Sick chick, or normal? *HELP, now there's 2!*

[deserthomestead]

Is there a clicking sound in their chests? I've had a chick with that and breathing hard and then noticed another breathing hard so started then all on duramycin and after 8 days of powder in their water everyone was fine. That was a different batch than the chick in my previous post though.

Yes, one of them is clicking (the one that's been sick for longer)

 

[Island Chick]

I would start the duramycin 10 in their water then. I got it from my feed store, it's like $5. I use a rabbit water bottle and put 3/4 tablespoon in the 16oz bottle and 1 1/2 into the 32oz bottle. I changed the water every day and kept the bottle as cold as possible (heat is what really shortens the antibiotics efficiency). I gave them treated water for 8 or 9 days, and the clicking stopped. All chicks are now 6 weeks old and doing great.

 

[Spice Glen Hens]

I'm wondering if the dust in their brooder might be causing this?
Clean out the brooder and leave only clean newspaper under them, might be a start?.

Medicated starter helps prevent cocci in my opinion.

If they are fluffed up, hunched and have droopy wings it is most likely cocci.
That has to be treated quickly.

At this point you might try to get them going with Rooster Booster from the feed store.

Spicy

 

[Island Chick]

One thing I found out, add it to cold water very slowly. Like dust the waters surface then shake it up. Then dust again etc. Otherwise the surface tension sometimes makes it clump if you dump it all in (like when you make hot chocolate and add the powder to the water all at once sort of) and it turns into a hard ball that doesn't dissolve.

The faster you get them on medicine the faster they will get better. If one isn't drinking use a syringe to get some water out of the mixed water and give it that way.

 

[deserthomestead]

Allright, the second chick perked up and is acting normally again.
The first is going downhill fast. My feed store doesn't have the Duramycin, and the soonest I can possibly get to another feed store 60 miles away is Sunday.
I felt the crop on the sick one, it was distended and full of air. I was able to massage a bunch of air out, but it feels like it's FULL of grit. She's getting weaker fast, not sure what to do at this point

I've been dipping her beak in molasses water every hour or so, just to get some sugar into her system.

 

[MidsummerNight]

Wet cat food for a quick boost? It seems to make little chickens very ravenous. Maybe if you group feed and she sees the others eat it....good luck

 

[Island Chick]

Air would make me think some sort of crop infection is going on, possibly in addition to respiratory. Air can be a sign of yeast. Have any plain yogurt on hand? Wet cat food, scrambled eggs, whatever u can eat her to eat. Maybe separate her out into her own box and put her over paper towels so you can monitor droppings. Does she have access to grit? What are you feeding? What is the brooder like?

 

[deserthomestead]

She's already separate, just in case it's contagious.
She wouldn't eat scrambled egg or yogurt this morning, I've tried to get her eating a few times. Right now she's in a rubbermaid with a heat lamp in one corner and sand bedding. She hasn't pooped since this morning, but the last one looked somewhat mucousy.

 

[MidsummerNight]

Try the cat food. It's better than nothing...

 

[deserthomestead]

*sigh* no luck. I'll keep dipping her beak in the molasses water to keep her hydrated.. DH doesn't think she'll make it till morning, much less Sunday.