Help! Newly hatched chick excess of saliva in mouth and constantly trying to swallow it down

shlivka

Hatching
5 Years
Sep 18, 2014
6
0
7
My chick hatched yesterday AM. It was not an easy hatch by the way. And when I came home from work I noticed she had excess saliva in her mouth. I have never seen saliva in other chickens mouths before. It sometimes looked like little spit bubbles. She seems to be irritated/distressed by it. I tried to give a little drop of water from my finger and she freaked out. She hasn't been able to sleep/rest, eat or drink properly because she is constantly trying to swallow down the saliva. Does anyone know what this could be? I have removed her from brooder and I'm holding her to keep her warm and undisturbed by other chicks. When I hold her so her head is in a "looking up" position she seems to be more comfortable and can relax a bit. Though still swallowing. Also I have looked up all respiratory dieases in chicks and I do not believe she is opening her mouth for the purpose of breathing but rather for the purpose of swallowing. I don't know what else to do?! Please help! I hate to see her uncomfortable.
 
I did reply to this days ago but it seems cyberspace swallowed my reply.

I said I think it may be a case of having inhaled some fluids, or possibly a deformity causing this; either way the outlook is often pretty dire, but that said it's too hard to guesstimate accurately without seeing the bird. If she's still alive and eating and drinking now, she stands a good chance, but wouldn't be entirely surprised if she's not alive by now.

Sorry for late reply, internet ate the first one.

Best wishes.
 
Hello. Thank you for your help. The poor chick died last night. It wasn't ever able to eat or drink water and in the last day the symptoms started to subside and I thought this means either the chick is getting better or getting weaker. I am sad but I also feel a huge relief now knowing it is no longer suffering. Now I have just been curious about what caused this problem. So thank you for your thoughts!
 
Thank you. It is okay though. This was my first time hatching and out of 7 eggs I have 5 healthy happy chicks.
 
Sorry for you loss... Excess saliva in the mouth is sometimes a sign the dying process has started. If I had to guess, I'd say yolk sac infection was the cause of death and there was nothing you could have done to save the chick. {{{{ hugs}}}}

-Kathy
 
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