HELP - 5 day old chick - respiratory infection? pasty butt & wry neck! ugh!

shelbylewis

Songster
Jun 3, 2018
180
380
136
SJ New Jersey
Hi all...me again, with the worst luck ever! I had one baby chick hatch out of 6 fertile eggs placed, with the help of some of you lovely people we have diagnosed her with wry neck and I have been treating her for that with Poultry Nutri-Drench, vitamin e capsules, and selenium. When I take her out of her brooder to give her the vitamins, she makes a noise when she breathes and I can only describe it as a "clicking" sound, from what I have researched it sounds like a respiratory infection. She also gets poo build up around her vent. I need serious help with what to do. I have been cleaning her vent with warm water and a rag to prevent build-up but I just want the problem to go away all together.
 
Clicking can be a sign sign of respiratory problems. I aphave seen in in a chick who had a leaking air sac from an injury to it’s chest. Feel for any air under the skin. Pasty butt is usually temporary, and I would check once a day to make sure the vent is open and that she is pooping. You can apply a drop of vegetable oil to her vent with a Q Tip to lubricate it.
 
Clicking can be a sign sign of respiratory problems. I aphave seen in in a chick who had a leaking air sac from an injury to it’s chest. Feel for any air under the skin. Pasty butt is usually temporary, and I would check once a day to make sure the vent is open and that she is pooping. You can apply a drop of vegetable oil to her vent with a Q Tip to lubricate it.
Would petroleum jelly be okay to use on her vent? Should I just buy vetrx from tsc for respiratory issue?
 
Yes petroleum jelly is fine. Vet Rx is an old fashioned remedy with oils of rosemary, oregano, camphor, and pine oil in alcohol that is used by some people during respiratory issues. It would be similar to using Vicks, and nothing in it has any treatment against viruses or bacteria. But some swear by it, although I have never used it.
 
Yes petroleum jelly is fine. Vet Rx is an old fashioned remedy with oils of rosemary, oregano, camphor, and pine oil in alcohol that is used by some people during respiratory issues. It would be similar to using Vicks, and nothing in it has any treatment against viruses or bacteria. But some swear by it, although I have never used it.
Thank you! Do you have another suggestion for respiratory infection?
 
Since she is a newly hatched chick, it just may be a sign of her being weak. I am not certain that antibiotics would help since it is early for respiratory infections to show up. But sometimes there can be incubator infections from inadequate disinfecting, and E.coli can be a common one. Usually, that may cause mushy chick disease. Antibiotics for E.coli are hard to get without a prescription or a bet visit, and things that are available such as Tylan and procaine penicillin, would not be effective on gram negative bacteria. Maybe others who hatch chicks often can be more helpful.
 
Bumping this thread because I don't want to keep starting new ones for the same chick and I want everyone to get the full story of what has been happening over the past few days. I know my chick is probably compromised due to the fact that she was a late hatcher and the only chick out of the batch to hatch. I was hoping these problems would subside with a little TLC and some vitamins/electrolytes but last night I started to lose hope. I am not sure if all her symptoms are caused by the wry neck and I am hoping someone on here can help me that maybe had a similar situation. I may try to find a chicken vet to take her to today, I am just worried about bringing her out and stressing her more than she already is. It is also very cold here - high 30's low 40's (fahrenheit) so the drive to the vet may do more damage than good and I already lost one chick to what I suppose was cold/travel stress. I did not know there was a template to use when posting in the emergency section so I will fill in that info now...

1) What type of bird , age and weight (does the chicken seem or feel lighter or thinner than the others.)
-She is a mix of Ayam Cemani Roo and not sure what my hen was, I have a separate thread with pictures of my hens for anyone that is interested. She is 1 week old today and I do not know her weight, nor do I have other chicks her age to compare her too. She seems to be growing though and her little wing feathers are starting to come in.

2) What is the behavior, exactly.
-She was showing signs of what we believe to be is wry neck. She seems off balance, walking backwards, and stargazing. Now she has started falling over on her back for a few moments before flipping herself back over in a fit. Her eyes are closed a lot but not all of the time. She also looks like she is gasping for air every once in a while and she makes a clicking sound when breathing. The symptoms seem to be worse early in the morning and late at night when she is sleepy? During the middle of the day she gets around to her food and water pretty well.

3) How long has the bird been exhibiting symptoms?
-I started to notice these symptoms on Saturday - 4 days ago. Began treating with Nutri-Drench on Sunday - 3 days ago.

4) Are other birds exhibiting the same symptoms?
-No other birds

5) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma.
-No

6) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation.
-Nothing that I am aware of, except for maybe a bad incubation due to still air incubator and incorrect temps/humidity.

7) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all.
-She has been eating Nature's Best Organic Chick Starter/Grower crumbles and drinking fresh water with sav a chick electrolytes and vitamin supplements in it or nutri drench in it.

8) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc.
-Poop looks a little bit runny but not watery, no blood, & pasty butt has cleared up.

9) What has been the treatment you have administered so far?
-I have been giving her drops of nutri-drench straight 3-4 times a day, however I fear doing this because I don't want her to get any liquid in her trachea and it is becoming more difficult with her breathing with her mouth open. I also have vitamin E capsules that I squeeze out onto her crumbles. I plan to start treating her with a b vitamin complex that was recommended to me but I just hate administering drops in her beak for fear of drowning her.

10 ) What is your intent as far as treatment? For example, do you want to treat completely yourself, or do you need help in stabilizing the bird til you can get to a vet?
-I would prefer to treat completely myself, but if I need to - I will try to find a chicken vet near me.

11) If you have a picture of the wound or condition, please post it. It may help.
-I don't know that a picture will help, but I might have a video of her stumbling around but it is pretty self explanatory without the video.

12) Describe the housing/bedding in use
-I am using pine shavings from tractor supply now, but for the first 3 days I had cabinet liner on the bottom of her brooder. I have a heat lamp in there that keeps it 90 degrees Fahrenheit directly under it, and her food and water is on the opposite side where it is cool.
 
You can try treating her with Tylan 50 for the respiratory infection and just keep making sure that her vent is open for the pasty butt. Other than that I don't know what to do but Eggcessive is really good with this type of stuff, so just trust him and he will help A LOT.
 
You can try treating her with Tylan 50 for the respiratory infection and just keep making sure that her vent is open for the pasty butt. Other than that I don't know what to do but Eggcessive is really good with this type of stuff, so just trust him and he will help A LOT.
I got the Tylan 50, her breathing is REALLY bad. How do I administer? I'm so afraid to do it orally.
 
Sorry that she is still doing poorly, but this can happen when you have a problem hatch. Do you have a syringe and needle to withdraw it from the vial? I would give 0.2 ml orally into the beak a drop at a time, 3-4 times a day for 3-5 days. The B Complex, can be cut into 4 pieces and crush a 1/4 tablet onto some small amount of her chick crumbles. A drop or two of water can get the vitamin to cling to feed.
 

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