Poult Suddenly Became Lethargic and Unresponsive. Need Advice

[LunaFluffy]

I just picked up a few poults from a local hatchery today. They were all doing fine in their box for a while, but one suddenly took a turn for the worse. It started laying down more. About half an hour later, when it did stand it couldn't keep its legs straight under it. Later it simply laid down with its legs sticking out on either side with its neck stretched out. It is also breathing heavily. I checked it's nose and everything seems clear. At first I thought it had simply gotten too cold during the car ride before I got them home and heat lamp on them, but now I fear something worse happened. I tried simply keeping it near the heat, but it still didn't perk up. The only time I can get a real response from it is when it gets too warm. At that point it stumbles away from the heat and flops back down. I tried looking up its symptoms but only found a mention of sugar water, so I mixed some up and gave it a little. I think it helped a little for a while. It seemed a bit more alert and offered some feed but it wasn't interested. Now its back to being unresponsive. At this point I'm clueless and could use any advice that someone has to offer.

 

[MotherJean]

Poults or chicks? How old are they?

If this one survives the night, you could try PolyVisol liquid vitamins without iron - 3 drops in her beak. These are the infant vitamins that you can get at the grocery store in the baby food section or the pharmacy. You need to be careful giving liquids to lethargic birds. Go slowly so they don't choke and get any in their lungs. If these are very young chicks, you'll sometimes lose one for no discernible reason. They just fail to thrive. However, if these are juvenile birds or point of lay, it will be more important to find out what's wrong with this one. Let us know how it goes. We're

for you.

 

[PoultryPedia]

Best wishes to you and your little one!

 

[LunaFluffy]

They are poults. I believe they are about 4 days old. Unfortunately, he didn't make it through the night, but thank you very much for the advice. Now I'll have something that I can try next time something like this happens.