Sick lethargic chick

[MTchickengirl]

So I have this 10 week old columbian Wyandotte pullet who has been laying down and acting lethargic. I noticed that the other chicks were being kinda mean to her. She seems slightly unbalanced and I have her seperated from the flock with my 9 bielefelder chicks (3 weeks old) and I have now seen her eat and drink quite a bit. Also her poop is normal.She also is moving around more, so she might be heading into recovery, but if anyone knows what is possibly wrong with her and what I can do to help please let me know, thanks

 

[azygous]

What is your location? What has the weather been like?

Is this chick new, like in the past week and a half?

What has the chick been given to eat? Grass? Fruit? Seeds? Does it have access to grit?

 

[MTchickengirl]

We live in the bitterroot Valley, Montana. The weather has 70-80’s in the day and around mid 40’s at night. I have raised her since she was a chick. Her diet is mostly Eden feeds along with kitchen scraps which are only vegetable peelings and stuff, I google anything I feed to them so all the scraps are safe and fresh. She does have acces to grit.

 

[azygous]

Thank you. Is she smaller than the others? Is she bullied a lot? Have you seen her avoiding the feeder when others are around it?

Is her breast bone sticking out more than the others? She may have been avoiding the feeder due to bullying and was weak from starvation. You need to watch to see that she's got a full crop each night at bed time.

 

[MTchickengirl]

Nope for the entirety of her life she has been growing at the same rate as the others and is around the middle of the pecking order in her group. All the chicks have been Intergrated for quite a few weeks but the run has plenty of space and there is enough food and everything else for them.

 

[azygous]

I was revising my post as you replied. Read it for additional comments.

 

[MTchickengirl]

Her breastbone looks and feels normal and I have seen her eating everyday, and now I have her separated with my 9 3 week old chicks and so she can eat and drink as much as she wants. The only other things I could think of is maybe dehydration (which I have electrolytes in the chicks’ water) or maybe she ate a lot of layer feed and it could be a calcium overload, although idk what that would look like

 

[azygous]

Dehydration is a definite possibility. The symptoms are imbalance, stumbling while walking, and weakness. Just providing electrolytes in the water is not sufficient to treat dehydration associated with heat stress. At the first sign of the above symptoms, give this solution as the only water: one teaspoon sugar in one cup water with a pinch of salt and baking soda. If you suspect overheating in addition to dehydration, place cool compresses under the wing pits to cool the chicken, but never dunk the chicken in cold water. For a very weak chicken, you must syringe or tube the solution into the crop.

I've always kept a mixed flock, roosters, chicks, laying hens and old hens past laying. It's more beneficial to simply feed an all flock feed such as Purina all-flock. It has the right amount of protein for all chickens and low calcium. The difference in calcium is made up by providing oyster shell for the layers. It's easier for us humans as well as safer for the flock.

The little bit of calcium the chick may have consumed should not do any harm.

 

[MTchickengirl]

Ok thank you, should put her in full isolation or is it ok if the other chicks have the water as well?

 

[azygous]

Everyone may drink the water, but double the volume so she's certain to drink enough to do some good.