Sick chick....help

[RedMini]

Hi,

This is the first batch of chickens I've raised & everything has gone well so far until yesterday.
I noticed one chick (Jumbo Cornish Cross) just standing there with its eyes closed. When another chick bumped into it, it would wake up & go over & try to snuggle up to the others.
I separated it with its own food & a mix of Gatorade & water. All it wanted to do was sleep.
Every time it woke up, I dipped its beak in the water mixture & it drank.
I returned it to the rest after about 1 hour....to which it ran to the feeder & ate a bunch of food, a few times through the day. As well as pooped a lot...which looked like the others' poop.
Now today it's acting the same, but when it opens its mouth to "talk" nothing comes out. No sound I mean.
It's considerably smaller than the rest, but its the chick's behavior that has me worried. Is not active at all, just sleeps.

I'm going to try to attach an image of this chick compared to another one. Sorry if its a little blurry.

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Gayleyy]

Have you checked them for mites or lice?? I have only had chickens for a year, so I am pretty new to this too. With birds in general I do know that this sort of behavior can be a sign of infestation, which can be very serious in very the young. Other than that, I have no idea. I have one that is acting pretty much the same, one good day one sleepy day, almost like a trance. Good luck, I hope everything turns out to be ok.

 

[dermerchickens]

You have very cute chicks.

I have a chick that is half the size of my other buff orps, and they are all 7 weeks old, no comb, I barely see a change in her and she is Sooo sweet and nice! She doesn't stay with the other chickens much, when they dustbath she doesn't, if they are eating somewhere she is usaully not there with them, but she seems fine.. I was worried about her at first, but now I am wondering if she is a bantam, or if she just didn't get enough vitamins and stuff, because she is the 'runt' and the other chicks are bigger then her... She is always the last out of the coop. But she never slept a lot, just telling you my experiance, with (sorta) the same thing you have.

FYI, this is my first batch too, my chicks had cocci, but we treated it naturally and it cleared up in a week or so.


How old are these chicks? Around a week or so, I guess... Now, the part with it snuggling up could be it is cold? What is the temp. for the brooder?

I'll leave someone else to tell you about the eating and drinking, because I don't know much, and I don't want to say a bad idea!!

 

[RedMini]

Thanks for your replies...

I don't see any signs of an infestation...

They are a week old today. Wing feathers are coming in pretty good for all of them except this sick baby.
It's eating..as I type this...but I've also noticed a weird breathing sound when I hold it close to my ear. Kinda of a tapping noise if that makes sense.

The temperature in the brooder is good, but maybe this one needs a little extra tlc?
Do you think I should set up its own tiny brooder & lamp so I can have it warmer?

It stands its ground pretty well when eating. Just keeps on eating, like the rest.
Just faaaaar from the activity level of the wild bunch!

 

[dermerchickens]

Thanks for your replies...

I don't see any signs of an infestation...

They are a week old today. Wing feathers are coming in pretty good for all of them except this sick baby.
It's eating..as I type this...but I've also noticed a weird breathing sound when I hold it close to my ear. Kinda of a tapping noise if that makes sense.

The temperature in the brooder is good, but maybe this one needs a little extra tlc?
Do you think I should set up its own tiny brooder & lamp so I can have it warmer?

It stands its ground pretty well when eating. Just keeps on eating, like the rest.
Just faaaaar from the activity level of the wild bunch!!

It's good that it is eating, I don't think it would be cocci either... How often do you clean their brooder? Maybe it could be a respiratory illness? The temp. in the brooder is about 95 degrees F then?

If you set up it's own brooder it could get lonely, if you do that I suggest an unbreakable mirror in it. It may just need a little extra TLC. Bitsy (the chick I mentioned) is far from the activity too, she is easy going, never dustbathes, never fights, rarely stays in a group... I will research some about it, I hope your chicky gets better!

 

[Gayleyy]

A little extra TLC could never hurt! Maybe hold that one for a bit, see if the added heat helps it out. I do not think I would put one alone in a brooder unless it had something that would effect the others.

 

[RedMini]

Ok. Ill try your suggestions.
I'm keeping the brooder pretty clean considering they're pooping machines.
Especially their food and water.

Thanks for the ideas

 

[dermerchickens]

I figured, they are poop machines, you can say that again!!!


What suggestions? Mine ore someone elses?

 

[RedMini]

All suggestions mentioned really.
I've put doggie pee pads under the feeder so that cleanup in that area is fairly easy. Been laying bedding down as needed with a total cleanup done yesterday.
Waterer gets cleaned out once daily (it's a gallon holder, so it takes days to empty completely). Now that they've gotten a bit bigger, the waterer sits on a stone so that when they kick up their bedding, shavings don't really get in the drinking part.

I figured if the chick had some kind of disease it would stop eating? This is an assumption...totally new thing for me!

 

[dermerchickens]

I guess it depends on the diesese, my chicks had cocci, but they still ate because I caught it so early..