HELP! !Something is wrong with my chick!!!

[hannah1999]

Our chickens hatched some babies the other day, and we needed to clean out the coop so we moves the chicks and her mother to another coop, and I began to clean out the old shavings. As I got to the nesting area, I shovelled some shavings and as I pulled back, a chick was on my shovel (she was underneath all of the wood shavings!!) She looked to be dead, neck and body completely limp, and her eyes were closed, no movements whatsoever. But, after a couple minutes she appeared to be gagging, and kept giving off slight twitches or movement. My mom told me to leave her, but I went and placed her with the mother and the other chicks. After awhile, I decided to take her out as she was getting stepped on quite a bit. I took her into my room, and placed her in a small box with a towel and placed her under a heat lamp I have in my room (obviously a safe distance away). I put small drops of water down her throat, and that seemed to help. In about an hour, she had begun shaking, almost as if she was having a seizure. Her legs were shaking frantically, and I assumed it was the end for her. After awhile, she began chirping. And then, she managed to get up. It is now 7:45PM and she is so lively, chirping, drinking, attempting to eat chick food. She is cuddled up against me right now, acting normal. The only thing is, she is extremely clumsy, and has trouble walking. She doesn't seem to be in any pain, just has problems staying balanced and often flops over. When attempting to eat, she always misses the food and puts her beak somewhere else. Her poop is a bright green colour. Can someone tell me what this could be? Also, what do I feed her and when do you think I should put her back with the others?

 

[TNchickies]

hannah1999, you are doing a great job Continue to help her drink if you can. She may be clumsy for a while, but this should go away as she gets older. Feed her the chick food if she can eat it; if not, make a mash out of chick food and water (a pasty mash). It seems like this is all a side-effect of what she has been through. Good luck to you!

 

[hannah1999]

Thank you so much Should I place her back with the other chicks or wait until she can walk properly?

 

[TNchickies]

If you want, you can keep her separated until she can properly walk. But be sure that she stays warm enough! The temp for the first week of life should be 95 degrees (NO MORE), and then bumped down 5 degrees per week. Example: 0-7 days (95 degrees), 7-14 days (90 degrees), 14-21 days (85 degrees), ect, until you are at 80 degrees or so. If you put her with the rest (whom i assume are with the mother,) then you shouldn't need artificial heat (unless it's freezing where the hen will be). And no prob, always here to help!