Ill Chick, what do I do?

[Sapphire-Roz]

This is the first time my family has raised chicks, my father has raised them before but we don’t know what to do about this one chick.

She is a Silver Polish, the only one of our group of chicks but it doesn’t seem like the other chicks have picked on her at all, she is also smaller than the rest. Anyway we noticed around afternoon that she was sleeping pretty hard, not even stirring when the other chicks ran past or accidentally stepped on her. We quickly separated her from the others (also changing the bedding to paper toweling just in case she is sick with something) and noticed that she was breathing faster than the other chicks. Not only that but she could barely lift her head, she wouldn’t open her eyes even when we picked her up, she wasn’t strong enough to eat or drink anything by herself. I immediately checked her rear and cleaned the poop off that was stuck to her but she still wasn’t able to relieve herself. We have been using bottle caps to bring Sugar water to her beak to help her drink, which she is. After a while I was told that letting her bottom soak for a minute or two in lukewarm water will help her to break down constipation which it worked and she was a little stronger, able to move a bit on her own, she became a little more active in our hands with small movements but she is still unable to stand on her own and she still won’t open her eyes and laying limp.

Is there anything else we can do for her? Has anyone else have the problem and what helped? She’s one of our favorite chicks and we want to help her make it through this alive!

 

[MGG]

This is the first time my family has raised chicks, my father has raised them before but we don’t know what to do about this one chick.

She is a Silver Polish, the only one of our group of chicks but it doesn’t seem like the other chicks have picked on her at all, she is also smaller than the rest. Anyway we noticed around afternoon that she was sleeping pretty hard, not even stirring when the other chicks ran past or accidentally stepped on her. We quickly separated her from the others (also changing the bedding to paper toweling just in case she is sick with something) and noticed that she was breathing faster than the other chicks. Not only that but she could barely lift her head, she wouldn’t open her eyes even when we picked her up, she wasn’t strong enough to eat or drink anything by herself. I immediately checked her rear and cleaned the poop off that was stuck to her but she still wasn’t able to relieve herself. We have been using bottle caps to bring Sugar water to her beak to help her drink, which she is. After a while I was told that letting her bottom soak for a minute or two in lukewarm water will help her to break down constipation which it worked and she was a little stronger, able to move a bit on her own, she became a little more active in our hands with small movements but she is still unable to stand on her own and she still won’t open her eyes and laying limp.

Is there anything else we can do for her? Has anyone else have the problem and what helped? She’s one of our favorite chicks and we want to help her make it through this alive!

Give her some molasses off of your finger. This will soften the stool, and gives them a boost of energy. Did you hatch these chicks? If not, where exactly did you get them? How old is she? Can you get pics of her, your setup, and her poop? Is a vet an option?

 

[Sapphire-Roz]

Give her some molasses off of your finger. This will soften the stool, and gives them a boost of energy. Did you hatch these chicks? If not, where exactly did you get them? How old is she? Can you get pics of her, your setup, and her poop? Is a vet an option?

Thank you for your response and help, unfortunately she passed early this morning in our hands as we were helping her, we didn’t get to try the molasses in time. I will keep this in mind next time. We didn’t hatch the chicks, we got our chicks from Hoover’s Hatchery The rest seem fine and healthy so we would order from them again. She was only a week old. If you have any other suggestion in case this happens again I would love to hear.

 

[MGG]

Thank you for your response and help, unfortunately she passed early this morning in our hands as we were helping her, we didn’t get to try the molasses in time. I will keep this in mind next time. We didn’t hatch the chicks, we got our chicks from Hoover’s Hatchery The rest seem fine and healthy so we would order from them again. She was only a week old. If you have any other suggestion in case this happens again I would love to hear.

Oh. The shipping was probably just too much for her. Or maybe she had a genetic issue, or a internal development issue. Sometimes when they're incubating an important organ or something forms wrong. I doubt it was anything you did, and I doubt there was anything you could have done. I'm sorry for your loss. If you're really interested in finding out what happened, you could send her to your state lab for a necropsy.