Few day old chick lethargic and breathing heavily

[peyton233]

I got three new chicks this Thursday to add to my flock and have had them set up in a brooder. All three of them had been doing fine, but early this morning my mom went to check on them and thought one of them (a wyandotte bantam) was dead because she was flopped over on her side barely breathing.

My mom sat with her for nearly an hour having her sip water until I got to their house at which point I set up a hot pad (using a rice sock that is microwaved as it cools) inside and mixed up some plain yogurt and water to start syringe feeding her. This was at about 9am and we have had her inside on her heating pad alternating sips of water and drops of the yogurt mixture.

She had been reacting pretty well and had gone from barely able to move or hold her head up to mostly having her eyes open and readily accepting food and water. At like 4:30 all of a sudden within about 10 minutes she took a turn for the worse and for the last 45 minutes to an hour has been back to being incredibly lethargic and barely able to hold her head up. She hasn't opened her eyes and has stopped accepting food or water, and what I've managed to drip into her mouth she just drips right back out.

I've tried every suggestion I can find online aside from egg yolks because we're out of eggs, but nothing seems to be working. I'm not close enough to any sort of feed store to try and get medicines today unfortunately. I'm honestly not so sure I'm going to be able to help her, but if anyone has any ideas what the issue might be so I can try and make sure the other ones don't get sick as well I would really appreciate it.

For extra info, she doesn't have any nasal discharge and she's been pooping fine throughout the day. There's signs of mites or inhuries of any kind either.

We're doing our best to keep her warm and hydrated and comfortable for now but it's not looking very good

 

[peyton233]

Just an update, she did pass away about half an hour after I posted this I'm still unsure what exactly the issue was, but I did my best to make her as comfortable as possible all day and was holding her and keeping her warm when she passed.

 

[Dr Evy]

Just an update, she did pass away about half an hour after I posted this I'm still unsure what exactly the issue was, but I did my best to make her as comfortable as possible all day and was holding her and keeping her warm when she passed.

I’m so sorry about your chick . I just had something close to what you were describing happen to one of my chicks. Some people that responded to my post said it was failure to thrive. I thought mine was getting better too and then he passed away in my hands the next morning. It was heartbreaking to feel his heart slowly stop beating. You tried your best for your chick though, it’s good she isn’t suffering anymore. I’m sorry for your loss