I think I know what's wrong, Help Baby chick is acting strange

[Miss Lydia]

Please keep us updated on how your little chick is doing

 

[Minniechickmama]

I don't want you to overload her on extra stuff, but have you tried PolyViSol? WITHOUT iron. Some people swear by it. I use it if I get sluggish chick, but it doesn't always work. If the sugar water helps, then I would keep her drinking a bit of it. I wouldn't want to overdo that either. I personally have never been able to save a chick like that. In fact, I just lost one yesterday with the same symptoms who was about 5 days old. Given all the things that could go wrong, it is amazing how many of them actually live.
Good luck with it.

 

[Lacrystol]

I have not tried the Polyvisol, right now the only thing I have her on is chicken starter food and sulmet diluted with water according to directions. When I checked on her this morning, her poop was starting to get solid, it was more like pasty, not running, it's been day 5 now. Yesterday I did give her some whole milk which seemed to help her as far as drinking, because after i gave her the milk she sat next to the water bowl for about 5 minutes and just drank, drank, drank...

I was wondering I have electrolyte water should I be mixing the Sulmet with that instead of regular water? I think since I'm seeing her poop starting to get solid, I will just continue to keep doing what we are doing and hope for more improvements.

She's the coolest little chick, her face is so puffy you can't see her eyes. I have been taken water and pulling back her feathers so she can see. She's a Silkie. She doesn't have swelling just lots of baby feathers around her head and cheeks, so much they cover her face. hee hee. She doesn't have the jumpy attitude yet like the other 8. One little noise and they are all yelling at me and scattering around... She's more on the calm side, she'll look up to see what's going on and that's about it. not skittish..

I have been trying to think of a cool name for her since she is going through soo much but coming up with blanks.. I already have one silkie name Lucky..

 

[crossgirl]

How is your chickie? Did you try the vitamins? Did you add the Sulmet to electrolyte water? I found the thread while searching for the sugar/water ratio. I have a puny silkie too. She's a week to ten days old and was doing just fine until a couple days ago and now seems to be losing all his energy. No blood in his stool which varies from really runny to pasty. I have to clean his tushie at least twice a day and am now going to cut his fluff and apply vaseline. His beak looks slightly different than his brooder mates and I worry that he's not getting enough to eat. He seems weak and lethargic. This morning I found him on his back and thought he'd died in the night but he was okay. My boyfriend checked on him all day and he stayed upright but now this afternoon he's tipping over on his side. I'm going to buy the vitamins tomorrow, I hope it's not too late. Boyfriend went to the store but they didn't have any without iron. I've ground the chick starter up hoping it will be easier to eat than crumbles but I really don't know that lack of food is his problem. Just guessing from his weakened condition. Any advice would be appreciated. The othe two chicks which are about the same age are a little heavier and very active.

 

[Lacrystol]

I'm really sorry to hear about your chick, I did put my on vitamins, it did not help at all. Is your chick kind of bow legged. Between the leggs mine got bigger and bigger, when she did pass I pressed down on it and all this fluid came out of her mouth. If I could change things I would laid off water and vitamins for a day and just have her eat has much as she wanted. I can't say for sure if it would have helped but I think the food could or would help absorb the fluids that my little chick had inside. I put mine on antibotics again it didn't help her. Just as soon as I thought she was getting better things got worst.. I could not tell you what the cause was for her to get so bloated and full of fluid, I'm only sad that I couldn't solve or help her more so that she would be here today.. Keep your chick warm and quiet, I separated mine away from the others in case she had some they could get. I basically put her in a box that was inside the box with the others, this way she was with the others but couldn't touch them. Mine never fell on her back but did walk like she was drunk. When she stood still her head would kind of do circles, she would always have it on one side. Don't mix the sulmet with the electrolyte water, if you give him sulmet do it as the directions permit, only give him maybe a drop at a time, mine got more because when I would touch her beak she would stick her beak into the dropper hole and drink on her own. I thought this was a good thing, I'm thinking perhaps mine had a kidney failure or something because of how much water was inside her, it seemed like it was staying there and not exiting... Mine started off with bloody runny pop but as several days went by it started to clear up. In fact about two days before she died it was completely normal, solid with the white spot. I did give her whole milk because i read that milk helps coats the stomach so that they can eat better. If your is not eating try a drop of milk then see if he eats..between the vitamins, sulmet, milk and water. it's no wonder mine was so full of fluids. ha ha.. Mine survived for 6 days, I have read if they can make it past day 14 chances of surviving is good. So hang in there, it's really hard to watch them exspecially when they do the roller coaster ride and that is seem to get better then not then get better then not... Let me know if there's anything I can help you with, I do hope yours can come out of it...

 

[crossgirl]

Thank you for responding. Mine doesn't sound anything like yours. He was the most robust and then he slowly faded until he would just stand in a daze and then later fall over and not get up. Like he was really weak. I noticed his beak wasn't like the other chicks and watched him eat and think maybe he couldn't eat the crumbles and perhaps was wasting away. I ended up grinding the food and he was eating like a champ and drinking the sugar water but maybe it was just too late. He was my favorite too.

 

[Lacrystol]

so sorry to hear about your little chick, it's hard when you get attached and it's real easy to get attached..

 

[Hennypenny99!]

I woukd section off the brooder for now. You dont want ur weak chick getting trappled or killed by the other active chicks. I would just keep hand f eeding her and giving her apple cider viniger water or electrolight water. And when u section off the brooder make sure everyone gets the heat lamp and can get away from it. It could kill them if they r there to long or away to long. Sorry i wasnt much of a great help but good luck, i wish the best for u and the little chick