- Sep 11, 2011
- 23
- 0
- 22
I have a 3 month old chick who is suddenly very weak and lethargic this morning. So weak she won't eat and can barely hold her head up. A quick exam showed
no obvious trauma and respiratory rate seems about normal. Her crop is empty so I gave her some oral dextrose just in case she's hypoglycemic for some reason... that was just a few minutes ago so I'll know if that helped in a few minutes. I also gave her a heat lamp. She's housed in a stall with access to an outdoor pen. She has other chicks in with her who are all acting normal. I switched food about two weeks ago and most of the flock isn't eating as much (the new diet is wheat based and is corn and soy free) so I've been sprinkling in some scratch to keep them eating, but no other changes. I have lots of emergency medications and some vet tech skills but I just don't know where to begin with a sick chicken. I'm pretty sure this bird is not long for this world but I want to try something. Any thoughts?
no obvious trauma and respiratory rate seems about normal. Her crop is empty so I gave her some oral dextrose just in case she's hypoglycemic for some reason... that was just a few minutes ago so I'll know if that helped in a few minutes. I also gave her a heat lamp. She's housed in a stall with access to an outdoor pen. She has other chicks in with her who are all acting normal. I switched food about two weeks ago and most of the flock isn't eating as much (the new diet is wheat based and is corn and soy free) so I've been sprinkling in some scratch to keep them eating, but no other changes. I have lots of emergency medications and some vet tech skills but I just don't know where to begin with a sick chicken. I'm pretty sure this bird is not long for this world but I want to try something. Any thoughts?