I have a Dominique chick that hatched on Monday, I recieved her Wednesday along with 14 other chicks. Wednesday evening I noticed she wasn't eating, drinking, or walking more than a couple steps unless other chicks were bumping into her. She just stood in one area like she was in a daze. We picked her up and dipped her beak in water and she did drink, but then we noticed her eyes weren't ever open. We dipped her in the food but she wouldn't eat. We did get her to take a couple drinks of sugar water that night. Thursday I saw she had pasty butt, so I held her and spent a while cleaning her. As I held her while she dried off, I saw her open her eyes and she acted like it was the first time she'd done that. I put her back in the brooder. She slowly walked back to the heat lamp area, stood there a minute, then started peeping loudly, and then walked directly to the feeder and started eating! I was relieved. She still isn't acting quite like the others, but is walking around, eating, drinking, and scratching some. But now I noticed when she takes a drink, and lifts her head up to swallow, afterward she stumbles backward quite a bit and often ends up falling down. Anyone know what causes this? I'm afraid she's not drinking enough since she has this problem whenever she does drink.
If you can get some vitamin/electrolytes from your farm store to put in the water. Homemade electrolyte solutions are here online. She is probably showing stress from shipping. Click here: http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2012/07/chicken-heat-stress-dehydration-and.html
