sick chick advise please.

[jak2002003]

a few days ago I noticed one of a hens chicks was lagging behind and seemed smaller than the rest.

I picked it up and I could hear it making clicking sounds when it was breathing, and its breathing heavily (although not with the beak open).

Its a few days later and there is no improvement, and today it also had pasty butt - something none of my chicks over the years has ever had.

I cleaned it up. Its wings have just started to grow some feathers, but the wings seem floppy and hang down.

The chicks are about one week old now.

It does not seem to be suffering, and each time I pick it up to look at it I can't bring myself to end its life. Its feeding and drinking OK, and can keep up with the other - but also the last one.

Do you think its got some disease that it will pass onto the other chicks and hens? I have not added any more chickens to the flock for over a year - so it can not have come from a new bird - but perhaps from wild birds like sparrows?

What would you advise be?

 

[Eggcessive]

I would suspect that this chick has some underlying internal problem, or is just weak from birth, and may not survive. It eventually may not be able to keep up with rest. If you can put electrolytes and vitamins in the water, I would try that.

 

[Wyandottes7]

I would suspect that this chick has some underlying internal problem, or is just weak from birth, and may not survive. It eventually may not be able to keep up with rest. If you can put electrolytes and vitamins in the water, I would try that.

X2

I once had a chick like this (it was a bantam Wyandotte). The chick had hatched late, on the 24th day, because I had some temperature problems in the incubator. It ate well and drank well, but never really grew very well. The only feathers it grew in were wings feathers, and its wings were slightly droopy, just like your chick. Just before it was three weeks old, the chick died.

 

[BantamLover21]

I would suspect that this chick has some underlying internal problem, or is just weak from birth, and may not survive. It eventually may not be able to keep up with rest. If you can put electrolytes and vitamins in the water, I would try that.

x3 There probably isn't much you can do for it, other than isolate it if it begins to be picked on and make sure it eats/drinks properly.

 

[jak2002003]

Thanks everyone. Today I had to clean it up from pasty butt again, and now its very skinny (before it was plump like the other). Its still is lively, it seems to eat a lot, always in the food, pecking, but its crop in never full.

I think it may not make it through the night. If its still alive in the morning I will have to do something, as now i think its starting to suffer.