HELP! I think my chicken has NARCOLEPSY!

[threehorses]

Quote:
Well first thing, did you mean three months old? Or three weeks? Her faethering indicates that she really need starter to me. She's under developed her feathering isn't coming in strong. She needs a good starter crumble please as the majority of her feed. I'd put her on that. I would not feed her peaches, tomato juice, and certainly not seeds at the moment. She should have grit available - chick sized grit specifically (you can buya little bag of it at most feed stores now). She has to have that to eat solids, and honestly in the state she's in she's too sick to eat solids now.

She's not sleepy - she's ill. She's under nourished.

What I would do would be put her back into a brooder with a similar sized baby. Feed them exclusively on starter *crumbles* (not pellets - she's too small for them), water with a vitamin/mineral supplement in it, and a daily treat of yogurt only. Possibly boiled/mashed egg yolk - not scrambled, not whites. But at least the crumbles, daily yogurt, and water.

I would also VERY highly recommend that you buy polyvisol vitamins (for babies, but in the vitamin section of Walmart, CVS, etc - NON-iron-fortified). 2 drops in her beak daily after she eats crumbles.

Her peers if they're age should all receive starter crumbles, just start to get chick grit (don't give her any yet), and water - no peaches, no tomato juice, definitely no seeds, for at least 2 weeks until they're all feathering in more strongly. She's just the one that is showing the symptoms but I'm pretty sure all of them are just a step away from this state if they look at all like her.

This is an urgent matter. I do hope you're able to do it today, at least feeding her some yolk and putting her up. Thank you.

 

[PoultryPedia]

Wow! You are really trying whatever you can to help this chick ASAP! You obviously have a very kind heart. Hopefully some info you collect via people on here will help in your continued search for solutions.
I'm sorry the fruit didn't seem to give her much perk-up so far. Thanks for the photo (BTW, she looks like a pretty li'l chick

) & for the additional information. Very helpful!
I echo threehorses in saying that she needs to be switched from pellets IMMEDIATELY--even my adult bantams end up with difficulty eating that size. In a pinch, you can take a hammer & bash some pellets up smaller, or put a handful at a time in the blender to chop up.
The chick does seem very young. So she'd probably need to still be on chick starter. This is especially important because young chicks don't do well with some minerals that are added to some feeds that are for older chickens.
When needed, you can use an eye dropper (Maybe you have one around that came with some "people medicine"?) or a small syringe (You can get these at feed store for 25 cents) to CAREFULLY put a couple drops of supplemented water at a time (for a total of 8 to 14 drops per drink time) in her beak 3 to 6 times a day.
You can use water supplemented with Poly-Visol, or a little sugar and poultry electrolytes and vitamins powder (Such as Vi-Tal, sold in a small pouch for $4 at feed store--Be sure it's not powder that also includes minerals). Or you can use Gatorade if that's all you have.
This will do wonders for her health improvement, and energy. I'd say it's critical to get this going. She can digest easily and quickly, and she needs the nutrition. Also, it will raise her blood sugar enough to feel better and give her the energy to do some of the other things she needs to do more--like EAT!
Put supplemented water in her water dish, too.
Also, something that can help get her to eat something is to dip her beak in water & then in food. The food will stick to her beak and this will encourage her to sample it.
Best wishes. That is awesome you are trying to find out what is best for this li'l girl and being pro-active about getting it for her.

 

[PoultryPedia]

Also, it does look like her little body would be benefitted by having a heat lamp.
A 40 or 60 watt bulb at one end of the crate (so she can get closer or further away, depending on her comfort needs) that keeps the temperature about 80 degrees would probably help her system not have to work as hard to keep itself warm while it's also trying to gain strength and work on growing.
If she huddles close to it, you may want to switch in a higher watt bulb. But if she's staying far from it or panting, raise the bulb further away so she doesn't overheat. And double-check the first day that the temperature doesn't vary so much during the day that she gets too hot during a part of the day.
Okay--maybe now I'm giving way too much advice

I just can see how much you want to make sure she makes it, and I try so hard to help these li'l guys make it, too.

 

[threehorses]

Just here looking for updates. I hope the baby is doing well.

 

[chickita]

Hello everyone! I hope I am not being too optimistic, but I think today was a good day for Lucky.

Thanks to everyone's knowledge + advice, my husband picked up crumbles and grit for her. I went to Wal-Mart and picked up poly-visol vitamin (thanks, it was in the exact location you mentioned in the store). I had a hard time giving her the 2 drops for fear of hurting her. She wouldn't open her beak! "Luckily", she drank the drips from the dropper (phew).

I took her outside of her little crate for a little exercise and more fresh air, she even scratched at the mulch. I will continue giving her 2-3 drops of Poly-visol daily and crumbs in hopes that she gains strength. She has her water and gatorade for fluids. I will give her yogurt tomorrow as a treat. Can I give her any type of yogurt? (we have Breyers peaches + cream light yogurt and cherry pomegranate) I wasn't sure if fruit flavored is ok or should it be plain only?) I think she will enjoy it.

THANK YOU again for all of your help!

I will keep you posted on her progress...

 

[purpletree23]

plain yogurt without fake sugar

to add more calories scramble an egg and 'smoosh' it. give her a little at a time maybe 1/4 teaspoon in morning and again at night

 

[threehorses]

Quote:
Sounds good, and I'm glad you found them. I'm pretty specific now because I went to three stores looking for them and found nothing! LOL I figure I couldn't possibly be the only one who would miss them. I hate wandering around looking for things.

Is she eting the feed? And as purpletree23 mentioned, plain please.

On a baby, I really like boiled eggs - or putting the cooked egg in the food processor and just processing the heck out of it til it's a fluffy bunch. But I really feel for this baby boiled yolk is the best plan as it dissolves very easily and is packed with nutrition. It's the chicken maker, after all.

I'm glad to hear she's still sticking around poor little kid. She's obviously well loved.

'Will be looking for updates.

 

[CrazyFowlFreak]

Is the mulch treated?

 

[threehorses]

Incidentally, I'd still keep her up a few days at least and let the nutrition sink in.