HELP sick chick not eating/drinking, lethargic, congested - what do I pick up at the feed store?

[jojomojo]

Not sure what to do. I just got my first ever chicks yesterday. Two have been going downhill since.

One (that will open her beak now and then for me) has some labored breathing, panting, not too mobile but does move in and out of the heat when she wants, poops are somewhat dry, no pasty butt. A couple of times she's had a little burst of energy and bounced around a bit, but it was short lived.

The other has been standing and sleeping all day, lethargic I'd say. I've been trying to get her to eat or drink with a syringe (tried sugar water, tried watered down starter) and she won't open her beak at all (put a drop on the side of her beak). She just sleeps. Only time I noticed her poop was around 6pm (1.5 hrs ago) - it was very watery & with a little bright yellow. I think the most I've managed to get into her is maybe 10 drops.

With the first one I will just keep trying syringe feeding every hour. I will have my husband pick up poly-vi-sol (without iron, right?) and check PetCo for baby parrot food (exact brand? saw a post suggesting this). Should I have him pick up pedialyte as well?

What do I do with a little chickie that won't open its beak at all? This is the syringe I'm using....is there something else I should be using?

edited to add....that's not the exact syringe I'm using. I'm using one for people (for baby meds)....is there a huge difference in size?

 

[jojomojo]

The sickest chick died The other is perking up though, running around with the rest, drinking & eating...breathing is still a little labored though.

 

[jojomojo]

I think the problem is a respiratory issue. The chick I mentioned in the first post is doing better, but still has somewhat labored breathing.

I'm really worried about another that has gone downhill today. Here's the info (sorry, didn't read the sticky before my original post!)

1) What type of bird , age and weight (does the chicken seem or feel lighter or thinner than the others.)
black bantam silkie, 4 days, not sure on weight, but clearly behind the other silkie we got.
2) What is the behavior, exactly.
standing in the warmest corner, sleeping standing up, labored breathing, "clicking" noise when breathing (like congestion, from the nares I think)
3) How long has the bird been exhibiting symptoms?
about the last 12 hours.
4) Are other birds exhibiting the same symptoms?
yes, the one that died (lethargic, standing sleeping), and the one that seems on the mend (labored breathing mostly), neither sounded congested
5) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma.
no
6) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation.
7) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all.
was able to get her to eat/drink a little water/starter mix with polyvisol. starter is a medicated starter/grower.
8) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc.
clear, like water
9) What has been the treatment you have administered so far?
encouragement to drink/eat with vitamins, heading to the store tomorrow to pick whatever I need!
10 ) What is your intent as far as treatment? For example, do you want to treat completely yourself, or do you need help in stabilizing the bird til you can get to a vet?
11) If you have a picture of the wound or condition, please post it. It may help.
12) Describe the housing/bedding in use
still on paper towels over newspaper, changed several times a day. brooder is about 3.5' x 2.5' for 11 chicks.

I plan on picking up electrolytes at the store tomorrow. I have some children's unflavored pedialyte at the moment. Do I need to pick up an antibiotic? I've read lots of threads and suggestions for them, but not sure which to get. Do I treat them all?

I really want to save this little girl My five year old immediately attached herself to the two silkies we got (named them Layla & Falulah).

 

[jojomojo]

Well, that one is dead too

I'm going to give this thread one last try.....

I went to the feed store and picked up Corid, powdered vitamins & electrolytes (durvet), powdered Duramycin-10, and Nutri-drench. I have no clue if I got the right stuff, but I wanted to be prepared. So far the only thing I've given the chicks is 1/2 strength nutri-drench in the waterer and used a few drops in their "treat" (soaked starter with vitamins to encourage them to stay fed & hydrated).

A couple of the chicks has very runny brown poop, not sure which ones. Two have a little "clicking" noise coming from their nares (both black copper marans, one of these does have runny poop, same breed that was DOA). And now the other silkie seems a little off (didn't join in today's treat, staying under the warmth where the others spread out all over, may be the one with runny poop).

Any suggestions?

 

[speckledhen]

Where did you get these chicks, first of all, hatchery direct, feedstore, individual? Did someone sell you sick birds? Or were these shipped to you from a hatchery and these were just weak?

You're not going to like what I'm about to say here. If these are your first chicks and they have something respiratory, euthanize them, then disinfect everything they came in contact with and start over. I'm dead serious. However, sometimes, shipping can be very hard on chicks and some just will not make it.

DO NOT give antibiotics! That will not fix your issues. Vitamins are fine, but you have no idea if it's viral, bacterial or whatever. Antibiotics will not fix a respiratory disease that leaves the bird a carrier. If they were hatched with or contracted something like Chronic Respiratory Disease/Mycoplasmosis, they cannot be permanently cured.

 

[Erica]

Hi jojomojo,
so sorry you've been losing chicks.

My first thought with the panting was that the brooder may be too hot. The clicking could be from dehydration of the membranes. However your description of chicks willingly going under the lamp doesn't suggest this. Just to check, is there a 'cool corner' they can go to if the rest of the brooder is too hot? Do you mind describing the setup (e.g. size of brooder, what kind of box e.g. plastic tub?, how strong is the lamp?). Brooder issues would be a common cause of quick death in little ones (ahead of the disease type things in most cases, but not always).

It's fairly unusual for a respiratory disease to hit so soon and so devastatingly, though it's possible. The obvious sign would be mucus, which the chicks would tend to wipe over one another so you'd see damp fluff in places.

If these things are ruled out then it's also possible they were chilled in transit (I'm not sure how far they had to come) and their organs are slowly failing (which can happen up to a week later). However if they're active and well mostly then again this doesn't seem likely.

A fourth possibility that strikes me (and I'm no expert!) is that they hatched in a contaminated incubator and so the losses (particularly the odd chick huddling near the heat and refusing to eat) might be due to septicemia from the navel coming into contact with germs. This can kill chicks many days after hatching even if they appear well at first. However in my experience they tend to drink a lot in this case, without eating (and they try to huddle near the heat and chirp a lot).

Whatever the case, losing chicks (especially when this is your first time!) is terrible. So sorry this is happening. I hope this helps a little,
Erica

Edit: Took me ages to type so I entered this without noticing speckledhen's post. If it's definitely respiratory, I'm afraid I agree totally.

 

[jojomojo]

Thank you for the replies!

Where did you get these chicks, first of all, hatchery direct, feedstore, individual? Did someone sell you sick birds? Or were these shipped to you from a hatchery and these were just weak?

You're not going to like what I'm about to say here. If these are your first chicks and they have something respiratory, euthanize them, then disinfect everything they came in contact with and start over. I'm dead serious. However, sometimes, shipping can be very hard on chicks and some just will not make it.

DO NOT give antibiotics! That will not fix your issues. Vitamins are fine, but you have no idea if it's viral, bacterial or whatever. Antibiotics will not fix a respiratory disease that leaves the bird a carrier. If they were hatched with or contracted something like Chronic Respiratory Disease/Mycoplasmosis, they cannot be permanently cured.

I got these from MPC, delivered Tuesday.

I agree about the abx, but I thought it would be good to have in my "chickie first aid kit". This is why I've only been giving vitamins for the time being.

Hi jojomojo,
so sorry you've been losing chicks.

My first thought with the panting was that the brooder may be too hot. The clicking could be from dehydration of the membranes. However your description of chicks willingly going under the lamp doesn't suggest this. Just to check, is there a 'cool corner' they can go to if the rest of the brooder is too hot? Do you mind describing the setup (e.g. size of brooder, what kind of box e.g. plastic tub?, how strong is the lamp?). Brooder issues would be a common cause of quick death in little ones (ahead of the disease type things in most cases, but not always).

It's fairly unusual for a respiratory disease to hit so soon and so devastatingly, though it's possible. The obvious sign would be mucus, which the chicks would tend to wipe over one another so you'd see damp fluff in places.

If these things are ruled out then it's also possible they were chilled in transit (I'm not sure how far they had to come) and their organs are slowly failing (which can happen up to a week later). However if they're active and well mostly then again this doesn't seem likely.

A fourth possibility that strikes me (and I'm no expert!) is that they hatched in a contaminated incubator and so the losses (particularly the odd chick huddling near the heat and refusing to eat) might be due to septicemia from the navel coming into contact with germs. This can kill chicks many days after hatching even if they appear well at first. However in my experience they tend to drink a lot in this case, without eating (and they try to huddle near the heat and chirp a lot).

Whatever the case, losing chicks (especially when this is your first time!) is terrible. So sorry this is happening. I hope this helps a little,
Erica

Edit: Took me ages to type so I entered this without noticing speckledhen's post. If it's definitely respiratory, I'm afraid I agree totally.

The brooder is about 3.5 x 2.5 ft. The cool end of the brooder runs somewhere in the low-mid 80's, the warm end has a couple of warm spots around 92-94 depending on the time of day, but mostly around 90-91 (I'm using an infrared thermometer, point & push the button). Based on poop, every inch of the brooder is used at some point lol. All of the strong chicks happily run all over (and don't favor any one spot which tells me they find the right temp when they need it).

Any telltale signs that this is respiratory? I have not seen any sign of mucus anywhere, not even on the two chicks with the clicking noise.

Here's the brooder. Its made of plywood, primed & painted and aired out for several days, there is no paint smell. This couldn't be it could it? I did a lot of reading before deciding to paint (for ease of cleanup). I was afraid the fumes might be harmful, but everything I read said it would be perfectly fine. I'll feel so bad if I killed these little chickies with paint fumes I have several layers of newspaper lining the bottom & a couple layers of paper towels over that (that I change at least 3 times a day, we're about to switch to shavings or pellets). It is in our mudroom/laundry room (no AC vent, I open a couple of windows for a little ventilation, but brooder temps stay stable). That's a 250 watt bulb, its clamped & ziptied to the "leg" of the shelf behind it (I have an ecoglow on the way, the bulb makes me nervous).

 

[jojomojo]

Just remembered one more thing that seemed off (this thread reminded me). Her chest felt similar...."water balloonish", no definite shape, just across the general chest area felt "fat". Having no experience with chickens, I wasn't sure if that was normal or not. The other silkie didn't feel the same.

 

[moomoodiddy]

When you get chicks from places some of will always die and the ones that are sick you need to seperate so i doesnt spread anymore and dont give them to much medicine if they are meant to survive they will medicine could even make it worse

 

[jojomojo]

When you get chicks from places some of will always die and the ones that are sick you need to seperate so i doesnt spread anymore and dont give them to much medicine if they are meant to survive they will medicine could even make it worse

Yeah, I expected to lose one or two. I ordered a few more than I actually wanted to keep. We've lost 3 and now 3 more are seeming a little off (silkie & two BCM, the welsummer I posted about first seems much much better), makes me nervous. When the ecoglow gets here tomorrow, I can set up a sick brooder if needed, right now I just have the one bulb.