HELP! Chick won't stand!!

[Fancy_Feathers]

so we just got chicks in the mail today, and they were all doing really well until I realized my polish chick got pasty butt. I got a warm wash cloth and got all the poop off her butt and dried her off. I put her back in the brooder and she stood there for a while. Eventually she started acting normal, eating, drinking and pooping. Next thing I knew, the chick was on her back laying there so I picked her up but she just fell. I tried to get her to stand but she just wouldn't, what is wrong with my chick? Please help! Thanks

 

[thegreenestacre]

This happened with one of our chicks earlier this spring. She had pasty butt, which I took care of as soon as I noticed it. She seemed to do ok for the next couple of day but then started going downhill, cowering under the heat plate, not eating or drinking. Eventually, she stopped standing, her respiration increased dramatically, and she died.

My guess is that the bacteria from the waste buildup is in her system and her delicate immune system can't handle it. However, that is only a guess based on what I observed with our sick chick.

There are several things you can do to revive a sick chick. You can try giving her some water with probiotics and electrolytes using a dropper or needleless syringe. If she's not eating, try giving her some chick starter mixed with slightly warmed yogurt or some wet cat food if you have some on-hand.

You might also want to separate her from the other chicks and put her in a box with her own heat lamp. If the other chicks see that she's sick they might peck at her.

I hope your chick makes it! It's so hard to lose one.

 

[Brooks_]

so we just got chicks in the mail today, and they were all doing really well until I realized my polish chick got pasty butt. I got a warm wash cloth and got all the poop off her butt and dried her off. I put her back in the brooder and she stood there for a while. Eventually she started acting normal, eating, drinking and pooping. Next thing I knew, the chick was on her back laying there so I picked her up but she just fell. I tried to get her to stand but she just wouldn't, what is wrong with my chick? Please help! Thanks

My best early guess is just failure to thrive.

 

[Fancy_Feathers]

This happened with one of our chicks earlier this spring. She had pasty butt, which I took care of as soon as I noticed it. She seemed to do ok for the next couple of day but then started going downhill, cowering under the heat plate, not eating or drinking. Eventually, she stopped standing, her respiration increased dramatically, and she died.

My guess is that the bacteria from the waste buildup is in her system and her delicate immune system can't handle it. However, that is only a guess based on what I observed with our sick chick.

There are several things you can do to revive a sick chick. You can try giving her some water with probiotics and electrolytes using a dropper or needleless syringe. If she's not eating, try giving her some chick starter mixed with slightly warmed yogurt or some wet cat food if you have some on-hand.

You might also want to separate her from the other chicks and put her in a box with her own heat lamp. If the other chicks see that she's sick they might peck at her.

I hope your chick makes it! It's so hard to lose one.

thanks for the reply! I'm so sorry you lost one of your chicks- it's so hard to loose an animal.

Our chick is actually now walking and eating and drinking, I might have overreacted, thinking my chick was going to die when she wouldn't walk, but now I think she might've been sleeping?. But she has been pooping and I checked her butt many times and it looks clear and dry but it does look a bit swollen, is that something to be concerned about?

We are going to get probiotics from our feed store to make sure she won't get it again and that other chicks won't get it.

I have been watching her and the other chicks and none of the other chicks are picking on her so I am hoping she is going to be ok. Thank you so much for the reply!

 

[Fancy_Feathers]

Hello again! So, my chick is now walking around and drinking but I haven't seen them eat. I also got probiotics with vitamins, minerals and electrolytes. But the chick refused to drink it so I took a syringe and forced her to drink some of it, all they will drink is fresh plain water. My chick is walking, but not walking that well. They slowly shuffle their way around with legs kind of far apart and they loose their balance at times, so I am still concerned. I put olive oil around their vent since I heard that was helpful and I checked all my other chicks for pasty butt and they all look good. The polish chick is pooping but their poop doesn't look normal. It is like white and liquidly with some brown hard part but the white part is foamy? I am concerned about the way it's poop looks. What is wrong with my chick and will it make it??

Also, when my chick chirps it's vent bulges out and then goes back in????? Is this normal?? It seems very odd to me?

 

[Fancy_Feathers]

I just saw the chick running around quite a bit! Not super wabbly, but I saw she had some white poo on her butt, but not clogging her vent. It was just below the vent, is this fine?

 

[ChickNanny13]

Urates ... it's ok but make sure it's eating. What are you feeding? Does it know where the food is?
Newly shipped chicks are stressed, sometimes causing pasty butt. Keeping the butt clean as you did is good, Vitamins & electrolytes highly recommended for new arrivals. I don't recommend feeding water with a syringe, if you get it down the opening it will go into the lungs. Tap the water dispenser, if there are others it will follow them. If you must "feed" it water, dip your finger in water with a drop at the tip of the beak ... careful not to get any in the nostrils (lungs).

 

[Fancy_Feathers]

Urates ... it's ok but make sure it's eating. What are you feeding? Does it know where the food is?
Newly shipped chicks are stressed, sometimes causing pasty butt. Keeping the butt clean as you did is good, Vitamins & electrolytes highly recommended for new arrivals. I don't recommend feeding water with a syringe, if you get it down the opening it will go into the lungs. Tap the water dispenser, if there are others it will follow them. If you must "feed" it water, dip your finger in water with a drop at the tip of the beak ... careful not to get any in the nostrils (lungs).

The chick was eating before they got pasty butt, then stopped eating, but today we showed it the food again and it ate! We feed all of our chicks medicated starter crumbles, and no treats since they are only a couple days old. We put puppy pee pads on half of the brooder so we can see their droppings better. This morning I noticed normal looking poops!

We have been checking other chicks for pasty butt and no other ones have gotten it. We have a separate waterer with probiotics but we also have a waterer with fresh water but the chick with pasty butt still will only drink the fresh water. It did drink a few drops of poultry nutri-drench and it seems like it helped.

I noticed my other chick has a messy-ish butt. No poop is on its vent but their is poop on the feathers around it. Should I clean the chicks bottom or trim the feathers? I also noticed that the chick with pasty butt has barley any feathers on its butt and side/belly. Is this normal? Thank you so much for all the advice!

 

[ChickNanny13]

Chicks/chickens have a "cecal" poop, about every; 7th poop; besides their usual poop ... its soft/mushy & stinky ... that one chick could have been stressed from the travel, hence the pasty butt. You mentioned you have Polish, are they all the same breed or do you have a mixed variety?

 

[Fancy_Feathers]

Chicks/chickens have a "cecal" poop, about every; 7th poop; besides their usual poop ... its soft/mushy & stinky ... that one chick could have been stressed from the travel, hence the pasty butt. You mentioned you have Polish, are they all the same breed or do you have a mixed variety?

Our other chicks have that poop every now and again- I'm glad it is normal! We have a mixed flock and had another polish (2 polish in total +silkies, brahmas, orpingtons, EEs, cochins, and a mille fluer).

The sick polish chick was getting better and was running around and playing, acting like a normal chick. Then suddenly the chick got super weak that night and started having seizures. We separated it from the flock and it had super liquidly poop. It lasted through the night but we could tell it was suffering. Right when we were about to cull it, it died naturally. We are so sad that the chick passed away, but there was no way of saving it.

All of the other chicks are super healthy and active and growing super fast! We check them many times every day to make sure they aren't sick and if they are we can hopefully cure them before its too late. We aren't really sure why the sick chick died, but thank you all for all the information!