Seemingly recovered chick now fading

[ChickenCanoe]

I agree with raising the water on blocks or bricks till the rim is about back high. That will prevent shavings from getting in it.
Puppy pads are a good idea. I start chicks on paper towels. Good footing but also level.
I just start each brood with a cheap roll of paper towel and after changing a couple times a day, then when the towels are done, I switch to bedding.
I think if you put another chick in with her the stressful peeping will be less.
As @Wyorp Rock said. the amount of amprolium in medicated starter allows for some resistance but won't cure a full blown outbreak. However vitamin ;supplements may counter the effects of the amprolium since that works by resembling thiamine, starving the eimeria.
Adding vitamins with thiamine can render the ampolium basically useless.
I don't think it is coccidiosis either.
Keeping the bedding bone dry is the best way to fight coccidia. Getting the water up away from the shavings will make that task easier.
She looks a little unsteady but that may be from being hobbled for a while.
Good luck.

 

[adamthomas]

Thanks @ChickenCanoe for the additional response. Note that Penny was stable and energetic 3 days after the hobble removal and remained so for 5+ days before deteriorating. The current situation presents like dizzyness, perhaps due to dehydration or general weakness of constitution due to ???????. When held, she seems to pass out for a few seconds at a time and when doing so her nictitating membrane is visible, then she "startles" to a wakeful state and cheeps and pecks at the air or jerks her head around. Looks almost like narcolepsy when it happens.

@Wyorp Rock - I bought some Nutri Dench and dosed everyone's water at half strength instead of using the usual Vital Pack mix. The The smell of the Nutrii Dench did not seem all that appealing but I'm not a chicken and they may not care. I saw that you recommended giving Penny 2-3 drops a couple times a day and was wondering of you meant full strength or perhaps a higher concentrate in her waterr. The instructions say 30ml/gal of water which is heavily diluted and don't want to poison her so I'm looking for more specific instructions if there is a safe way to give her a more concentrated dose. The next question would be how to administer that dose to a small chick. The procedure Ive seen for large chickens look like it would be incredibly difficult to perform successfully on a 2 week old chick.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

The smell of the nutri-drench is from the molasses which gives energy.
I imagine Wyorp Rock meant full strength. 2 drops won't be poisonous.
She may have a neurological issue but she may also be tired. I only keep 24 hour light on chicks the first 2 or 3 days. After that I give them an 8 hour dark period. That's the disadvantage of using an infrared heat lamp for warmth and why I recommend a ceramic heat emitter or an even more energy efficient Premier 1 heat plate.

 

[adamthomas]

Understood. I purchased the heat lamp as an emergency backup to the Brinsea Eco Glow 600 brooder, which came in handy when I had to isolate Penny. That said, the laundry room where I have them is warm enough that I apparently don't really need it and I've been able to maintain the ambient temp around 80-82 deg over night. It's ~90 deg outside during the day so opening the windows starts to start to warm it up a little around 9:30 AM. I've added a space heater just in case it wants to dip below 80 deg at night and plan to taper the temps down 5 deg each week until it's not needed.

Penny doesn't have heat source at this point but it does not seem necessary given the above.

And on that note, she's obviously made it through the night and she seems a little better but it may be because she got some rest. We'll see how it goes throughout the day. I was able to get her to take some of the Nutri Dench dosed water this morning and she is taking some food, so I may up the dose on the Dench and put a drop or two in a small cap and get her to drink from that.

Thanks so much for your responses and your help. I really appreciate it.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I get it. At those temps, I probably would have removed the heat by now.

 

[adamthomas]

I'm not getting my hopes up just yet but I see some signs of improvement in Penny as of an hour ago (1:30 PM PST) after being able to get her to take some highly diluted Nutri Dench dosed water this morning. I was just able to get her to drink more readily as well as eat something more substantial. What I gave her was higher concentration of ND (3 drops) in a gatorade cap and she took 4 big drinks. Woohoo!

Here is a video for those who have been following. We're not out of the woods yet but with some luck and little help from BYC and perhaps a divine hand things could turn out OK.

https://share.icloud.com/photos/0Gg26McMCkGILWNrlxVoCbyiw

She did a great poop in the video so maybe the pros can tell me if it looks normal. It was greenish with white and I'm feeding only chick starter and vitamin/electrolyte water that has a green gatorade coloring.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Yes, I would saying direct undiluted dose. PND has Vitamin E and B1 which may help with neurological problems. I have not worried about overdosing chicks at 2-3 drops twice a day for a few days. We all have to find what we think is right.
It's good that she's drinking some - seems like having liquid up higher for her may be helpful, she does have some balance issues, so hopefully the vitamins will help.

I did see the poop LOL To me, it's o.k.!

 

[LaFleche]

From what I read and saw in the videos I would think that apart from being too hot she might be still stressed by her formerly splayed leg making her somewhat uncomfortable and being the cause for her slightly unbalanced state.

Being alone in the brooder is very scaring and unnatural for a chick so she will be peeping and starting to behave stressed calling the others.

The "narcolepsy" seems quite natural as she finally feels secure and comfortable enough to let go and rest when in or on your hand which is like a surrogate mother hen for her.

Otherwise she seems interested and eager to learn whatever it is you show her to do.

 

[adamthomas]

Thanks for the response @LaFleche. Not sure how much you read but I've eliminated the heat lamp, never went above 97 in the first week, and only went there for a few minutes while fine tuning the lamp setup. All that's left at this point is the ceramic heater in the main pen and a space heater to keep the room temp from dropping below 80 deg at night. The chicks are 2 weeks old so I think I'm within in the correct temp zone based on all that I've read.

Penny was isolated because she was sick and lashing out at the other birds, but I thought she might get picked on as well and wanted her to have a restful space. That said, she definitely seemed upset at being removed from the flock, more so than dealing with a busy coop while not feeling well so I have placed her back in with the rest of the flock and she was immediately much happier. Hopefully she and the rest of the flock can be nice to each other while she is on the mend.

Here's another video of her and the rest of the crew for your viewing pleasure.
https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0oJtdOXmJEqj8Y;A48149BE-F32A-4234-990A-E3811312D5F6

Ive checked her and the others for mites but I don't see any and there is no reason for them to have them unless they picked them up at the hatchery on day one. We have no pets and they have been in our laundry room since arrival.

 

[JDChickChat]

I'm not getting my hopes up just yet but I see some signs of improvement in Penny as of an hour ago (1:30 PM PST) after being able to get her to take some highly diluted Nutri Dench dosed water this morning. I was just able to get her to drink more readily as well as eat something more substantial. What I gave her was higher concentration of ND (3 drops) in a gatorade cap and she took 4 big drinks. Woohoo!

Here is a video for those who have been following. We're not out of the woods yet but with some luck and little help from BYC and perhaps a divine hand things could turn out OK.

https://share.icloud.com/photos/0Gg26McMCkGILWNrlxVoCbyiw

She did a great poop in the video so maybe the pros can tell me if it looks normal. It was greenish with white and I'm feeding only chick starter and vitamin/electrolyte water that has a green gatorade coloring.

She is stunning!!!! Praying she makes a speedy recovery!!