Well one of my little showgirl chicks died tonight. Mortality at day 17. It appeared to be eating normally, growing normally, I did not notice an issue with it last night. So sweet.
I had just noticed hours earlier that it was dehydrated and lethargic. I gave it a check over. It's abdomen was soft and distended where the yolk is (and has been softish since it was born, I've been watching it.) The vent was clear, but there was a bit of white urates and fecal matter under the vent. It was a little listless, no pecking or peeping. Just kind of slowly wandering around and would go to sleep.
Sometime last night the lightbulb went out in the brooder so I was hoping it had just gotten chilled.
I gave it some sugar water with yogurt, hoping that would perk it up. It did not actively swallow the fluid, by this I mean it only half heartedly would swallow fluid drops put on the tip of the beak. I was hoping this was due to the dehydration and that it would become more lively after fluids. I went to check it a couple hours later to see if it had absorbed the fluid and was perky. EEeeeekkk it was worse! It was doing that heavy breathing, death peep thing. I knew it only had moments to live. I picked it up checked it out. The fluid was still in the crop and had not been absorbed at all indicating that there was most likely already renal and digestive system failure. It died within moments.
Now as a post mortem I really think that it was unabsorbed yolk. Kind of like omphalitis but internally. There were no external lesions ever at the umbilicus. However, the mushy area where the yolk is absorbed never seemed to go away like usual.
The only other thing I can come up with is it quit drinking for some reason. I did add wood chips a few days ago and the change could have prevented it from going to the waterer which I slightly elevated at the time I put in the chips. I have never had a problem with chicks not drinking from the elevated water bottle, but symptomology could indicate chick mortality due to changes in water consumption.
It has been an incredibly busy weekend, and though I feed them several times a day, and always play with these particular chicks I did not notice an issue with this particular chick last night. I was not however, making sure they were drinking like I do during the first few days.
In the end my assessment is that this chick had unabsorbed yolk and most likely suffered either congenital internal issues, or infection of the yolk sac. In the future when I have a chick that I notice a mushy yolk sac area I will probably prophylactically treat with antibiotics. I will also watch more closely to ascertain that chicks drink from newly elevated waterers, just in case.
So here is the case file, I hope it helps someone else.
I had just noticed hours earlier that it was dehydrated and lethargic. I gave it a check over. It's abdomen was soft and distended where the yolk is (and has been softish since it was born, I've been watching it.) The vent was clear, but there was a bit of white urates and fecal matter under the vent. It was a little listless, no pecking or peeping. Just kind of slowly wandering around and would go to sleep.
Sometime last night the lightbulb went out in the brooder so I was hoping it had just gotten chilled.
I gave it some sugar water with yogurt, hoping that would perk it up. It did not actively swallow the fluid, by this I mean it only half heartedly would swallow fluid drops put on the tip of the beak. I was hoping this was due to the dehydration and that it would become more lively after fluids. I went to check it a couple hours later to see if it had absorbed the fluid and was perky. EEeeeekkk it was worse! It was doing that heavy breathing, death peep thing. I knew it only had moments to live. I picked it up checked it out. The fluid was still in the crop and had not been absorbed at all indicating that there was most likely already renal and digestive system failure. It died within moments.
Now as a post mortem I really think that it was unabsorbed yolk. Kind of like omphalitis but internally. There were no external lesions ever at the umbilicus. However, the mushy area where the yolk is absorbed never seemed to go away like usual.
The only other thing I can come up with is it quit drinking for some reason. I did add wood chips a few days ago and the change could have prevented it from going to the waterer which I slightly elevated at the time I put in the chips. I have never had a problem with chicks not drinking from the elevated water bottle, but symptomology could indicate chick mortality due to changes in water consumption.
It has been an incredibly busy weekend, and though I feed them several times a day, and always play with these particular chicks I did not notice an issue with this particular chick last night. I was not however, making sure they were drinking like I do during the first few days.
In the end my assessment is that this chick had unabsorbed yolk and most likely suffered either congenital internal issues, or infection of the yolk sac. In the future when I have a chick that I notice a mushy yolk sac area I will probably prophylactically treat with antibiotics. I will also watch more closely to ascertain that chicks drink from newly elevated waterers, just in case.
So here is the case file, I hope it helps someone else.
