Chick woes - constipation and seizures....advice/opinions please! :(

[vigibigi]

Two totally seperate queries this time, I'll start with the most relevant;

One of my chicks, 10 days old, has had trouble pooing for the last 5(ish) days. I noticed at first he had dry poo over the vent and couldn't push anything through. we've been bathing him everyday gently and it seemed to have been helping him push something through, but his bum keeps drying up again and not improving. I've just given him a fairly good wash, although I'm always very scared of hurting the tiny thing.
He's much smaller now than his brothers who hatched on the same day, and since this morning he's lost a bit of sparkle from his eyes. He's also had his wings dropped out and down to the sides, which i know is never a good sign, thats been for at least 4 days now. I'm very worried we're going to lose him, and would like any ideas on how to keep him going! TO begin with i tried adding a drop of olive oil to water and mashed up crumb, which they liked, but it would dry up and turn hard so they couldnt eat it after not too long. Eggs also ive been feeding them (which they LOVE) as our food is lower protein than it should be....As for temperature they have a range so its not that he can't escape the heat! any help would be much much appreciated! thank you

Secondly, we lost one chick two days ago in a very very strange way, I wonedered if anyone else had experienced anything similar

Now this chick was noticeably bigger than the others in his batch, which made me think he was doing well, however i noticed him lying on the floor with his neck in a funny position and when i went to tap him he didnt move (very unusual as they usually go mad jumping around) so i watched him for a while. He began fitting, it seemed. At first we though his neck was broken because we was writhing around rolling his neck all over the place, staring at us, flapping his little wings scarily slowly and then stopping, shutting his eyes and breathing, resting i suppose, but unable to move. His little legs were bolt straight the whole time and his toes pointed. I looked it up on here and most people said theirs had lasted around 30 seconds, ours lasted 3HOURS!! i was hoping he'd snap out of it but in the end the poor thing died. it was absolutely heartbreaking to watch the poor thing strugle and not being able to help - what was this?!?! some kind of seizure?? So so strange.
Could it be down to inbreeding?? His parents came from the same place, athough his mother was brown and his father italian...? Or is it just a birth defect that cant be avoided every so often??

Thanks again, would love to know what everybody thinks...

 

[TwoCrows]

For the first problem....the poop. Try adding probiotics to the water to help the digestive tract and see what that does. You might also add some electrolytes or vitamins to the water as well to help over all health. Try coating the hard boiled eggs in yogurt for the good bacteria. Eggs are emergency food for birds and if you have too, feed these exclusively to this little guy until he gets back on his feet.

As for the second condition, many times chicks are born with neurological issues. Quite common. It happens for many reasons and unless you actually had a necropsy done on him, you might never know what happened.

 

[vigibigi]

Thank you! ill go and get him some yoghurt today. i forgot to mention in the first post how weak he's acting. he keeps stumbling over and when he falls on his back he cant get up perhaps if i got hold of some vits or electrolytes this may help him sort himself out, do you think?? Thanks again

 

[TwoCrows]

Many times the ones that flip over on their backs don't make it. However that doesn't mean yours won't! So vitamins and some sort of probiotic will definitely help. Good luck with the little guy.

 

[TinkleCottage]

Not sure about your first chick, hope yoghurt helps him! We've found that giving a vitamin supplement helps perk them all up in general, so I always give one for the first week now in their water.
The second chick sounds like water on the brain, often seen in big chicks or breeds of chicken with a crest. Polish are particularly prone. Nothing much you can do I'm afraid, it's best to end it quickly or they just keep fitting and falling over and get attacked by the others. It's a bit like epilepsy, some genetic predisposition sometimes, but you can just be unlucky too .