reposting, I haven't gotten any responses so I'm trying again..

[Lacrystol]

I have a baby Phoenix chick who's acting quite strange. He drank a lot of water tonight but after he was done, he kept scratching under his chin, he has both eyes close, I have not seen him eat. Alls he wants to do is stand underneath the heating lamp, shaking his head and sleeping.. What could be wrong? He's much smaller then the other..

Ok next problem, when he drinks his opens his mouth to breath, water is coming out of his nose, I believe that's why he's shaking his head. Also when he does drink is kinds of dribbles down the front of his chest. I can't see anything obvious.. He's acting almost like something is stuck somewhere, either down his throat or somewhere, I cleaned his nose and did get a lot of brown stuff off of it, looked like dirt which would make sense, sense he's next to the dirt bath.

Any advice on what I can do?
He's also rubbing his beak on the ground, doing the wiping off thing.

 

[DancingHen]

I'm sorry your chick is not feeling well. I think all of the symptoms you described sound like nasal congestion (but I'm no expert). Are there other symptoms? How's the poop? I think that there are so many things that can cause a chick to have congestion or loss of appetite. I wish I could offer more help. My suggestion would be to use a little poly vi sol vitamin drops in it's water. To definately separate it from any other chicks/birds in case it is contagious. To contact a vet if that is something you can afford. It probably needs a course of antibiotics (but again I'm not an expert). I would like to add my concern regarding water coming out of it's nose when it drinks. I know that if the liquids they drink come back out their nose that means they are apirating the fluids. Doing so can cause pnuemonia, which can kill the chick quickly. You may want to give it a very shallow source of water, or drip water into it's beak off of your finger.

Wish I could offer more suggestions, but maybe this will at least bump your post up higher for others to see.

So sorry for you and your chick.

 

[schellie69]

I am not sure but I am also worried that water is coming out the nose he could have breathed some in while drinking how old is your chick?

 

[DancingHen]

Here's another bump. Hope someone can help....

 

[heatherindeskies]

hope your chick turns out OK

 

[Lacrystol]

Status report on my chick, well the water coming out of his mouth has stopped, I think what may have been the problem is something was stuck and has moved down because he's crop was soft and squishy, which would make sense with all the water he has been drinking. So i massaged his crop, when I did that, a bubble with fluids came out of his mouth, so I massaged a little bit more, samething. After about 1 hour his crop shrunk. Then I was able to get him to eat but eyes are still closed. So tonight I decided to investigate the eyes. I rubbed them with my finger and felt hardness. They seemed to be crusty, so I took some water and rubbed them still closed, took some more water, still closed, then I gently pulled up on the top one and down on the bottom. BOOOm he's eye is opened, did the same to the other one, Booom. It's opened the first thing he wanted to do was start running, so he did right to the food dish and he eat for about 5 minutes. After that was done, he heads to the dirt bath... At the present time, he is acting like a normal chicken, he even did the butt wiggly thing when he pooped. So now I need to find out what can I put into his eyes to help with the crustiness. He still scratches his face but I did notice his lids are a little bit swelled. So chances are they will close again and will have to do the water thing again but perhaps there's something elese I can use to help with the swelling of his eyes and to keep the crustiness away?

 

[Posh Chickens]

I suppose you could just get a Q-tip with water on if it closes again, but, hang in there, good job!

 

[Elite Silkies]

Put some antibiotic ointment on his eyes, that will keep them open. Make sure there is no pain reliever added to the ointment.

 

[DancingHen]

The antibiotic ointment is a good idea. I once had a lot of sucess treating a kitten with puffy eyes using neosporin. My vet actually recommended it. Just one little smear on each eye once or twice a day. It will lubricate the eye, and also fight any infection that might be there. Glad to here the little thing is eating.

Keep us posted.

 

[sheila3935]

we got a duckling from the feed store that I think someone pecked on anyway we got some terramyacin(sp?) ointment from there washed her eye and put that on for a couple of days and now she is fine. I would try an antibotic type ointment on them. Glad he is doing better.