Sick Chick

[martha&pete]

We have 10 6 week old chicks. We hatched them from a friend's eggs so they are a mix of pullets and cockerels. They have mostly lived in large boxes inside our home as their run/coop was not ready and it has been unusually cold. During this week though they are spending their days in the run, and come back inside at night.

In the last couple of days one of the chicks has seemed quite lethargic. She has been separating herself from the others although I have seen her eating, even with other chicks feeding in the same area. It seems like she's cold, and is "puffing" herself out. She closes her eyes a lot and is totally calm when we hold her. Her feet feel cold and she's not walking much.

Today, it's cool (60degrees) and misty so she's inside while the other chicks are out.

I don't know what other details are significant - type of food, bedding etc so please ask whatever questions need to be answered.

How can we help her (I think she's a pullet)?

 

[allmypeeps]

Being chilly and damp she is still young and needs a heat source...Is their heat lamp still available to them? Add vitamins/electrolytes in her H20 and watch her poos for bloody diarrhea which may indicate coccidiosis..chicks with this may puff up and act ill.

Is she still eating, drinking?

sneezing?

any discharges from eyes, nose?

Does she have a heat source?

How are her poops?

These are all important things to tell us.


keep us updated

e

 

[martha&pete]

Thanks for the reply!

I kept her inside yesterday, with a heat lamp (red, 100 watt) while the other chicks were out. She was in alone, in a box with clean pine shavings, water, medicated start & grow food with chick grit mixed in. In about 7 hours she made only one, small, mostly white poop (no blood).

She's outside in the run today. (It's warm and sunny today.) I did see her drinking and pecking at the grass. But, she's staying away from the other chicks, not moving around a lot and she looks a bit like a blown up balloon with a face and legs.

There's no discharge from her eyes or nose.

What vitamins and electrolytes should I add to the water?

 

[martha&pete]

Our chick is still sick. Today, she drank some water and about 10 minutes later when my son picked her up, she "threw up" the water.

My best guess (and I'm totally new to chickens), is that she ate something she shouldn't have.

Please, any ideas on how to help her?

 

[PunkinPeep]

my first instinct was cocci, since she started having symptoms right after being outside, but now that you say she threw up, i wonder if there's a problem with her crop.

i don't have any experience with crop problems; i've just read about them. could she have eaten a long piece of grass that didn't go down right? or can you feel her crop and see if anything feels out of the ordinary? if she's only drinking, her crop should be flat right now. if it's still raised, i would say that's your problem.

there are lots of threads on here about crop flushing. i would search for them if you think that the crop has a problem...and see if your symptoms warrant it.

blessings

beth

 

[martha&pete]

Thanks, I'll do some searching. First step, search how I find the crop on her body!

 

[allmypeeps]

You can feel a 'normal' or full crop up high on the chest below the neck slightly to one side. Sometimes when FULL they feel like a soft 'baseball' other times they can be mushy like a half full water balloon.

feel for hard 'lumps' resembling wadded hay or foreigh object like glass, wood, etc....

Im not expert on crops issues...hopefully your research is turniing out well.

best wishes for a speedy recovery,

e