lethargic chick, green poop covering her rear

[Tammys kevin]

i have a week old rir chick, she is always standing with her eyes closed and cheeping, she wont drink much, but shes eating a little, her rear is covered in green poop, i washed it away but it came back, she's always trying to snuggle under my hands like shes cold, so i put a lamp on their cage during the day which shes always under, my silkie sits on them at night, any ideas what may be wrong? im hoping to avoid a visit to the vet as its a $60 consult fee

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

At one week old she needs to be kept at 85-90 degrees at all times, unless her broody hen is covering her all day, on and off whenever she gets cold (staying with her mama at all times). The general rule is 90-95 degrees for the first week of life and decrease by 5 degrees per week until fully feathered, usually around 6 weeks old.
If mama hen isn't doing a good job of covering her during the day, then the heat lamp will take care of her. Make sure it is warm enough and that she has room to get away from the heat in case she gets too hot.

They cheep when they are cold. They can also cheep constantly when they have coccidiosis.

One problem that many chicks get is coccidiosis - treatable with Corid or Sulmet (corid treats more strains of it).
Signs are lethargy, won't eat or drink, acts cold with feathers fluffed up, sits by herself in corner and may or may not have bloody poo. May or may not have diarrhea. Can kill the chick within 24 hours.

Medicated feed is supposed to prevent this but doesn't always prevent it. Corid is in the cattle section of the feed store and I give my chicks the 9.6% solution. I give 9.5 ml per gallon of drinking water for 5-7 days, mixing new solution daily. You should see improvement within 24 hours from my experience if it was coccidiosis.

So if the heat lamp is really nice and hot the way it should be at the right temp, and the poor little thing keeps cheeping and won't eat or drink, keeping her eyes closed, you might consider treating for coccidiosis just in case.

 

[loveourbirds]

At one week old she needs to be kept at 85-90 degrees at all times, unless her broody hen is covering her all day, on and off whenever she gets cold (staying with her mama at all times). The general rule is 90-95 degrees for the first week of life and decrease by 5 degrees per week until fully feathered, usually around 6 weeks old.
If mama hen isn't doing a good job of covering her during the day, then the heat lamp will take care of her. Make sure it is warm enough and that she has room to get away from the heat in case she gets too hot.

They cheep when they are cold. They can also cheep constantly when they have coccidiosis.

One problem that many chicks get is coccidiosis - treatable with Corid or Sulmet (corid treats more strains of it).
Signs are lethargy, won't eat or drink, acts cold with feathers fluffed up, sits by herself in corner and may or may not have bloody poo. May or may not have diarrhea. Can kill the chick within 24 hours.

Medicated feed is supposed to prevent this but doesn't always prevent it. Corid is in the cattle section of the feed store and I give my chicks the 9.6% solution. I give 9.5 ml per gallon of drinking water for 5-7 days, mixing new solution daily. You should see improvement within 24 hours from my experience if it was coccidiosis.

So if the heat lamp is really nice and hot the way it should be at the right temp, and the poor little thing keeps cheeping and won't eat or drink, keeping her eyes closed, you might consider treating for coccidiosis just in case.

this is a pretty good post.

make sure that chick is staying warm, a chilled chick will also get poop on their bottom. when this happens separate them, make sure they stay warm, add some sugar to their water and they usually perk up quickly. if they don't then cocci is more than likely the problem. if your not using a medicated starter switch to one, and give corid.

 

[Sparrow]

She sounds cold and miserable to me. Good advice has already been given in order to help your chick.

 

[Tammys kevin]

The other 2 chicks she is with are fine, although she did fall off the patio and got stuck out in the rain a few days ago, so maybe that did it. Even though winter is close, the temperature rarely goes under 35c/95f during the day, with 80-90% humidity, so I was concerned about putting another source of heat in their cage. I have her inside atm on a pillow next to my laptop, the heat from the fan is blowing on her, she's lying on her belly and when I make her stand she wobbles a bit and lies back down

 

[loveourbirds]

I do think If you keep the butt clean, and add some sugar or vinegar to the water; she will be fine. but chicks have no friends and are prone to several illnesses. just do your best and don't get discouraged if the worst does happen to her.

best of luck,
brian

 

[Tammys kevin]

I took her to the store I bought her from, it's like a small grocery store that also sells poultry and parrots, they only had a coccidiosis treatment for parrots, as did the petbarn, but when they put her in the cage with the other babies to see what she would do she started running around happily eating and drinking like normal, so maybe the poor thing was just homesick. The lady at the store also noticed she has a lot of bruises on her toes, she said they usually get that from a bully chicken, I think it might be my younger Silkie, the first day I bought them home jibbly picked one up by the foot and was running around with it while I chased her, so I will keep a closer watch next time they go out in the yard
I have natural yoghurt and some honey instead of sugar, will that be ok? I also have green tea and mince meat, which a friend recommended, I've never heard of feeding raw meat to chicks before though

 

[loveourbirds]

im not real sure about how the honey would react, but I know it contains a lot of sugar so it should be fine. raw honey also is a decent antibiotic so it may help in that way too.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

I took her to the store I bought her from, it's like a small grocery store that also sells poultry and parrots, they only had a coccidiosis treatment for parrots, as did the petbarn, but when they put her in the cage with the other babies to see what she would do she started running around happily eating and drinking like normal, so maybe the poor thing was just homesick. The lady at the store also noticed she has a lot of bruises on her toes, she said they usually get that from a bully chicken, I think it might be my younger Silkie, the first day I bought them home jibbly picked one up by the foot and was running around with it while I chased her, so I will keep a closer watch next time they go out in the yard
I have natural yoghurt and some honey instead of sugar, will that be ok? I also have green tea and mince meat, which a friend recommended, I've never heard of feeding raw meat to chicks before though

Yogurt is fine in small quantities for chicks, but it can give them the runs if you give too much I have read.

Here is a thread on honey:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/132778/can-chickens-eat-honey

I had to look it up as I haven't fed honey in the water before.

Oh, and I almost forgot to say that if your temps are 95 then you are just fine with your chick temperatures and she wouldn't require a heat lamp (unless her broody hen left her uncovered at night).
Some chicks are really vocal and cry quite a bit- but the eyes closed part and lethargy made me worried and think about cocci. I hope she continues to be cheerful and healthy for you now!

 

[Tammys kevin]

Unfortunately she died last night, I couldn't find any poop with blood in it, but I ordered a bottle of baycox through my vet just in case