Help please - 4 day old chick sick - white poop lethargic

[DBMW]

I'm so sorry this is my first post. We just got our 5 baby chicks on Wednesday (born on Monday and ordered from MyPetCHicken). They had the Mareks shot. They are currently getting Scratch & Peck organic chick starter (non medicated). They are in a 3'x3' brooder with PDZ (the first day we had paper towels down). they have nipple waterer and we are using the Eco-glow 20 heater. Yesterday, they had water with Braggs ACV in it (a small amount). They have not been on the soil and nor have they been in contact with anyone who owns other chickens.

Our little Easter Egger was fine yesterday but all day today she has been extremely lethargic -- barely eating or drinking. She spends most the time sleeping. She has gotten progressively worse as the day went on - my husband kept insisting I was paranoid. tonight when we came home, we briefly turned on the lights to check on everyone. The other 4 all came running out and ate and drank some. She stayed under the eco-glow - leaning against the wall of it, eyes closed. she did not even respond to sound. We picked her up and gave her some gatorade (very little because she wouldn't take it). she made a few cheeps but basically was weak and sleeping in our hands.

We noticed she had *white watery poo* -- however, it was not blocking her vent. My husband is now also extremely worried. We fear she will not make it through the night. The stores are all closed. We are worried now that she may have Cocci (although I'm not sure if you can catch that without being exposed to any chicks other than the 4 who shipped with her). We don't know what to do. This chick (named Cinammon) is our 5 year old son's chick.

Please help us.

We can go to CVS to get polyvisol but not sure that will help. We assume we can't get antibiotics from CVS but if we can please advise. Its almost 11pm here and everything but CVS is closed

 

[DBMW]

Cinnamon, our Easter Egger, died last night at 3:45am in my husband's hands. We had her less than 48 hours and she was only 4 days old. The hard part is knowing what it was that killed her so we can try to prevent our other 4 from the same fate. After reading and reading and reading, I suspect it could have been any one of the following:

1) stress / cold from travel. they shipped from I assume Meyers Poultry in Polk, Ohio (we ordered them from MyPetChicken) on Monday and didn't arrive until Wednesday early morning but the temperature here in FL is 70 at night and 80 during day and they all appeared healthy and active on Wednesday.

2) Cocci. We didn't feed her medicated feed. She was receiving Scratch & Peck organic chick starter - non medicated. I fear this was a mistake. I did elect the Mareks shot for her and I am killing myself over the decision not to use the medicated feed. I thought because her first few weeks would be in a very sanitary condition where no other chickens have ever been, it wouldn't be necessary but in retrospect, I regret that decision. It wouldn't have hurt her and could have been the difference between life and death. I'll start the medicated feed for the other 4 this morning even though I know if they have Cocci, they need the medicine instead. We're also buying the medicine today and at the 1st sign of lethargy in any of the others will start it for them all (as well as stop the medicated feed as I understand you should not give them medicated feed and the corid simultaneously).

3) Salmonella Pullorum. this post here https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/589309/sick-baby-chicks suggested that white runny poop and lethargy in a very young chick may be this. It sounds like there is no long term cure for this and that once infected the chick will always have it. What i don't know if whether any of the other chicks could have caught it.

So the second hardest part of all of this is simply not knowing why she died so that we can try to prevent it in the others.

I am only posting all this in the hopes that it may help some other newbie who may find themselves in the same scenario. If I could do it again, I would have used medicated feed and yesterday when my gut told me something was wrong .. I would have ignored everyone telling me she was just tired and would have given her the Corid right then and there (last night when it was unequivocal something was wrong - it was too late and the stores carrying the medicines were all closed).

 

[Realtree4]

Cinnamon, our Easter Egger, died last night at 3:45am in my husband's hands. We had her less than 48 hours and she was only 4 days old.  The hard part is knowing what it was that killed her so we can try to prevent our other 4 from the same fate.  After reading and reading and reading, I suspect it could have been any one of the following:

1) stress / cold from travel. they shipped from I assume Meyers Poultry in Polk, Ohio (we ordered them from MyPetChicken) on Monday and didn't arrive until Wednesday early morning but the temperature here in FL is 70 at night and 80 during day and they all appeared healthy and active on Wednesday.

2) Cocci.  We didn't feed her medicated feed. She was receiving Scratch & Peck organic chick starter - non medicated. I fear this was a mistake. I did elect the Mareks shot for her and I am killing myself over the decision not to use the medicated feed. I thought because her first few weeks would be in a very sanitary condition where no other chickens have ever been, it wouldn't be necessary but in retrospect, I regret that decision. It  wouldn't have hurt her  and could have been the difference between life and death.  I'll start the medicated feed for the other 4 this morning even though I know if they have Cocci, they need the medicine instead. We're also buying the medicine today and at the 1st sign of lethargy in any of the others will start it for them all (as well as stop the medicated feed as I understand you should not give them medicated feed and the corid simultaneously).

3) Salmonella Pullorum.  this post here https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/589309/sick-baby-chicks suggested that white runny poop and lethargy in a very young chick may be this. It sounds like there is no long term cure for this and that once infected the chick will always have it. What i don't know if whether any of the other chicks could have caught it.


 
So the second hardest part of all of this is simply not knowing why she died so that we can try to prevent it in the others. 

I am only posting all this in the hopes that it may help some other newbie who may find themselves in the same scenario. If I could do it again, I would have used medicated feed and yesterday when my gut told me something was wrong .. I would have ignored everyone telling me she was just tired and would have given her the Corid right then and there (last night when it was unequivocal something was wrong - it was too late and the stores carrying the medicines were all closed).

I'm really sorry for your loss!

I am in no way an "expert" but I can tell you from experience that some chicks just aren't strong enough to make that kind of trip, and there's just no way to know how they will handle the trip. I really doubt it was cocci in a 4 day old chick and please try not to beat yourself up over it!

Sadly, this is the animal world and it's sometimes just sad

 

[DBMW]

Thank you so much RealTree4. It just sucks to see a small vulnerable little one die.

I did talk to MyPetChicken today. They were wonderful. They thought given the young age (4 days) and the symptoms (lethargy, white runny poop, eating and drinking very little and death fairly rapidly) that it is likely it was an internal injury. She thought it was really unlikely that it was Cocci as the symptoms are usually a bit slower.

However, to be safe and especially since we live in Florida where conditions are wet most the summer, we're going to switch over to Manna Pro medicated chick starter feed.