Have a sick / tired one... Doesn't sound good.

[Panhandler80]

Wife just called. They all went in the brooder about 2 hours ago. All are very active and are eating / drinking. All but one. He's laying down and is breathing, but the other chicks are picking at him pretty fierce. He'll get up, plop right back down, and they they come back to picking. I suggested putting him in his own smaller box at that same distance (where he plopped down) from the light for a spell. I know they are prone to just plop down when tired, but the picking has me worried as does the fact that they rest of them are so active.

Suggestions?

 

[azygous]

This lethargic chick needs reviving with warm sugar water and Poultry Nutri-drench or just the sugar water if you haven't yet bought the Nutri-drench, which every chicken first aid kit should have.

First dip the beak of the chick in the sugar water. If it doesn't start drinking on its own, it will need to be syringed water. Use a narrow oral syringe or take a Q-tip and drip water on the right side of its beak until you get at least .2ml into it. Then repeat in a half hour and every half hour until the chick fully revives.

 

[Panhandler80]

I had just suggested some sugar water.

I guess boil it first to dissolve? What's ratio?

Don't have any Nutri Drench. Can try to pick some up at lunch and run it back to the house.

 

[azygous]

A teaspoon in a half cup of water. It doesn't really matter. It's not toxic in such tiny amounts and it's the sugar the chick needs to elevate its glucose. The water is a carrier for it, but the chick should also be drinking actual water regularly on its own. If not, it needs to be carefully watched to see that it does. Give syringed water if it won't drink on its own.

After a bit, if the chick doesn't revive and start drinking and eating on its own, you will probably need to conclude it's dying. Sorry about that, but some chicks have internal problems we can't always see, and these prevent it from surviving much past hatch.

 

[Panhandler80]

Well, I got my wife to dissolve some sugar into warm water. She dunked once and chick put her head to sky after and swallowed, but after 15-20 min had not gone back to water. She did it again, chick swallowed. And 5 minutes later, hit the water on her own, joined the others, started drinking from regular water and is peeping for the first time.

Not going to say we're out of the woods yet, but that's a marked improvement!

 

[azygous]

It's amazing what a little sugar can do!

 

[Panhandler80]

It's amazing what a little sugar can do!

She's working form home (in local emergency management) with our 9 mo old... I wanted to get the sugar to the chick earlier, but it sounds like we may have tended to her in time. Appears to be one of our Speckled Sussex, which was one of the breeds I'd requested in our rainbow egg layer assortment. Hopefully she makes it!