Chick treated for pneumonia not thriving

[kpuerl]

I bought it chicks from the farm store about five weeks ago or so and the day after noticed one check with droopy wings so brought her into the house and gave her a little bit of sugar water to give her some energy she picked up, started eating . The next day I heard crackles when I listened to her I started her on clavamox, brought another chick into the house so she wasn’t on her own, and for the next 2 to 3 weeks treated her in the house,. Her respiratory issue seems resolved. However, she has been limping for over a week and I can find no sores on her feet no swollen joints, no tender joints. She moves her limbs OK and I just don’t know what I can do for her now. The two chicks are back in the barn with the rest of the flock. I often find her laying down, and she’s far smaller than all the rest of the chicks.

 

[LaFleche]

Sometimes chicks just fail to thrive as they can suffer from all kinds of genetic malformations und other effects and deficiencies.

Even a nutritionally diet of the parent stock or inbreeding can lead to sickly chicks.

 

[LaFleche]

The crackling sound you mentioned often stems from the chick aspirating some leftover albumen at hatch which makes it difficult for them to breathe and often leads to respiratory infection.

The prolonged use of antibiotics at such a young age will also contribute to staggered growth as it will not only kill the bacteria in the respiratory system, but also the good ones in the digestive tract required for a proper uptake of the ingested nutrients.

 

[Kiki]

I agree it sounds like she swallowed something and it went down the wrong pipe.

Never force anything in to a chicks mouth. One drop down the wrong pipe will slowly kill it.

Have you ever had to treat any birds in the past for coccidiosis?