Help: Sick 6w old chick

[Tonyroo]

Is any feed capable of being fermented?

Yes any feed will work. Use a clean plastic tub / container, fill it with feed halfway up then add cold water. The water needs to be an inch above the submerged feed. Then use a mesh cloth/ netting / thin towel cover the top. Leave it on the kitchen counter for 2 to 4 days. It should smell yeasty, use a strainer to remove excess water from it and serve.

 

[BDutch]

An open air coop is great to avoid ammonia building up.

I gave my chicks just softened pellets. That works fine too. (Sorry but I don’t believe fermenting all the feed is the answer).
Pour water (with a pinch of apple cider vinegar in the water), over the pellet feed to soften the pellets.
Are you sure you/the chick sitter gave chick feed and not layer feed?

The temp at night for a weakened chick could be a bit low? I’m not sure. Tonyroo is right that it could be a lot of things (internal infection, ilness).
Did you check on red mite in the coop? These are famous nightly killers in summer who hide during the day. Check with a torch in the night or look for clutters with tiny grey eggs during the day in the sleeping area. I use rolls made from white cardboard paper (from biscuits ) to check. Red mite love to hide in it. Best check these for red mite in the morning.

@Eggcessive or @azygous can you help please? I’m not a crack for illnesses or eating problems.

 

[The Chicken life chose me]

It’s between 70 at night and 90 during the day. She has ample shade and water. Could she still need a heat lamp?

Hi, hope I can get some help. I have a GLW chick about 6w who is acting off. We just got home from a 9day trip. We had a friend helping with our birds. This particular bird has been in a brooder coop with one friend. It is outdoors, covered, and mostly shaded. They eat organic chick crumbles and fresh water daily. My friend said she noticed 2 days in a row the feed hadn’t been touched. We came home and first thing I cleaned and readied a bigger run and coop for the 2 of them. The other bird is pecking eating drinking and happy. However, GLW is standing around, puffed up, tail droopy and not eating. Just still. Slowly blinking. I got some nutri dense in her. I’ve seen her drink water once. Her crop feels a little mushy but also somewhat just empty- not a full mushy crop (I’ve dealt with sour and impact in older birds). Haven’t seen her poop. Any ideas?

Sounds like they need to brought inside and then you can give more one on one time with you. So, is she still not eating ? Or have you seen her eat and drink at all?

 

[azygous]

Coccidiosis is a possibility. Coccidia your chicken babysitter could have introduced. Incubation is around five days, so that would make her sick a couple days before you arrived home.

It doesn't hurt anything to treat her for it. Don't give any vitamin supplements while she's on Corid. Treat for five days, one week off, then treat five more days.

 

[BDutch]

@RobinS1217 how is she doing now?

Coccidiosis is a possibility. Coccidia your chicken babysitter could have introduced. Incubation is around five days, so that would make her sick a couple days before you arrived home.

It doesn't hurt anything to treat her for it. Don't give any vitamin supplements while she's on Corid. Treat for five days, one week off, then treat five more days.

Azygous, thanks for you reply.
I was wondering/thought… if a chick gets coccidiosis, isn’t the first thing to notice (in general) bloody poop?.

 

[RobinS1217]

Sounds like they need to brought inside and then you can give more one on one time with you. So, is she still not eating ? Or have you seen her eat and drink at all?

She eats the yolk I give her which was recommended above. I have seen her drink. She is now at the feeder a few times a day. I can see her from my kitchen window so I have eyes on her often. She is less puffy and has spurts of energy. She has pooped. It was mostly white but somewhat mucusy. No visible parasites or blood in stool.

 

[RobinS1217]

Coccidiosis is a possibility. Coccidia your chicken babysitter could have introduced. Incubation is around five days, so that would make her sick a couple days before you arrived home.

It doesn't hurt anything to treat her for it. Don't give any vitamin supplements while she's on Corid. Treat for five days, one week off, then treat five more days.

We both dread the idea of it. She wears my coop boots when she is here. But I know shoes isn’t the only way of transmission. I will begin treatment today.

 

[RobinS1217]

@RobinS1217 how is she doing now?


Azygous, thanks for you reply.
I was wondering/thought… if a chick gets coccidiosis, isn’t the first thing to notice (in general) bloody poop?.

of the poop I saw from her yesterday, there is no visible blood. I’ve been feeding her yolks and giving direct NutriDense and yesterday did save a chick in her water. She also has the change of environment which could be working in her favor. She definitely is improving. But I’m still concerned. I see her eat and drink. She has more energy but still times if lethargy.

 

[azygous]

Not all coccidia strains produce blood. Coccidia can be introduced to a new locale on shoes, car tires, top soil deliveries, borrowed garden implements, and unwashed hands.

The treatment is safe and we always err on the side of caution and treat if there's even a slight chance it's a possibility. It merely blocks vitamin B-1 thiamine, which enables the coccidia to thrive.

A drench dose once a day for three days in addtion to Corid water can save the life of a very sick chicken. For a chick, that would be a drop or two of undilited Corid into the beak. Give no other vitamins during treatment.

 

[RobinS1217]

She is back to health!!! I think the ammonia was the issue. After 2-3 days of being in grass in a run with a bigger cleaner coop (coffee grounds, not pine shavings) and straight dose NutriDense and save a chick in the water with yolk being fed to her often- her tail feathers went up, she stayed at the feeder for 30 min one morning and then became her normal self!