Sick 5 week old chicks

[ShadowsFIAL]

I have a black turken chick that this all startes with. She is having a hard time walking she is staying puffed up. She wants to eat and drink, but has a hard time getting to the feeders. She lays on the heating pad and under the heat lamp as much as she can. I have been giving rooster booster vitamins for three days now. Today I came home and now my white turken cockerel is puffed up, and slow. Sometimes I walk in and she is asleep with one leg out in front of her.

 

[ShadowsFIAL]

The black chick is now also shaking her head and gaping her mough every one in a while. I set her by the feeder and she weakly pecked and ate a little food. She seems to not have coordination in her head either...

 

[Eliza1313]

Not an expert so hopefully someone else will be able to give you more info on treatment. Best thing you can do for them immediately is to get some nutrition into them. Had a poult that wasn't doing too well yesterday, so I used the mix that was suggested in the Texas forum over the weekend by chick-among-us (page 3563). They did not post ratios so I kind of just threw it together. I mixed 1 mL of nutri-drench, about 5 drops of VetRX, a crushed B vitamin tab, and about a tablespoon of honey (in place of the sugar). Then added enough warm water to make 1 cup. Syringed about 2 mL down him.

Since you have the rooster booster vitamin you could use it in place of the nutri-drench. Dosage for the nutri-drench is 1 mL per 3 lbs of bird to give it directly. Add the VetRX and B vitamin if you have it on hand. Then the sugar or honey to get them some energy.

If they won't drink it on their own, use a syringe or eye dropper to get some down them. Just put little drops on the sides of their beak, not directly in an open beak or their can aspirate (drown) on it.

 

[chick-among-us]

Not an expert so hopefully someone else will be able to give you more info on treatment. Best thing you can do for them immediately is to get some nutrition into them. Had a poult that wasn't doing too well yesterday, so I used the mix that was suggested in the Texas forum over the weekend by chick-among-us (page 3563). They did not post ratios so I kind of just threw it together. I mixed 1 mL of nutri-drench, about 5 drops of VetRX, a crushed B vitamin tab, and about a tablespoon of honey (in place of the sugar). Then added enough warm water to make 1 cup. Syringed about 2 mL down him.

Since you have the rooster booster vitamin you could use it in place of the nutri-drench. Dosage for the nutri-drench is 1 mL per 3 lbs of bird to give it directly. Add the VetRX and B vitamin if you have it on hand. Then the sugar or honey to get them some energy.

If they won't drink it on their own, use a syringe or eye dropper to get some down them. Just put little drops on the sides of their beak, not directly in an open beak or their can aspirate (drown) on it.

 

[TheRambler]

Are they too hot with a heating pad and heat lamp? Do they have room to grt away from the heat? Puffing up, mouth open, and lethargic can be signs of overheating. At 5 weeks the brooder should be rather cool and not need that much heat at all.

It could be something else also, how do their poops look?

 

[henless]

It could be something else also, how do their poops look?

With them being puffed up and not eating or drinking, sounds like it could be coccidiosis.

From here on BYC: Coccidiosis and how to treat it

From the Chicken Chick: Coccidiosis; What backyard chicken keepers should know

I hope they get better! Please keep us updated?

 

[ShadowsFIAL]

Are they too hot with a heating pad and heat lamp? Do they have room to grt away from the heat? Puffing up, mouth open, and lethargic can be signs of overheating. At 5 weeks the brooder should be rather cool and not need that much heat at all.

It could be something else also, how do their poops look?

they have a complete other side to be away from the heat, they are choosing to sleep on it. They are having white runny poops.

With them being puffed up and not eating or drinking, sounds like it could be coccidiosis. 

From here on BYC:  Coccidiosis and how to treat it

From the Chicken Chick: Coccidiosis; What backyard chicken keepers should know

I hope they get better! Please keep us updated?

Thank you I will check it out.

 

[Eliza1313]

I completely missed that you had stated they had 2 heat sources. I think heat was part of the problem with the turkey poult. All of them were acting a bit lethargic two days ago, I adjusted the heat lamp to be over a smaller area and set the window a/c unit in the shed to a lower temp. So heat could be contributing to it. If the heat pad you are using does not have an auto shut-off I would switch to just that. Otherwise continue using just the heat lamp and either raise the lamp or switch to a lower wattage bulb.

There is also a thread in this forum that gives a link that shows what poop should and shouldn't look like. That could give you a better idea of what could be causing the runny poop. I will try to find the link again.

If it is coccidiosis you will need to get an actual medication from the feed store, not the medicated feed. The medicated feed is meant to help them fight it off and prevent them from becoming sick from it not to treat it once they are sick from it.

Hope they start doing better and make a full recovery.

 

[Eliza1313]

Found threads with the links to the charts:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/761587/bloody-chicken-poop-diahhrea-poop-chart

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/857238/is-this-milky-white-poop-normal

 

[ShadowsFIAL]

Started everyone on corid, I am wondering if the white watery poo is from not eating and only getting the smrooster booster vitamins... I made a soup with food today and the Are nibbling at it. The chicks have a 4 foot diameter circle to roam in with the heat lamp against a side wall where the heating pad is as well. The wattage on the heat bulb is super low, so it is mostly just a "here is where the warmth is" call for the chicks to go to.