Lethargic Chicks

[RIredlady]

Long story short I ended up with a dozen TSC chicks. 6 Marans and 6 olive eggers.

2/6 of the Marans have died, and I believe another is on its way. They are quite small for week old chicks, I’ve tried doing the electrolyte water mix and they’ve been on medicated feed.

Anything else I should try?

 

[Ryguy3684]

Are they eating and drinking? Any other symptoms besides lethargy? How's their poop looking?

 

[RIredlady]

Not sure if they are eating. I’ve separated the very weak ones, I can get them to drink. Someone finally pooped and it appears to be a white/brown watery mix which doesn’t seem right.

 

[Ryguy3684]

You can try hand feeding them to see if they are eating at all. If not, try making a wet mash out of their feed to see if they'll eat that. What are you feeding them? Do they have heat on one side, cooler area on the other? Take a picture of your brooder setup, if you can?

 

[RIredlady]

i have been feeding them medicated starter feed. I clean the brooder out 3x daily and everyone else is happy and healthy. It’s just the Marans that aren’t doing well. I will definitely try the mash! Currently I have moved the weak chicks to a separate make-shift brooder so it’s nothing fancy. considering the other 12 chicks are doing great, I’m not convinced it’s caused by the brooder setup.

 

[Ryguy3684]

Sounds like your setup is working fine. I just wanted to make sure, to narrow things down. You can also try Nutri Drench, either dropper fed, or in their water. You can get it at tractor supply if you have one close by. It's helped my lethargic chicks before.

 

[RIredlady]

I will definitely try it. I’m wondering if tractor supply had a bad batch of Marans. Especially since it’s only the Marans that aren’t doing well

 

[Ryguy3684]

I'm not sure where they get their chicks from, but if the marans had a different shipping time, that might mess with them as well. It is odd that it's one breed only. I don't know if marans are more prone to a particular illness. Maybe someone else will chime in. Good luck with them.

 

[RIredlady]

Thank you for all your input!!

 

[Sonya9]

Are they drinking? Chicks must be shown how to drink (dip their beaks into it).

I would mix up some water/raw egg/sugar and get them to take some of that.