HELP NEEDED. Very Sick 5 day old chick. Please Advise

[Kseale1986]

I have 6 5 day old Serama chicks. I noticed Sunday night one of them was peeping a lot. I thought it may possibly have been trying to vomit or maybe got choked on a piece of food Sunday night. I only noticed something out the corner of my eye and I’m not real sure what was going on. Around noon I noticed the baby was stumbling around after some other chicks ran past it. Not all that unusual for these little guys but then I noticed it wasn’t behaving right.
So this is what I had: empty crop, not eating/drinking, lethargic, peeping a lot.
What I did: lowered the heat plate. Dipped beak in water which chick didn’t tolerate well. I made a mixture of sugar water with nutridrench. Gave a few drops via syringe.
At first seemed like it was either choking or gagging. Some came back up in the beak. I repeated several times every 30min to 1 hour. Then I went to repeat and baby was scratching around and eating some with the other chicks. It walked up to me and was pecking at syringe for more. Got a bit down but then there was a little vomiting. Still seemed to want more so gave as much as it wanted.
Chick is with 5 other Serama in pet cage with heat plate adjusted to appropriate height. The others seem to have to grown but this one hasn’t grown much if any at all. I don’t use pine shavings but I do use Standlee Flock Fresh, and now I’m wondering if maybe that was a bad decision???

I believe the only reason it seems to have improved some is because of the sugar water and Nutridrench. When that wears off I’m going to be back where I started with a sick chick. Please advise on my next steps. Thank you in advance.

 

[nightowl223]

I have 6 5 day old Serama chicks. I noticed Sunday night one of them was peeping a lot. I thought it may possibly have been trying to vomit or maybe got choked on a piece of food Sunday night. I only noticed something out the corner of my eye and I’m not real sure what was going on. Around noon I noticed the baby was stumbling around after some other chicks ran past it. Not all that unusual for these little guys but then I noticed it wasn’t behaving right.
So this is what I had: empty crop, not eating/drinking, lethargic, peeping a lot.
What I did: lowered the heat plate. Dipped beak in water which chick didn’t tolerate well. I made a mixture of sugar water with nutridrench. Gave a few drops via syringe.
At first seemed like it was either choking or gagging. Some came back up in the beak. I repeated several times every 30min to 1 hour. Then I went to repeat and baby was scratching around and eating some with the other chicks. It walked up to me and was pecking at syringe for more. Got a bit down but then there was a little vomiting. Still seemed to want more so gave as much as it wanted.
Chick is with 5 other Serama in pet cage with heat plate adjusted to appropriate height. The others seem to have to grown but this one hasn’t grown much if any at all. I don’t use pine shavings but I do use Standlee Flock Fresh, and now I’m wondering if maybe that was a bad decision???

I believe the only reason it seems to have improved some is because of the sugar water and Nutridrench. When that wears off I’m going to be back where I started with a sick chick. Please advise on my next steps. Thank you in advance.

There is often one in a hatch that is the runt, that doesn't grow very fast, that sometimes seems to just weaken and die. It's not that unusual. Be that as it may, the nutridrench is a good idea, especially if the little one appears to KNOW it helps him or her. They often can notice the difference almost immediately, so they equate the dropper with feeling better. Personally, I use either Durvet's Vitamins & Electrolytes + the same brand's Probiotics to help one who is lagging behind, or healing from a wound, or even when they've been on a trip as when I buy some birds and bring them home - as new birds get quarantined, it's easy to make sure they get the boost. When I can find it, I also use infant vitamins (without iron) as well, for specific birds that need an extra boost, rather than mixing water for a bunch of them.

However, it really doesn't matter what brand you're using, as long as it's getting nutrients into the little one. You can certainly keep doing it as long as you're willing to keep at it. It may help the little one turn the corner and start thriving. Or, and here's the warning, it may not. No matter how hard you try, sometimes you just can't save one that's the runt, the one not thriving. It's literally called Failure To Thrive.

 

[Kseale1986]

There is often one in a hatch that is the runt, that doesn't grow very fast, that sometimes seems to just weaken and die. It's not that unusual. Be that as it may, the nutridrench is a good idea, especially if the little one appears to KNOW it helps him or her. They often can notice the difference almost immediately, so they equate the dropper with feeling better. Personally, I use either Durvet's Vitamins & Electrolytes + the same brand's Probiotics to help one who is lagging behind, or healing from a wound, or even when they've been on a trip as when I buy some birds and bring them home - as new birds get quarantined, it's easy to make sure they get the boost. When I can find it, I also use infant vitamins (without iron) as well, for specific birds that need an extra boost, rather than mixing water for a bunch of them.

However, it really doesn't matter what brand you're using, as long as it's getting nutrients into the little one. You can certainly keep doing it as long as you're willing to keep at it. It may help the little one turn the corner and start thriving. Or, and here's the warning, it may not. No matter how hard you try, sometimes you just can't save one that's the runt, the one not thriving. It's literally called Failure To Thrive.

Thank you for replying. I really appreciate it. I think it might have sour crop??? When the poor thing has kind of vomited it has been kind of foul smelling. I’m a nurse so I have dealt with more than my fair share of vomiting. I know human and chicken anatomy are very different. However, I don’t think it anything should be souring in a stomach/crop almost immediately like this. I haven’t seen the little guy poop but that’s because I have like 28ish week old chicks total. I just separated the Serama from the rest of the bunch yesterday. If it’s sour crop don’t they usually keep a full crop? This one had an empty crop. I have no idea what to do for that. All I know to do is keep anything and everything hydrated.

 

[nightowl223]

I've not heard of a chick that young getting sour crop before, but if the smell is bad enough it might be, perhaps some ACV with mother would help her, and - believe it or not - miconazole, found in the ladies' needs section, for treatment of yeast infection. I fear, though, it's a sign that there's a birth defect problem with her little intestinal tract. Especially if there hasn't been much of anything IN the crop. Sour crop usually happens when food is sitting in the crop and doesn't go on down; it will sit in the crop and start fermenting. If it is that, you just give the little one a tiny bit of the miconazole [for her size, less than 1/8" out of the tube! A VERY TINY bit!] orally twice a day for a week.

I'm assuming you've got her where she can stay warm, and since she's separated, you will be able to tell whether her poop is normal or not.

(edited for a minor typo)

 

[nightowl223]

Here's a good read-through to learn more about sour crop/impacted crop and related issues:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...d-sour-crops-prevention-and-treatments.67194/
and another one:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...w-to-know-which-one-youre-dealing-with.73607/

 

[Kseale1986]

Here's a good read-through to learn more about sour crop/impacted crop and related issues:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...d-sour-crops-prevention-and-treatments.67194/
and another one:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...w-to-know-which-one-youre-dealing-with.73607/

Thank you for the links. I just went back out to repeat the sugar water water/nutridrench combo. She/he gurgled back up some and I didn’t smell anything this time. I tried taking a video to see if maybe someone would notice something I missed, which is likely. Unfortunately, I can’t upload the thing. It says “file size too large” or something similar. I hate it when there isn’t anything I can do.