sick chick I think...please help

[chickenjones]

Hi,
I have six chicks. They are 12 day old brahmas. They all seems fine until today. Now one stays away from the group. Seems to be trying to sleep all the time but when she closes her eyes her head twitches and twitches and twitches. It seems to jerk her awake. she does not do this when she is awake. I have not seen her eat or drink since this morning. I can't be sure she did because they all look alike. I know they were all eating yesterday. The other chicks seem to be picking on her abit. They will all huddle around her and then one will get a running start and jump on her. The more she wants to be left alone the more they mess with her. I have never kept chicks so I really don't know what to look for. I had added some electrolites to the water, but since she won't go near the food/water that doesn't help.

Any ideas or suggestions would be great!

 

[Buster's Banties]

Sounds like she's landed at the bottom of the pecking order. None the less, your instincts are right, something's wrong. You should separate her but make sure she stays warm enough and has food and water. As young as she is chances are it's something in her genetic makeup that was inevitably cause problems. However, it is always possible you can stave off the problem by tweaking her nutrition. You should probably pick up some vitamins / supplements to add to her water to hopefully help her through this.

 

[chickenjones]

Thanks for the advice. Kind of what I was thinking. The twitch thing bothers me. Poor little girl just literally stares into the corner just about all the time. I hope she makes it.

 

[chickenjones]

Well I just checked on them again and they are all sleeping together which is better than her sleeping alone in a corner, in my opinion. I will check first thing in the morning and I bet I will have to separate her- I will do whatever I have to do. Maybe some good sleep will help.

 

[ranchhand]

It's hard to separate just one chick for treatment, because they get so lonely. I found that I could prop/tape an oven or cooling rack in the brooder box and that way they could be together but not pick on each other. BUT.... if it's a case of contagious disease that is not the way to go. One sneeze and I either cull or separate completely until I find the problem.

Good luck, she may just need some extra TLC.

 

[chickenjones]

Good Morning,
well the other chicks are peeping around. The little girl is still sleeping but at least she isn't dead. My DH had a similar idea, ranchhand. He told me to put a baby gate in there to separate them. I would definitely hate to completely do that. So far there have been no sneezing or anything like that. I remembered something else though. Yesterday I noticed one chick laying down and panting. I now realize it was the same chick. None of the others were panting or grouped in an odd way to make them seem hot.

 

[lex381]

try lowering the heat where they are. if they are panting, they are definetly too hot. you could try to get a different light that isn't as hot. you could also put a thermometer in to monitor the temp. just chack on the temp every now and then. but for the other problems, im not sure. i hope your chicks get better soon!

 

[chickenjones]

Hi Everyone,
well the chick has made it through another day so far. I gave her electrolytes in her water. I separated her. She was the only chick panting but I adjusted the light a little anyway. I have been monitoring the temp the whole time as well.

I know for sure she ate today. I didn't see her drink, but I can only assume if she ate then she drank as well. She still seems sleepy and depressed looking but she seems calmer separate from the others. One of the other chicks figure out how to "fly" over the divider. She did it twice so I have left her there with the sleepy chick. They seem fine together.

Will keep you updated! Thanks for your responses!

 

[chickenjones]

Well the chick seems to be doing ok. Definitely eating and drinking. The only thing is that I have seen her panting on several occasions. None of the others pant but she does. I have adjusted the heat and she has stopped again. Not sure why she's doing this.