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- #11
- Oct 4, 2017
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I noticed yesterday that she was sleeping more and not eating and drinking as much as the other chicks.
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The symptoms you're describing are all similar to what I went through last week with one of my own hatched chicks... Does your chick show any other symptoms than some of these ones?
- toe curling
- incoordination
- reluctance to move
- reluctance to stand or walk
- weakness
- sitting on hocks
- slow growth despite good appetite
- using wings to walk
- diarrhea
Mine had diarrhea (pasty butt, poop was brownish-red to pearly white and even sometimes transparent, I had to clean the chick's bum several times a day for several days in a row), incoordination, general weakness, sat on its hocks, didn't want to move, stand or walk, was very chilly and breathed (literally) like a fish. It also didn't want to eat or drink, and spent most of its days sleeping under the mama heating pad, struggling to breathe.
If your chick has any of these symptoms, then it most likely has a deficiency in vitamin B2, aka Riboflavin. And this almost always results from riboflavin-deficient parents bred together. Thankfully this is a treatable problem, most easily done by diluting a vitamin sachet for day-old chicks into the chick waterer so everyone can drink it down. Check your local poultry store for them, if you live in the USA those day-old chick sachets should be very easy to find.
To resume my own experience and how I ended up tackling this problem:
Hatch Day - Broody mama hen took care of that part.
Day 1 to Day 3 - I didn't intervene before day 3 because the yolk from the hatching egg sustains a newborn chick for up to three days after hatch. When it became obvious the distressed chick couldn't follow mama hen around and was not interested in eating/drinking even when I took it and placed it alongside its clucking and eating mother so she could show it how to eat in the chick feeder, I took the chick back and put it in the brooder I had in my house. I also improvised a mama heating pad to keep it warm. Lastly, I put it on raw egg yolk and water until further notice. (0.5 ml/cc of raw egg yolk + 0.5 ml/cc of water every 2-3 hours each day through a syringe. More than that and the chick would vomit from an overfilled crop.)
Day 3 to Day 5 - The water and raw egg yolk routine helped sustain the chick, but as the days passed, it became clear it was not enough, and while the chick would amble around on hocks to drink by itself maybe all of once or twice a day, it was still uninterested in eating. So, I started looking up the internet at what might be wrong with my chick. That's how I found out that Riboflavin deficiency was the most probable cause behind my chick's suffering. Thankfully I had a vitamin sachet somewhere in my closet from a purchase done last year at a local poultry store, so I took the unused sachet and put it to good use this time around.
Day 6 - The tiny sachet I had on hand was meant for very large batches of chicks, so I had to narrow down quite a bit how much I needed to treat 1 single chick. Then I used an electric balance that measured grams to get my wanted dosage and diluted the vitamins in the chick's water. To help kick start the process, I used the syringe to help it drink the vitamined water along with (and sometimes in-between) the raw egg yolk treatments. Mind you I increased the daily egg and water dosages by eye, because chicks grow fast and I had to make sure to follow that growth rate. Thankfully my chick never vomited after the first day I put it in the brooder, so that means I never overfilled its crop again. Mom also put down a little mirror in the brooder so the chick wouldn't be lonely; this turned out to be a lifesaver, because chicks left alone for too long will let themselves die. I also did my best to stimulate the chick by taking it out of the brooder twice a day to spend small periods of time with us long-legged creatures that just won't leave it to sleep in peace. xD.
Day 7 to Day 10 - 12 hours after introducing my chick to vitamined water through the syringe, it was up on wobbly legs and walking properly for the first time of its life around the brooder. It almost didn't use its hocks anymore. Despite this I kept my chick on raw egg yolk until the middle of Day 8, where it had enough energy and spiel to angrily shake its head and send egg yolk drops flying every which way. When I saw it was much more interested in gobbling up chick feed, I stopped the egg yolk, but the vitamined water remained. I stopped using the syringe altogether by Day 9, and by Day 10 the chick was back with its mother in the coop.
Day 10 to today and onward - I'm keeping the whole family on vitamined water until I am extra sure my little peep will not spiral into another deficiency again. So far it is doing great.
The only thing to hint at the chick's rough birth is its stalled growth, which is to be expected since it didn't have the best start in life. But apart that, plus an obvious preference for heat and being a little late to understand mama's food and drink signals as it has 10 days of communication skills to catch up to? The chick is behaving just like any other chicks now. I have good hopes it will survive to adulthood now.
So, put your chick on hand-fed (syringe) raw egg yolk (exclude the white part of the egg, and check regularly to make sure the egg yolk you're using is still edible because they unfortunately expire fast, around every two days or so!). Sustain it by hand on those yolks until you can find a vitamin sachet for day-old chicks at your local poultry store. Once you find that, dilute the proper amount of vitamins into the chick waterer (so all your chicks can benefit from it) and help your sick chick back to its feet by regularly hand-feeding it the vitamined water. If it has vitamin deficiencies, it should get better in an astonishingly short amount of time. Make sure and double sure the chick is well able -and interested- to regularly eat and drink on its own before you stop all syringe intervention. Don't forget to wet, clean and dry its pasty butt several times a day, as gulping down raw egg yolk is guaranteed to give it loose, smeary smelling poop. And unless your chick has other problems waiting to show their ugly heads, it should be out of trouble once its back on its feet and eating/drinking normally again.
So, don't give up hope with your little peep, I'm sure it is still salvageable!
(And for more info about riboflavin deficiency, read it here!)
Would anyone suggest treating for coccidiosis as she has developed pasty butt and it looks like she has blood in her stool.