curious

[curious0205]

Hi,byc chicken lovers. I ordered some Delaware and rose comb brown leghorns ( I know a mouthful right.) from a hatchery. I received them on June first. My boys love them, but then again who wouldn't love fluffy baby chicks. Anyway the boys have been sitting in the hutch getting to know them. Two of the Delawares decided that they like my older son. He goes in the hutch and sits and waits for them to come up to him.They walk up look at him and then jump on him. As they sit and perch on his knee they peck at his face and eyes. So he has named them curious and curious Jr..

Now I have a big problem.I hate to just throw this at you, but I have a serious problem. I walked into the chicken hutch yesterday and found one of the leghorns laying on its right side not able to get up and his eye lids turned blue. I brought it in the house and have been hand feeding and giving it water using a syringe. How often should I feed and water it? Help!!! What do I do now?

I also have a leghorn that won't grow. It is the size of a baby chick that is a week old. What should I do with this baby chick?

 

[Yorkshire Coop]

Hi

Glad you could join the flock! Great to hear your chicks are friendly and tame and like your boys. It makes life so much easier when they are friendly. Sorry to hear about your sick leghorn

Does it have any other symptoms of illness? Has it got up yet or is it still on its side? Food and water should be given as often as you can so it does not become dehydrated. Have you got some save a chick or something similar to add to its water? This could help give it a boost. Please do post in the emergencies injuries disease and cure section of the forum, giving as much detail as you can and a pic really helps too. Here is the link ~ https://www.backyardchickens.com/f/10/emergencies-diseases-injuries-and-cures

As for your other leghorn if it's eating and drinking and acting normal I would not be too worried. Birds even of the same breed can grow at differing rates. I've had it with my polish, chicks that have hatched from the same have had differing rates of growth.

Wishing you the very best of luck with them in the future, I hope you are able to get your poorly one well again soon

 

[BantamFan4Life]

Welcome to BYC! I'm glad you joined us!

 

[drumstick diva]

Yes, please do post on the emergencies thread. Has the chick that is laying on it's side, been dropped or injured in some way? If you handle him, does he react in pain? I may be way off base, but, he may have internal injuries (blue eye lids etc.)

The tiny chick, could be a bantam breed or as they say "failure to thrive,". Does it eat and drink well, is it active with the others.

I want to mention chicks/chickens are attracted to shiny objects like eyes, earrings etc. It's not good to have them close enough to peck at eyes - either wear safety glasses, or don't let them near faces.

 

[curious0205]

Sorry I didn't get back sooner. Life got a little hectic. Thank you for the advise, it has helped. We have named her miracle, because we think it is a miracle she is still alive. The only things that I can see is she is weak and very tired. We have propped her up with clean rags so she is pretty much lying down correctly. Although she does still stick her feet and legs off to the left of her body. The other thing that I have observed is she has an uncontrollable shake with her head sometimes. It only lasts for a few seconds. I picked her up and tried to feed her by bringing the food and putting it in front of her. She actually started to eat from the food bowl and drinking the water. Which I think is a great feat. After she has rested for a while I pick her up and try to get her to stand up. She is now standing, but is having a hard time keeping her balance. She still wants to fall over to the right, but she catches herself and tries to keep balance upright. After she is done feeding she comes over for me to pick her up. As soon as she settles she immediatly goes right to sleep. I hold her for awhile then put her back in her bed. I even cover with a rag blanket so she stays warm. I don't a have save a chick, but I do have Quick Chik viatmins and electrolytes for poultry. We will see how it goes. I will update you on her progress.

The other leghorn is doing well very healthy. I will try to get some pics.

One more thing can chickens have heat stroke? I am wondering if that is what happened because the temp here has gotten up 102-104 degrees and the heat index has gotten up to 117. I looked up on many websites to find out what the symptoms are for heat stroke.My chickens have had some of the symptoms. So, it makes me wonder if it is heat stroke. I did get a good piece of advise and that is to keep a cool bucket of water close by. So, if they start having symptoms to dunk the chickens up to their necks in cool water to cool them down. We did it and it worked. They did emphasize cool water only and to dunk them up to their necks.

Again thank you for the advise

 

[curious0205]

The chick that was laying on its side that I found when handle it cried out in pain. I don't think it was dropped I thought that it had gotten injured in some way. So we put clean rags around it and made it as comfortable as we could. We named the chick miracle, because she is up and running around chasing after my son. Miracle follows him where ever he goes. I went to the emergencies thread and the person who responded was very helpful. Although I found a second leghorn laying on it's right side as well, but this one isn't going to make it.My sis-n-law said it is neurological, that it is aspirating and there is nothing I can do.It is heart breaking not be able to do anything about it.

The small baby chick is eating and drinking without any problem. It just isn't growing like the others. Yorkshire Coop said that the baby chicks will grow at different rates. Yorkshire Coop said as long as it is thriving I shoudn't worry to much.

About the chicks pecking at his eye we don't let them do it anymore.

Thank you for help and support