chick weird started at night seemed better in day bad at night again

[uplate]

We got our first chicks 3/23, they all seemed well at the feed store and we were told the 3 light brahams were about a week old. Last night one of them suddenly started going crazy scratching at its ear, flopping about, and screaming cheeping.

We read here on the BYC forums and called a friend for ideas. Thinking it might be mites even though we didn't see anything, we put olive oil on the ears and neck, held it to keep it warm since it seemed a bit cool, and rubbed its ears (it seemed to like that), and it calmed down and slept. We discovered that its crop was quite large compared to the other 2 same breed chicks and it seemed irritated if it was touched near it. We read about impacted crop and thought perhaps it was this too. We gave it some warm water with a bit of apple cider vinegar in it. We massaged it's crop. We gave it some yogurt with olive oil added. It seemed to like all that and rested. About an hour later, it's crop was smaller, it wasn't scratching and it seemed do be doing well. We put it in clean bedding in a box separate from the other new chicks. We and it went to sleep.
Today, we checked on it right away and it seemed to be doing well. It had good looking poop, seemed quite active, was eating and drinking well, and not scratching. Throughout the day it looked fine.
About 10pm, it suddenly went crazy screaming, scratching, flopping about, and again it seemed to have a very large crop again.

those 2 unrelated(in our minds) symptoms again. We read that rubbing alcohol might kill mites so in case that was part of the problem we q-tip bathed it in that and then kept it warm by holding it and putting a heating pad under it. It still intermittently went crazy trying to scratch and flop around. We again gave it warm water with a bit of apple cider vinegar in it. We massaged it's crop. We put olive oil on the ears and neck, held it and rubbed its ears. It calmed down and slept but if we stopped running it's ears it woke up and if we move our hands away it immediately starts scratching & screaming.

We so don't know what else to do

. We can't sleep with it in our hands.
We got these chicks for eggs and pets and this isn't a good start to our chicken adventure. We hope someone is still up and can give us some ideas.

 

[Ducklove334]

I'm not an expert by any means,but it seems you may have one VERY spoiled chick on your hands, the large crop I'm not sure about. but maybe it likes the attention, and knows it gets it when it makes a fuss??

I had a cat like that once, he got hurt once, something eith his paw, once he was well and healed, whenever he wanted attention he'd start screaming and dragging the once hurt paw around like he couldn't move it until I'd love on him, then he'd walk off like "hee hee, Sucker"

 

[silkiechicken]

It is usually normal for chicks and adults to fill up their crops all the way before bed time, so as long as it is running around and eating, it should be fine. As for the screaming, some chicks are just wild little buggers that will go off just because. Had one who would stand behind the waterer and yell like it was lost.

As long as you have them at like 85F and they aren't cold or huddling under the light, they should be gobbling up their starter and not need anything extra. I wouldn't worry too much.

Welcome and good luck!

 

[uplate]

It made it through the night. We'll see how today goes.

This is not a spoiled chick. This was a chick in pain. It also isn't the
'help I'm lost' loud peeping. This was a frantic crazy scratching at its ear, flopping about, and screaming chick.

So far today it is doing a lot of 'help I'm lost" peeping and seems interested in getting to the other chicks in the other box. I have not seen it eat today but I have only had a few minutes to check so far. I have seen it drink and it does this motion that is different than the other chicks and raises it's head way up and stretches out it's neck to swallow. I will get back in there in a couple minutes and watch it some more.

 

[JennsPeeps]

Oh boy, this sounds traumatic for you and the chick, whatever it is. How is the chick this afternoon?

 

[uplate]

She was sleeping ok this AM, eating and drinking a little. One of our other chicks escaped this AM and got in the box with her and was cuddling with her. We moved it back into the other box. Perhaps we are humanizing it but it seemed like it didn't like that the other chick was over there alone.
This afternoon we had to leave for a few hours for a couple classes the kids had and when we returned she had passed away.

In our Logical minds we realize that not all chicks make it but we are still sad. It is hard when this is our first chicks and we felt so helpless to really help her.
We are hoping the others stay healthy and that the short time the other chick was over there it didn't get anything from her.

Thanks for listening and Thank you to those that took a minute to reply.
V

 

[MoodyChicken]

Crazy Chick Disease maybe? Causes trembling and seizures. Take it to a vet and have him cut open its skull. If the brain is green and mushy, that's the problem. I'm so sorry though! That's really baffling.

 

[Judy]

I read and followed this thread because I had no idea what was wrong.... If you find out anything, please let us know.

Sorry for the loss. Does not sound like you could have changed anything.

 

[JennsPeeps]

My condolences to you & your family. This is a terrible way to start your chicken-owning adventure.

It sounds like this little baby had some sort of birth defect and that you couldn't have saved it. I'm glad that it had the other chick with it to keep it company.

 

[uplate]

Thank you all for your kind words.

I will check with a vet in the morning and see if there is any test they can do to give us an idea what the cause was. At least it might help someone else if something comes of it.

V