Sick 15 day old chick

[Vlwood_10]

1) What type of bird , age and weight (does the chicken seem or feel lighter or thinner than the others.)
It is a 15 day old cross chick. Mother is Icelandic and father is Norwegian Jaer.
2) What is the behavior, exactly.
It is lethargic. Playing and eating and drinking intermittently. But mainly just standing under heat lamp, wanting to sleep, shaking now and then. Ruffled feathers.
3) How long has the bird been exhibiting symptoms?
Now is day 2.
4) Are other birds exhibiting the same symptoms?
Only this one chick. She is sharing a crate with one other chick in our house. They have had no contact with other chickens.
5) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma.
No injuries
6) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation.
Nothing happened.
7) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all.
Drinking fresh water every day. On chick starter feed only.
8) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc.
Poop is a bit runny and dark
9) What has been the treatment you have administered so far?
No treatment so far.
10 ) What is your intent as far as treatment? For example, do you want to treat completely yourself, or do you need help in stabilizing the bird til you can get to a vet?
Hope to treat yourself. Vet is not an option where we live.
11) If you have a picture of the wound or condition, please post it. It may help.
Picture attached.
12) Describe the housing/bedding in use
On newspaper with a light dusting of saw chips.

 

[Aapomp831]

Treat everybody with Corid. At this age the most likely culprit is coccidiosis (those little germs are everywhere, so it can easily be brought into your brooder no matter how clean you try and keep it). Even if that’s not the issue, it will not hurt them. But if this one bird has it, more than likely everyone does bc it’s spread like wildfire. Some birds just display symptoms in different ways than other. Bloody poop is a sign of coccidiosis, but doesn’t always happen

 

[cooingdove]

thanks for giveing us all that info I am not that experienced maybe @eggsesive @Tre3hugger @MROO could help. can you put a little apple cider vinegar in his water that can help temporary too give him so electrolytes

 

[Tre3hugger]

I agree Corid(active ingredient amprolium) couldn't hurt. Anyway you could post a pic of the poop? And maybe your brooder setup? Do you know the temp under the heat?

 

[MROO]

Electrolytes first! If you don't have any Chick Saver type stuuf, Gatorade or Pedialyte will do just fine If you don't have those, plain sugar water. ACV won't really do anything here, it's more of a preventive tonic than a medication. It may actually backfire, because they may not drink it if they don't feel well in the first place.

And the recommendation to treat for Coccidiosis is a good one. You need some Cord (amprolium) - usually sold over the counter at tractor sSupply and other feed stores. You'll want to lay a couple of drops alongside both chicks' beaks to make sure they swallow them and don't breathe it in, instead.

In addition to the drops (given daily,) remove all other sources of water and replace them with a Corid (amprolium) solution. Powdered Corid is usually 1.5 tsp per gallon. The liquid is usually 2 tsp per gallon.

Treatment is continued for five days, but you should see a marked improvement in just one or two. Just like with human antiboitics, finish the full course, eve if your chicks seem okay after just two or three days.

Once the course is completed, remove all of the Coid water and replace it with one containing a poultry vitamin. THIS IS IMPORTANT, especially for babies! Amprolium works by depriving the coccidia of Vitamin B, which they require to surve. Unfortunately, so do your chicks! You need to get their systems back up to speed quickly and the best and safest way to do that is to add a multivitamin designed just for poultry.

Good Luck! I hope you can knock this out in time. Coccidiosis is a nasty bug, but caught early it's very treatabie. Just be aware that it lives in the soil and can't really be eliminated. There's coccidia everywhere. Once they'e come down with the disease, they may well be prone to it again, so keep Corid in your medicine kit, just in case.

GOOD LUCK ... and keep us posted, please!

 

[Vlwood_10]

Unfortunately Corid is not something I can get hold of here. It's equivalent is prescription only and we are not near a vet. I am also not totally convinced it's coccidiosis. I hope not.
I have given her some sugar water by syringe and also filled the water feeder with it. She has eaten a healthy portion of hard boiled egg yolk too. And I have put some dried oregano in there too.
One other symptom I have noticed is that if she is not falling asleep everywhere standing up, then she sits sleeping with her feet curled up tightly. It almost looks like she can't straighten them straight away when she wants to stand. Standing the first few seconds on completely curled up feet. Can this be riboflavin deficiency?

And her poop appears to be normal again

 

[MROO]

Unfortunately Corid is not something I can get hold of here. It's equivalent is prescription only and we are not near a vet. I am also not totally convinced it's coccidiosis. I hope not.
I have given her some sugar water by syringe and also filled the water feeder with it. She has eaten a healthy portion of hard boiled egg yolk too. And I have put some dried oregano in there too.
One other symptom I have noticed is that if she is not falling asleep everywhere standing up, then she sits sleeping with her feet curled up tightly. It almost looks like she can't straighten them straight away when she wants to stand. Standing the first few seconds on completely curled up feet. Can this be riboflavin deficiency?

And her poop appears to be normal again

You should be able to get amprolium (generic Corid) online without a prescription.
Curled toes in an older chick are not usually a good sign. You may have a nutritional deficiency, but it could also be something more. It can be an early sign of a bigger issue, like Marek's. I would not add just riboflavin. A good all-around poultry vitamin shoud fill in any vitamin issues. You can also use cardstock and paper tape "booties" to flatten out the curls.

 

[Vlwood_10]

Unfortunately it's very strict and very expensive with medicines here in Norway. The medicine and the prescription cost together would be approximately 130 us dollars.
I have now ordered online some Ropa-b (oregano oil type medicine), that many here claim can help.
Fingers crossed.
I am confused with the feet issue though since she had no previous issue with her feet until now at almost 18 days old. Is she too young to have Mareks?