Sick Chick

[benmw]

Hi,

This is my first post. We got 6 chicks at the weekend and this is the first time that we have had chickens. Now one of them seems quite unwell and is just sitting down all the time and seems to be panting she has been like this since this morning and has probably got worse. She does not seem to get up to take food or water I have been able to give her a little water with a syringe but she does not seem interested in taking any food even from my hand. She does seem to be the smallest of the six and I worried that the others were keeping her from her food so we tried to isolate her with her own food and water but she did not take any even in that situation, however she is doing poos. I was hoping that one of you more experienced chicken keepers would be able to offer some advice. I'm worried that she may not recover and I don't want her to suffer needlessly.

Thanks in advance for any help you can offer.
Ben

 

[GrandmaChickie]

Try putting sugar-water in the syringe and giving her that at about 20-60 minute intervals. She may be too weak to eat on her own. I had one that I had to for, and she would get some energy, then act normal, then be depleted again. When I saw she was going to fight to make it, we added a small amount of the chick feed, mashed finely, to the sugar water, and we had to do that for over a week before she was completely recovered. It was a lot of work, but now she is our biggest, best hen! Good luck! I hope it isn't anything more serious!

 

[benmw]

Thanks for taking the time to reply she took quite a bit of the sugar water from the syringe maybe 1ml and seemed to perk up a bit and even pecked at a bit of chick crumb I held on my finger although I am not sure that she managed to actually eat any but she seems to be back to just sitting under the heat lamp now although she is chirping a lot at the moment, sugar high maybe

Ben

 

[GrandmaChickie]

Yes, the sugar gives them some energy so that they hopefully try to do some eating. It sounds very encouraging that she tried to eat after that. If it seemed that she acted like the other chicks for at least a while, then I would try the finely-mashed feed in the sugar-water. If she was still acting peculiar, however, even when she had energy, then I'd get be worried that perhaps something else was wrong.