i posted this over in emergencies too but i figured i would double post here. here goes...
i have a 6 day old light brahma in a flock of 8 brahmas and barred rocks who hasn't been doing very well the last couple of days. yesterday morning i noticed she was just sorta standing around, eyes drooping, while the rest were going crazy around her. i kept checking back in every hour or so for a few hours before i started putting her in my lap and feeding her from a spoon. as her head would bob downwards in tiredness, her beak would hit the spoon and she would pop her head up and glug a bit down. after doing this about every half hour for a little while, she would go back in with the rest and would be suddenly quite interested in food and would eat eat eat, mostly of the spilled stuff off the ground but occasionally out of the feeder too. but still she ignored the 3 nipple waterers. mind you, the first couple days they were all drinking out of the nipple waterers without a problem. so i kept manually giving her water. towards the end of the night yesterday she seemed much more energetic and i saw her take a drink or two on her own. this morning she is back to yesterday mornings behavior and i'm back to manually watering her. when she gets water in her, she seems to have more energy for a little while. she will eat and then take a nap. but if i don't water her, she is back to just standing around.
the other thing she is doing is trilling like crazy at times. she will just be eating and trilling or trilling and walking around. it does not sound like a happy cheep that is for sure. but there is also nothing actually scaring her.
also, none of the chicks are picking on her or keeping her from either food or water.
her poop is either small but relatively normal or just a couple flecks of stuff and a load of water, i presume that is what chick diarrhea looks like?
at this point she is looking smaller than the rest of the light brahmas though her feathers seem to be growing in like theirs.
my husband and i have surmised that maybe she has a fever, though i feel like that would make her more thirsty and she neither avoids nor is particularly attracted to the light. i dunno.
any suggestions?
i have a 6 day old light brahma in a flock of 8 brahmas and barred rocks who hasn't been doing very well the last couple of days. yesterday morning i noticed she was just sorta standing around, eyes drooping, while the rest were going crazy around her. i kept checking back in every hour or so for a few hours before i started putting her in my lap and feeding her from a spoon. as her head would bob downwards in tiredness, her beak would hit the spoon and she would pop her head up and glug a bit down. after doing this about every half hour for a little while, she would go back in with the rest and would be suddenly quite interested in food and would eat eat eat, mostly of the spilled stuff off the ground but occasionally out of the feeder too. but still she ignored the 3 nipple waterers. mind you, the first couple days they were all drinking out of the nipple waterers without a problem. so i kept manually giving her water. towards the end of the night yesterday she seemed much more energetic and i saw her take a drink or two on her own. this morning she is back to yesterday mornings behavior and i'm back to manually watering her. when she gets water in her, she seems to have more energy for a little while. she will eat and then take a nap. but if i don't water her, she is back to just standing around.
the other thing she is doing is trilling like crazy at times. she will just be eating and trilling or trilling and walking around. it does not sound like a happy cheep that is for sure. but there is also nothing actually scaring her.
also, none of the chicks are picking on her or keeping her from either food or water.
her poop is either small but relatively normal or just a couple flecks of stuff and a load of water, i presume that is what chick diarrhea looks like?
at this point she is looking smaller than the rest of the light brahmas though her feathers seem to be growing in like theirs.
my husband and i have surmised that maybe she has a fever, though i feel like that would make her more thirsty and she neither avoids nor is particularly attracted to the light. i dunno.
any suggestions?
