Help! one of my day-old Australorps isn't doing well - her head is wobbly & she falls over

[Jewelwing]

I posted this in the baby chicks forum, and then I saw that there's an emergency forum, so I'm reposting here. Sorry - I'm new to the site & I was kind of frantic.

I just got my ten new day-old chicks, and nine of them seem to be doing great. The 10th isn't, though. She's eaten, I think (there seems to be something in her crop, although not as much as in the other chicks), but I don't know if she's drinking. I'm feeding them fermented food, so it has quite a bit of moisture in it already.

Her butt looks good, and I don't know enough to know what else might be the proble.

She's wobbly, kind of like she's drunk, and she wobbles her head back and forth and then she falls over and paddles to try to right herself. I took her and dunked her beak in the water (which has UP/ACV in ijust very briefly, and she made swallowing motions with her beak. So I did it a few times.

If I put her in with the other chicks, they peck at her, so I"m just holding her in my hand and she's sleeping. She occasionally peeps.

Is there anything I can do?

 

[Jewelwing]

Well, I've given her water with ACV with a syringe, and she swallowed quite a bit. I stopped when her crop was pretty full. She keeps her eyes shut, but she does peep occasionally. I made a separate spot for her to be in, so the others don't peck at her, but she still gets super stressed when she falls over and can't right herself.

Anyway, I've turned off the light for the night, and the other nine seem to be doing great and settling in just fine.

II fully expect her to be dead in the morning, and I warned my daughter that was most likely. But I'm open to any ideas, and I'll be up for at least an hour longer.

 

[Jewelwing]

I guess no one has any ideas? The chick isn't dead yet, but she isn't any better either. I set up a little place for her away from the other chicks so they wouldn't peck at her, but she isn't doing any better at all. I was surprised to find her alive this morning, actually.

Last night and this morning I gave her some water with ACV in a syringe, and she did drink and her crop is full, but she's not interested in eating at all. I'm not too worried about getting food in her because she was only hatched on Monday so I think she should still be good, since My Pet Chicken says it may be Thursday before the chicks arrive anyway.

So I'm still open to suggestions! I'd really like this chick to make it, but she hasn't opened her eyes since last night. She seemed fine when we opened up the box when it came yesterday around 1pm, but a few hours later she was stumbling around, and now she can't walk or even stand without falling over. She likes to sit in a hand, though, so we're doing that a lot, and now I feel bad that we're not playing with the nine other chicks we got.

Any help or ideas would be appreciated.
Thanks!

 

[farnorth]

try feeding her some egg yolk, just dip a toothpick into some egg yolk and try to get a little in her mouth. add some electrolites to the water or if you don't have any of that maybe a little sugar.
is she warm enough all alone? she still needs 95 degrees or so being that young.

I just lost a 2 day old Austrolorp that arrived today. She was nearly dead when we opened the box and died within the hour. We didn't syringe water into her but did dip her beak and she did drink a little.

I am surely not an expert but that is what I would try. And I would prepare for the worst if I was you.

 

[Fancychooklady]

Hey, your doing everything I would do. The first 7 days of a chicks life are when they are most at risk. Just keep her warm and away from the others. Are they on medicated chick starter? If she makes it through the night ,I would get some chick saver in the morning. Try her on some scrambled egg with some electrolytes or some Greek yogurt. I usually dip my finger in the water and touch to the beak to get them drinking. Good luck

 

[Jewelwing]

Thank you so much for your suggestions! I think I'm keeping her warm enough - I have the heat lamp aimed more on her than on the others, and the others seem just right - some sleeping in pairs, some under the lamp and some on the edges.

I'll try the egg yolk, since I have it right here and handy. I fully expect her to die, but I want to know that I did everything I could. I'll try to get some chick saver when I go into town.

Thanks for the ideas!