I NEED HELP! BABY CHICK FADING!

[debster1556]

5 week old chick, runt, footpad dermatitus, first day out with the adult flock. They have been pecking on him I can tell. There is a new bald spot on his head. He is off by himself shaking his head and just wanting to sleep. Fluffed out feathers too. Poor little thing. It will eat if I put out soupy chick starter. I tried offering mashed hard boiled egg, took a few bites now trying to sleep
Can I bring it in and put it in a crate with a heating pad? Or will it die from lonliness?
HELP!

 

[debster1556]

Also I just now checked for mites and can't find anything. It's poo is totally normal too. We have been switching between sulmet and multi vitamins in everyone's water.

 

[debster1556]

HELLO???????

 

[StewedMammal]

Yes I would bring the chick inside. I think 5 weeks is too soon to introduce the chicks with the adults. Give him food and water until they are eating on their own (if they aren't) and let them grow their feathers back. I would wait until the chick is at least 8 weeks old before you introduce him back with the adults.

 

[StewedMammal]

Check out this webpage for information on how to help with the chick's feet http://animalwelfareapproved.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/TAFS7.pdf.

 

[Eggcessive]

If he is alone with adults I would bring him in or put him in his own crate with food and water out in the coop. Are their other sblings he can be with? How long have you treated with Sulmet, and was it for cocci? Is he puffed up like he is cold? He may still need a heat lamp while he is sick keeping the thermometer on his floor 80 degrees.

 

[debster1556]

I can put him in his own pen that is within the main coop. He has shivered since the day he was born. Even if I hold him all wrapped up in warm towels, he still shivers. He sleeps under his mommas wings at night. She went broody and hatched them the 4 th of July.
He was starting to limp today and then didn't seem to want to stand, even using his wings for balance. So I'm thinking, oh no, this is it.
I pick him up and one of the bottoms of his foot has been a little red, on top of everything else going on with his feet. Well, when I checked it, it seems really tender. Looks like a tiny scab but loose. I picked one end of it up and underneath, it looks like a mixture of poo and dirt. Poor little thing. I brought him in, stuck him in the bathroom sink covering his feet and let him soak. Then took a qtip and tried to get as much filth out as I could. Then covered it with neosporin, the regular kind, no pain killers, and wrapped it with gauze and vet wrap. He is now back in the smaller coop with his siblings and momma. I wish he would turn the corner and get better. I wonder if that nasty on his foot has been causing some of the other symptoms like puffing up and sleepy.

 

[Suzie]

I would give him amprolium/'corid as a precaution..no harm in treating him for a possible cocci infection...

If he is off balance ..try him with some Vitamin B...maybe he has a vitamin deficiency.

How did his foot look after you bathed it? Any black scab? If so..he may have a bumblefoot infection...

Keep updating with his symptoms...

 

[debster1556]

Yesterday we got sulmet and I've been adding a teaspoon to about a quart of water. He can't seem to really walk that well.
So originally we were treating him for footpad dermatitus. He had a really bad case of it.
We were applying lamisil and betadine. Over the past couple of weeks, there have been days where he actually looked like he was making progress.
He's always beena little slower than his siblings but starting yesterday or maybe day before he has not been moving around much, like he doesn't want to. And when I put him on the perch to doctor his feet, he would close his eyes and puff up.
Today he has been doing that ALOT! Hardly moving unless he has to.
Last night was the first night that him and his siblings spent on the perch with the big kids. Everything looked fine this morning. He was still under mommas wing where we left him last night.
We put them all out in the run this morning. Weather has been mid 70s so it's not cold and shortly after thati found him hiding away from the others. His right foot has been red and a little warmer than the other foot for a couple of days. I thought it was part of the foot pad dermatitus.
I could not see any open cuts or swelling, just redness.
When I picked him up this morning tho, that foot seemed particularly sensitive. That's when I noticed some skin like a flattened blister. So I picked at the edge of the skin and it lifted right up and inside this blister looking thing was dirt and possibly poo.
I brought him in for a soak in warm water, cleaned it out as best I could with a qtip, then put neosporin and vet wrap on it. He still doesn't walk right, like both feet hurt. I don't want to keep handling him, he needs a break, at least for today anyways!
He eats medicated chick starter,
Sulmet and vitamins alternated daily in the water. Pine shavings changed daily for bedding.
We even tried blukote on his feet so now he looks like he's part smurf!
His poo seems fine and he seems to have a good appetite.

 

[cafarmgirl]

Sulmet can be pretty harsh on them. If it's possible the foot is infected I'd probably go with an oral or injected antibiotic and nix the Sulmet. If your worried about possible coccidiosis a course of Corid certainly won't hurt and is so much gentler on them. I'd get a needless syringe with some hydrogen peroxide and really squirt it into that foot blister to clean it out really well. Then more Neosporin and a wrap.