Elise_Hope
In the Brooder
- May 8, 2020
- 10
- 7
- 26
Hi all!
We are first time chicken raisers. We have four 3-week old chicks (from tractor supply) and eight 1-week old chicks (from an online hatchery). All the chickies are doing great, except for one of the 1-week old chicks. A few days after she arrived last Friday, we began to notice her becoming more and more lethargic. We separated her from the other chicks, and she very quickly deteriorated to where she can no longer stand at all. She lays on her side, and if you place her back up, she immediately falls back over. She also has tremors, especially in her legs and head. Because of her symptoms and age, we are fairly certain from our googling that she has avian encephalomyelitis. The past few days, we have been hand feeding her scrambled eggs, plain yogurt, and a mash of her chick starter with water. We have also been encouraging her to drink by dripping water onto her beak with our finger. On her own, she can do nothing but lay down- however, when we feed her, she does seem to perk up even if we have to hold her up. I am curious about a few things- has anyone dealt with this in their flock before? If so, did your chick recover? From my research (assuming she does indeed have avian encephalomyelitis) chicks can recover with hand feeding and TLC. Does anyone know how long it takes them to recover? And for sick chicks in general- are there any other good foods or things to give them? Since she cannot move at all, is it best to keep her at 90° (since she is a week old) or should it be a few degrees cooler since she cannot move away from the heat? We have been feeding and watering her every few hours, except in the night. Is there a certain amount of times we should be feeding her each day? Sorry for the long post, any advice is appreciated, we just want our chick to make it through this!
Thank you!
We are first time chicken raisers. We have four 3-week old chicks (from tractor supply) and eight 1-week old chicks (from an online hatchery). All the chickies are doing great, except for one of the 1-week old chicks. A few days after she arrived last Friday, we began to notice her becoming more and more lethargic. We separated her from the other chicks, and she very quickly deteriorated to where she can no longer stand at all. She lays on her side, and if you place her back up, she immediately falls back over. She also has tremors, especially in her legs and head. Because of her symptoms and age, we are fairly certain from our googling that she has avian encephalomyelitis. The past few days, we have been hand feeding her scrambled eggs, plain yogurt, and a mash of her chick starter with water. We have also been encouraging her to drink by dripping water onto her beak with our finger. On her own, she can do nothing but lay down- however, when we feed her, she does seem to perk up even if we have to hold her up. I am curious about a few things- has anyone dealt with this in their flock before? If so, did your chick recover? From my research (assuming she does indeed have avian encephalomyelitis) chicks can recover with hand feeding and TLC. Does anyone know how long it takes them to recover? And for sick chicks in general- are there any other good foods or things to give them? Since she cannot move at all, is it best to keep her at 90° (since she is a week old) or should it be a few degrees cooler since she cannot move away from the heat? We have been feeding and watering her every few hours, except in the night. Is there a certain amount of times we should be feeding her each day? Sorry for the long post, any advice is appreciated, we just want our chick to make it through this!
Thank you!
