Help! Can't find answer. Newbie

[HarleyKittenn]

Hey everyone. I am new at raising chickens and right now I have my first 3 chicks. I was told that they are baby reds, which I'm guessing means Rhode island reds (Unsure) & are around 3 weeks old. 2 of the chicks are completely fine and have grown a lot recently and are getting their feathers. But one little guy is just not growing at all and also has other symptoms. He hasn't grown, hasn't gotten feathers​, breathes heavy, chirps loudly at random times, lowers his head a lot to the point that he losses his balance and falls, has had crusty white build up above his beak (although I was able to wash it off) and often has his eyes closed. He eats, drinks, poops, and walks around with the others just fine. Was told maybe he has mites but wouldn't the other two have it mites as well

[/IMG]? The other 2 show no signs of anything bad. What is wrong with my poor little guy?!!! Just so worried I'm going to find him dead one day

Side note...2 of them have black beaks and feet and one has yellow feet & beak. What does that mean since they are all the same breed?

Thank you so much everyone!!

 

[AshlyMommaWard]

I'll begin with the fact that those are not rhode Island reds, and are possibly three different breeds. There is a section here where you can post them to find out their breeds called "what breed or gender is this".
Where did you get these chicks? Feed stores are notorious for mixing chicks in bins. I see feathered legs on the larger grey chick on the left, and I think I see them on the small chick in question as well. That info will help determine breed. I think a couple possibilities are that it could be a bantam, that would explain size difference. Rate of feathering differed between breeds and genders as well.

When you say a crusty white buildup on his nose, has this happened more than once?

If you've just recently gotten them, a possibility is that he's just a much younger chick. Baby chicks often fall asleep standing up, sleep a lot in their first week or so and cheep loudly, especially if they're hot, cold or otherwise uncomfortable. Breathing heavily, especially with mouth open would indicate too hot. If you're using a heat lamp as heat source, are they staying under it, as far away as possible from it or generally all around the brooder. If the brooder is small, be sure to put the heat source on one side, so they can move away if they are over heated. If you notice them staying as far as possible away from the heat source, raise it up further to cool brooder temp a bit and reevaluate based on their actions.

 

[azygous]

I'm going to give you some bad news. I'm sorry I can't agree with Ashly above that you might have a bantam chick and everything will turn out splendidly.

Every so often, and more often than you might think, you will get a chick who has defects in its little innards. Organs may be underdeveloped or malformed. The result is a chick that cannot process its food and make nutrients available to its body for growth and good health. This is called "failure to thrive".

This is why your chick is not growing. It isn't developing inside, either. It's immune system is sub-par. It probably has problems with constipation and it hurts to poop, so it peeps loudly when it goes. It may lack the ability to convert food into enough calories to keep warm, and it is often cold, so it peeps loudly when it feels uncomfortable.

My guess is your chick is barely hanging on. This is why you see it nodding off a lot instead of running around like the other two chicks. It may be sick with a respiratory ailment and that's the reason for the white crust on it's upper beak.

I know how much you care about this little chick because I had one like it myself not long ago. I tried everything I could think of to get my chick through her difficulties, but she only kept getting worse. Strangely, her wings grew, but she didn't, and she ended up looking more like a house fly than a chick. It was the hardest decision I've had to make to euthanize her and stop her suffering.

You need to face the possibility your chick probably won't get better. It peeps madly because it's in pain. The kindest thing you can do is end its suffering. I'm so sorry I can't give you more encouragement.

 

[AshlyMommaWard]

I've also had a chick with failure to thrive, and after op answered my questions I very well may have leaned towards failure to thrive as an option, but, until then I don't like to jump right in with worst case scenarios with new chicken owners. Since op was misinformed about the breed, I don't find it all that unlikely that they may have been misinformed about age as well. The little bird looks feather footed and slightly crested to me. I'm not a bantam expert, but I don't know of any large fowl crested feather legged birds. The brooder they're in also appears to be glass, likely a fish tank. Many new owners use fish tank, unfortunately most tanks are small. Over heating is a real possibility, as is this chick being younger, or a bantam. Failure to thrive is a possibility, but if there's a chance it's outcome could be improved by knowledge of proper brooder heating techniques then it's worth passing on the information. I find advising op to cull the chick without further knowledge irresponsible.
Best wishes.

 

[3riverschick]

I agree with azygous. I think this chick has Malabsorption Syndrome. This is when it is more immature in its insides than it should be for its age. About the only thing you can do for the chick is give it Poultry nutri-drench​. Let the nutrition go directly to the bloodstream bypassing the chicks immature organs until they mature. It's a last gasp effort to save this chick. You are probably going to lose it anyway but if anything can save it, it will be the Drench.
Best,
Karen

 

[3riverschick]

It would be the equivalent of intravenous feeding of a sick person.
If you can give the chick enough time to mature, it might make it if the internal organs are only immature and not malformed.
HTTP://www.nutridrench.com

 

[HarleyKittenn]

Thank you so much everyone for the info! I did get the chicks from a feed store. Right now I have them in a plastic bin (one of those storeage bins). They are either moving around or under the heat lamp. I'd hate it if Arthur (the small chick) is in pain. I love him so much already and loves to be held and get rubs. But I don't want him suffering. I will try out the nutrition stuff first and hope for the best but again do not want to keep him in pain if that is what is happening.
I really appreciate everyone's input!

 

[HarleyKittenn]

Also I got them March 10th and was told they were around 2 weeks old.

 

[HarleyKittenn]

...

I'll begin with the fact that those are not rhode Island reds, and are possibly three different breeds. There is a section here where you can post them to find out their breeds called "what breed or gender is this".

 

[HarleyKittenn]

I saw that there are chickens called BB Reds. I got them at the feed store and I'm thinking I could have misheard him and thought he said 'baby' instead of 'BB'.