Chick was looking lethargic and had a seizure and died. White liquidy poop. :(

[Kennas_Kritters]

I hatched out some chicks that are out in a coop with their mama hen. They were hatched at the end of may. They have a run coming off of the coop with a sandy/grassy bottom. The inside of their coop has hay inside. I came out this morning to find a chick acting lethargic and was kind of just lying down. I picked her up and checked her over and nothing seemed to be out of place other than she was acting weak. I held her for a bit and then she started seizing. Her wings were flapping, her head was rolling around but she was to weak to pick it up. She then passed away after the seizure and she pooped out a liquidy white poop? She was also my favorite chick. I noticed another chick looking just a bit lethargic so I need to figure out what this is! Could it maybe be worms? We hadn't had problems with worms at all until the last couple weeks. We had a couple meat chickens get it and now I'm super worried this could be the problem. I treated the meat chickens and the pen they were in is completely closed off. I had a couple of the meat chicks die but I have 4 left that seem to be doing great now. They had hook worms. Could this be the problem? I treat my chickens with liquid safeguard goat dewormer. How much would I give for a chick at this age? Please help!

 

[Swbertrand1]

It could be worms for sure. We've lost a few to worms over the years, but they didn't seize just before death. Are you sure that wasn't pronation of the body as life passes?

Back to worms though: with other birds having worms (or worse dying from worms), the others are sure to either have them or be at imminent risk of getting them since they feed and drink at the same spots. Passing worms or worm eggs by one chicken makes them available for pickup by another. If it were me, I'd treat the entire flock, which we've done several times. You'll have to research which worming medication works against the worms you have. We use several different wormers as a preventative, the primary one being Diatomaceous Earth in their feed, their bedding, around any feeding areas, and they even get a dust bath in it from time to time to ward off external parasites.

Check stool samples of all your chickens today. Often you'll find worms in the excrement if you have a serious problem. The little one you just lost sounds like a worm case. Years ago, it took us losing three otherwise healthy birds back to back to back before we were able to isolate what was happening with them, and one went from fine to dead in a matter of about 2 hours. We caught on before we lost a fourth bird, and immediately treated the entire flock.

Good luck!