Sick chick? What could be wrong?

[mnmom4]

We brought home 12 one and a half week old chicks from our local farm store yesterday. They were all fine and active yesterday and up til this morning. I noticed one of the Buff Orpingtons was acting very sleepy and not very active. She is quickly going down hill at this point. Not eating or drinking, hiding in a corner away for the rest who were all playing and chasing after flies. She's sleeping standing up, not even bothering to open her eyes anymore. What could be the problem? None of the others are showing any of the same symptoms at this point. We are continuing to feed them the same medicated feed that they have been eating. Plenty of fresh water. Temp in the brooder is about 90. This is our first time with chickens, so I'm a newbie!

 

[HighStreetCoop]

Sometimes chicks just don't thrive (or she could have gotten chilled when shipped to the store). It sucks, but it is what it is. Hopefully she'll get better. *fingers crossed*

 

[mnmom4]

Anything I can do to help while we wait and see?

 

[HighStreetCoop]

Make sure it is a warm spot and knows where the water is. That's about it. I lost two to shipping because the post office held them overnight in Sacramento for no earthly reason and their heat pack ran out.

Good luck!

 

[SIMZ]

I've had some success with giving weak chicks a drop or 2 of diluted Nutridrench every few hours. It doesn't always work, but it certainly can't hurt at this point. I put a few drops in a glass and add a bit of water until it's a weak-ish tea color. Then I'll carefully put a drop on the side it it's beak (squirting it in its mouth could cause it to go into his lungs. You can also put a tiny drop inside it's mouth if you can get it open. That may give it enough energy to at least try to eat and drink. Good luck!

 

[mnmom4]

Cautiously optimistic right now! I dipped the chicks beak in some sugar water a few times over the last several hours. It's now eating... But not drinking that I've seen. And she pooed. So I suppose that's a good sign. Still very sleepy and slower than the others, but definitely more active than before. Hoping I wake up to find it's bounced back a bit more in the morning.

 

[mnmom4]

Sick chick looks great today! Good as new. Yay!!!

 

[SIMZ]

Wow - that's great news! Another thing you might to try now that it's eating is give it some scrambled egg. That can also give them a great boost!

 

[HighStreetCoop]

That's great! And I second the scrambled egg rec. I did that with the one slow chick I had and she perked up a lot.

 

[mnmom4]

Thanks for the tip! Will they also need chick grit if I give them the scrambled egg?