with a similar little hen, and each thread I've thought looked promising has dead-ended on me... Am I seeing this wrong?

 

[NovaAman]

Hey Beverly, yes, sometimes they do. Believe it or not, its cuz no one really has a definite answer. The original poster, I would have told her to poultry drench the pullet. AND to let them out of the coop. When birds are cooped up for too long, they can become aggressive and usually go after the least on the pecking order. There may just be too many birds in the coop. A lot of prefab coops will say they fit a certain amount of birds, when that really is not the case, or only the case if you are letting the birds free range ALL DAY and they only use the coop for sleeping and laying. If you are keeping the birds locked in the coop with no run access, or only run access when you get to it, you will have bored birds. Bored birds can get aggressive. The picked on get hurt. A good heck pecking can cause a dead bird... Kinda like shaking a baby... Anyway...