One wing in 4 day old chick droopy and not working nearly as much as other side.

[Clubhousefarm]

I have a baby chick about 4 days old. It can walk but wobbly. Once it falls on its side that the wing seems not to be working it cannot get back up while if it falls to the side the wing looks and use is normal it catches itself from falling. I have been adding egg yolk, green tea, and a vitamin supplement to a dropper to keep it hydrated. I move it to a separate brooder with food and water. When I move it to the brooder with all the other chicks it eats out of the feeder but hasn’t understood the water yet. I’m more worried about the wing and it not being able to get back upright. The personality of the chick with the others are the same it’s just the wobbles and wing that make me nervous.

 

[GermanKennhuhn]

I would give her some electrolyte water and see if that helps at all. I’ll tag some of the experts for you. @Eggcessive @azygous @Wyorp Rock.

 

[GermanKennhuhn]

Welcome to BYC by the way!

 

[Clubhousefarm]

Welcome to BYC by the way!

Thank you!! Have read a lot of this forum before I incubated the eggs figured now I should be apart of it!

 

[azygous]

From your description of its behavior and that it may not be drinking enough water, causes me to suspect the imbalance issue is due to dehydration. Try syringing a .5ml of sugar water with a couple drops of Poultry Nutri-drench into the chick every few hours.

You will need a slender oral syringe. I can get one or two at a time free from Walmart pharmacy. Are you in the US or Europe or Asia?

To safely syringe liquids into a chick, you need to pry open the tiny beak and slide the loaded syringe into the chick's right side of the mouth, staying right against the side of the throat and avoiding the center of the throat were the airway is.

 

[Clubhousefarm]

I will give this a try, I actually was going to get that tomorrow since my probiotic and prebiotic packets and vitamin packets are almost all used up. Okay I will see what I can get from a pharmacy, my area stopped giving syringes out without a prescription due to the opioid issue (I worked in a pharmacy) but I might go to my old pharmacy and see if I can grab a few they might let me if I show them this!

Any idea why one wing hangs lower then the other and doesn’t seem to move either?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I have a baby chick about 4 days old. It can walk but wobbly. Once it falls on its side that the wing seems not to be working it cannot get back up while if it falls to the side the wing looks and use is normal it catches itself from falling. I have been adding egg yolk, green tea, and a vitamin supplement to a dropper

I agree, I would get her hydrated and PND if you have it.

What is the supplement you are giving?

 

[azygous]

Dehydration can cause neurological symptoms. That was the first thing I thought of with the droopy wing. But then your mention of the chick being slow to use the waterer, dehydration makes sense, so that is what I would treat first. I'm pretty confident this is the chick's problem. But if getting the chick hydrated over the next 36 to 48 hours doesn't improve the symptoms, then I would start giving vitamin E.

 

[Eggcessive]

Walmart will give a couple of needle-less 1 ml syringes if you ask a pharmacy tech, and they sell 5 ml needle-less syringe just for giving oral medications. Try to teach it to drink on it’s own by dipping it’s beak into the waterer for a half second.

 

[Clubhousefarm]

I agree, I would get her hydrated and PND if you have it.

What is the supplement you are giving?

Green tea mixed with raw yolk and vitamin packet from tractor supply that is for newly hatched baby’s. Giving pnd starting tonight. I also going to give her Saturday scramble eggs with water and electrolytes. She is on medicated feed too.