1) What type of bird , age and weight.
Black Cochin, five weeks old, unsure of weight
2) What is the behavior, exactly.
We've only had her for a week, and she has been shy from the beginning, but for the last two days she's been sitting a lot and not running with the other chicks. Yesterday, she wouldn't come downstairs to the outside part of the pen with all the other chicks all day, and this morning she's doing the same thing - just sitting in the corner alone. If I nudge her, she'll get up fine and walk around for a bit before she just sits down somewhere else in the coop.
3) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma.
No
4) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation.
Nothing has changed in the coop, food, or water.
5) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all.
They all eat non-medicated starter feed.
6) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc.
I've only observed her poop once yesterday and it was sort of runny and solid in the middle... just a big glob.
7) What has been the treatment you have administered so far?
No treatment so far.
8 ) What is your intent as far as treatment? For example, do you want to treat completely yourself, or do you need help in stabilizing the bird til you can get to a vet?
I'd like to try to treat her myself first.
9) If you have a picture of the wound or condition, please post it. It may help.
N/A
10) Describe the housing/bedding in use
She's in a small coop with a heat lamp on at night [that keeps it at about 75-80 degrees overnight]. Right now we're using the rest of a big bag of hay pellets [that's all the feed store had in stock when we picked up the chicks].
**I'm thinking it may be a vitamin deficiency from what I've read in threads here, but there's so many supplements, I'm not sure what to start with.
Thanks!
**********************************************
UPDATE:
We brought the chick inside and quarantined her in a rubbermaid container with clean water w/ electrolytes and her non-medicated chick starter feed.
She's basically just been laying around, seemingly growing more lethargic and unwilling to eat. She was eating her starter feed earlier in the day, but now doesn't seem interested in it at all. I gave her a few drops of the iron-free Enfamil vitamins, which she took willingly, and she had a tiny bit of organic plain yogurt off a spoon.
She passed three stools in about an hour's time, and they appeared normal.
One thing that seems different with her and that I haven't noticed in the other chicks, is that her butt puckers CONSTANTLY. Here's a link to a video of her vent:
Daisy's Puckering Vent
Now she's kind of lying around with her head hanging down, only getting up to walk around for a few seconds, re-position herself, and lie down again. At one point she got a drink of water and just let her head hang over the lip of the bowl. I gave her water with an eye dropper and she seemed to take it ok, but I'm not sure what's enough. She's also been hanging out on my lap alot. She also started opening and closing her beak really wide, but only did it for about 10 minutes or so. She's inside, so I don't think it's a heat issue.
I just don't know what could be wrong and I'm scared my other chicks may come down with the same thing. Please help
Black Cochin, five weeks old, unsure of weight
2) What is the behavior, exactly.
We've only had her for a week, and she has been shy from the beginning, but for the last two days she's been sitting a lot and not running with the other chicks. Yesterday, she wouldn't come downstairs to the outside part of the pen with all the other chicks all day, and this morning she's doing the same thing - just sitting in the corner alone. If I nudge her, she'll get up fine and walk around for a bit before she just sits down somewhere else in the coop.
3) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma.
No
4) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation.
Nothing has changed in the coop, food, or water.
5) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all.
They all eat non-medicated starter feed.
6) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc.
I've only observed her poop once yesterday and it was sort of runny and solid in the middle... just a big glob.
7) What has been the treatment you have administered so far?
No treatment so far.
8 ) What is your intent as far as treatment? For example, do you want to treat completely yourself, or do you need help in stabilizing the bird til you can get to a vet?
I'd like to try to treat her myself first.
9) If you have a picture of the wound or condition, please post it. It may help.
N/A
10) Describe the housing/bedding in use
She's in a small coop with a heat lamp on at night [that keeps it at about 75-80 degrees overnight]. Right now we're using the rest of a big bag of hay pellets [that's all the feed store had in stock when we picked up the chicks].
**I'm thinking it may be a vitamin deficiency from what I've read in threads here, but there's so many supplements, I'm not sure what to start with.
Thanks!
**********************************************
UPDATE:
We brought the chick inside and quarantined her in a rubbermaid container with clean water w/ electrolytes and her non-medicated chick starter feed.
She's basically just been laying around, seemingly growing more lethargic and unwilling to eat. She was eating her starter feed earlier in the day, but now doesn't seem interested in it at all. I gave her a few drops of the iron-free Enfamil vitamins, which she took willingly, and she had a tiny bit of organic plain yogurt off a spoon.
She passed three stools in about an hour's time, and they appeared normal.
One thing that seems different with her and that I haven't noticed in the other chicks, is that her butt puckers CONSTANTLY. Here's a link to a video of her vent:
Daisy's Puckering Vent
Now she's kind of lying around with her head hanging down, only getting up to walk around for a few seconds, re-position herself, and lie down again. At one point she got a drink of water and just let her head hang over the lip of the bowl. I gave her water with an eye dropper and she seemed to take it ok, but I'm not sure what's enough. She's also been hanging out on my lap alot. She also started opening and closing her beak really wide, but only did it for about 10 minutes or so. She's inside, so I don't think it's a heat issue.
I just don't know what could be wrong and I'm scared my other chicks may come down with the same thing. Please help
Last edited:
