Please Help!

[Distressed]

5 Minutes ago one of my chicks suddenly fell over. At first I thought he was choking, but it was quickly apparent he was not. He keeps falling over, closing his eyes, and having general trouble staying upright. There was nothing ever wrong with him before, I've owned 2 chicks for about 3 weeks already (My first time) and I don't know what to do!

 

[Daisy668]

Have you got a vet near that will she chickens?
I have never had chicks before but it might be calcium defiency..
i hope someone with more advise helps..
Daisy.xx

 

[corancher]

So sorry distressed for your problem. What you see happening normally happens when it is too late to help the chick. You may try giving it some sugar water which helps sometimes and make certain it is warm.

 

[Nimby Chickens]

Is he panting? What is your brooder set-up like? How does the poop look - any blood? Do they have free access to food and water? Where did you get them, how old are they?

Make sure the chick is warm enough and give sugar water like corancher said. After that, do some research on coccidiosis, it's a common killer of chicks, see if the symptoms match up.

 

[Distressed]

I don't know of any vets in the entire city. I'll look around tomorrow, it's way too late already.

Some more things: I've only fed them bread so far, the one having problems is smaller that the other one even though they were both born at the same time, and he seems to tend to fall back or right.

 

[Tikkijane]

These are 3 weeks old? Do I read that right that you have *only* given them bread?

If this is the case, they need chick food now. Tractor Supply has an electrolyte packet called "Save-a-Chick". You can get them some scrambled egg, yogurt, but in reality, they need proper food. (if I'm mis-reading, you have my apologies). Even at 3 weeks, they need grit if you are giving them anything besides their crumble.

What's the food and water situation, and what's the brooder temp?

 

[Distressed]

Yeah, I thought that would be a problem. I live in a medium large city in the Middle East, moved here about a year ago, and was completely unprepared for getting chicks. (They gave them away at the preschool, REALLY bad idea, but I kept them because they were so cute!) I'll ask a few people, see if they know any pet stores nearby. I keep them in a large plastic box with newspapers and pine shavings. For heat I put my lamp right above their heads, gets really hot really fast. I can't tell you exactly how warm it is, but you can feel extreme heat from 2 feet away.

 

[Brookiesflock]

yeah get proper food for the little fella check for pasting up, its to bad, sorry you have to go threw it, maybe do some homework on chick care for next time it should go smoother for ya:/

 

[Tikkijane]

Being too hot can kill them pretty quickly, too. You might try moving the light further away (or turning off the light for a while) and seeing how they do. They really need some place to go to get away from the intense heat. Raising chicks: https://www.backyardchickens.com/LC-first60days.html

 

[Distressed]

Never mind. I woke up and found him dead.