Sick Chicken...maybe. Am I over reacting? Advice please.

[AZChicken_Kat]

Last night I found one of my girls acting very weak and lethargic. She is 5 weeks old and she was lying in the back of the coop, feet stretch to the side. All the others were in the run. We pick her up and she was wobbly on her feet so we put her next to the food and water. An hour later she hadn't moved. After reading some other posts on here, I'm very scared she is really sick so we have put her in a cat crate and isolated her from the other girls. She was vaccinated for Mereks at the hatchery and they are on medicated chick feed. She slept in the cat crate last night and did make it through the night. Today we put the cat crate in the brooder to see if she would like more room to move around. She immediately came into the brooder and is eating her crumbles and her poop looks normal but she still isn't very active. Any advice/ suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Am I over reacting? Should I worry about the others (they all are active acting normal)?

 

[Attila the Hen]

I am sorry no one has responded to you. I don't have the answer, but there is a list of questions posted on this site that that you should answer so that people can help you figure out what is going on. Once you post the the series of symptoms/answers, I am sure someone can help. So far, you have done the right thing by removing her from the flock.
good luck

 

[AZChicken_Kat]

Thanks for your post. All those questions are answer in paragraph form but not bulleted. I guess I can give that method a try.

1) What type of bird , age and weight. 5 week old red star, unsure of weight
2) What is the behavior, exactly. Lathargic, wobbly on feet, weak
3) How long has the bird been exhibiting symptoms? since yesterday
4) Are other birds exhibiting the same symptoms? No
5) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma.No
6) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation.No know cause
7) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all. Eating her medicated chick starter
8) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc. Normal
9) What has been the treatment you have administered so far? Isolated from other chicks, offered yogurt and chick starter and water
10 ) What is your intent as far as treatment? For example, do you want to treat completely yourself, or do you need help in stabilizing the bird til you can get to a vet? Unsure will do what needs to be done
11) If you have a picture of the wound or condition, please post it. It may help. She looks like a normal chick, she just isn't active
12) Describe the housing/bedding in use The coop is 8x6 with an attached 8x6 run, with pine shavings. Currently she is in a dog crate with pine shavings and straw

 

[Judy]

That's a tough one.

Young chicks can get quite sick from cocci, but her symptoms aren't really right. They will get lethargic but usually will sort of fluff up like they are cold. Bloody diarrhea is a prime symptom but may not occur til late in the disease. Medicated chick starter helps build immunity to cocci, but sometimes it isn't enough. I'm throwing this out there because I don't know whether it's a reasonable possibility or not, just so as not to leave anything out. I'll put some links at the end of this post; maybe you will see something that seems to fit. I've never even seen a case of cocci.

I'm wondering if she could have gotten injured in some way you can't see, or maybe gotten hold of a moldy berry or something unusual like that.

The weight question in that list isn't really clear. It's not asking in pounds or ounces so much as, does she seem thin or light compared to her age mates, does her breast bone stick out more than others, signs like that.

You might try looking over a thread linked in the sticky at the top of the Raising Baby Chicks forum, labeled Causes of Early Chick Mortality, to see if something there might give a clue. Well, here's a link: https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=39604

I wish we had a clearer answer for you, and I wish you luck. Maybe someone else will come along who can be more helpful than I.

http://www.clemson.edu/public/lph/ahp/disease_links/images/coccidia.pdf

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=8818

http://www.welphatchery.com/poultry_health.asp

and a more thorough writeup on diseases: http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ps044

 

[AZChicken_Kat]

Quote:
Thanks Judy! That's great info. I was starting to wonder the same thing about the injury or ate some bad. I was also wondering if maybe she got bit or stung by something. She seems to be getting stronger as the day goes on. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Thank you again for all the links.

 

[AZChicken_Kat]

Morning update:
Can chickens get constipated? We woke up to our little chick is acting like her old self but found a very large hard chicken poop in her crate. I think we will be putting her back with her sisters today because she is looking lonely and keep an eye on her in her normal habitat. Thanks for all you help and advice.

 

[Judy]

Quote:
Definitely. It especially happens if their brooder is a little warm or they can't get far enough away from the heat -- or if one is being prevented from eating / drinking as much as the others, common from pecking order squabbles. A little molasses should do the trick.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=585773

Pasty butt in new chicks is usually a form of constipation.

 

[sbtgal]

keep us posted on her condition. I have a similar mystery illness going on with one of my girls and I'm interested to see how yours turns out.

 

[Attila the Hen]

Last year one of my hen's seemed unwell and was not eating or drinking. I put her in the bathtub to separate her from the flock in case it was contagious and so I could keep an eye on her. She passed a 6 in piece of rubber caulking. She was fine after that.

 

[AZChicken_Kat]

My little hen is doing great. Thank you everyone for the advice. She is back out in the coop with her sisters and acting normally. I chalking it up to a bad case of constipation. Something had her bound up.