Sick Pea Chick (one week old)

[patriotpony]

Is there anything that can be given to pea chicks one week old, its just started looking sick today. It's been given electrolytes, and probiotics along with game bird starter.

 

[Garden Peas]

What does the navel look like? Is it eating and drinking? What does poo look like? Are any of its friends picking on it?

 

[Garden Peas]

Get a weight on it (in grams, use a digital kitchen scale) and post some pictures of the bird and poo if you can. Pedialyte is good for preventing/treating dehydration, chopped hard boiled egg may tempt it to eat. Isolate it from any other rowdy chicks and make sure it has a warm place to rest.

 

[patriotpony]

He's isolated now for sure. Nobody had picked on him yet. He's just standing around kinda droopy. Pretty sure he's eating and drinking. We picked up some Tylan 50, just not sure about giving it to him being so young

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[patriotpony]

Not sure if his poop looks normal or not. Doesn't look like baby chick poop.

 

[Garden Peas]

Hi @patriotpony -- exactly how old is the chick? Is the gamebird starter medicated with amprolium?

More questions -- has it been around other chicks (peafowl, chicken, turkey)??? How much does it weigh in grams? Can you get a good look at the belly and see whether there is any redness, and whether the yolk sac has fully absorbed?

And finally, do you happen to have any Corid (amprolium) and dimethox on hand?

I'd probably be starting it on the dimethox (or at a minimum, some corid). Those go in the drinking water. Are you familiar with how to give medicine or liquids to a bird? Never in the center of the throat, always to the side, as in this photo from Legg's peafowl -- the birds have two tubes in the throat, not one like humans. Center tube (big hole behind the tongue) is the airway, tube to the side (see photo) is for food/liquid/digestive tract. You could give it a little pedialyte with a syringe. If you are able to tube/crop feed (or if you would be willing to learn how -- @casportpony
is a wizard at it and at teaching people how to do it), you could start giving it nutrition that way.


It's important to get a weight on it and start keeping track of its weight -- that gives you important information about how it is doing, and is critically important for calculating dosages of antibiotics. A digital kitchen scale will work fine, just get the weight in grams.

 

[patriotpony]

Yes it's been around chicks and Guinea keets, same brooder, with wire separating them. The pea chick was in with the guineas but he's isolated now. His stomach isn't red and the yolk was absorbed. He's exactly 5 days old. We have on hand Tylan 50 and tetracycline powder. I can pick up the other medication tomorrow and pedialyte. Will see if my scale will weigh him

 

[Garden Peas]

Well, I always think consulting a vet is best. But if you can't do that, you may want to start on some Corid (amprolium) or dimethox -- it could be the beginning of coccidiosis. A vet can run a fecal sample which can pin it down better. The chick is pretty young, but if it has been exposed from the other birds, it could happen, I suppose. Usually it seems like it's closer to a couple of weeks. Cocci can kill peachicks scary fast. If you are taking it to the vet, get a fecal sample to go with you (or collect up what it deposits when you transport it -- that will be fresh...) I'm not sure if a chick that young will be passing oocysts yet -- that's a vet question, I guess.

A digital kitchen scale will usually work fine for weighing chicks, and can be had inexpensively from Walmart or Target or any big box chain store. I think I got mine from Amazon.

You should be able to get Corid and dimethox at Tractor Supply or any feed store that does poultry. If you think you will need to tube feed or supplement nutrition, you can pick up some Kaytee exact baby bird food at bird type pet stores.

Double check your gamebird starter and make sure it is medicated for prevention of cocci. Some is, some isn't. I can't buy medicated gamebird starter around here (I've searched high and low), but other folks find it in their areas with no problem. Even medicated feed won't prevent all cocci in peachicks -- they are just very sensitive to cocci. But it helps. If the starter isn't medicated, you probably will need to find another way to medicate for it at a preventative level. For right now, you will want to give a higher, outbreak dose -- check @casportpony 's. thread on amprolium to get quantities to mix in the chick's water. Sometimes folks give some directly to the chick, but I am not sure how much -- Kathy can tell you better than I can about direct dosing of it.

The dimethox is an antibiotic that works against cocci -- that's sometimes needed. Supportive care is really important.

Good luck! Send a PM to Kathy if you need info on dosing and can't find it on her threads.

Oh, and welcome to the peafowl forum -- hopefully it will be on a more cheery basis soon!

 

[patriotpony]

Thanks so much for your help Hopefully he survives! We haven't had any trouble with our chicks but the peacocks are new to us. Are they more delicate than chicks?

 

[Garden Peas]

Definitely more fragile than chicken chicks! Some breeders won't sell until they reach 8 weeks or even 12 weeks, because illness can come on quickly and have subtle signs. Once grown, they are pretty durable, and can live 20 years, so lots longer than chickens.

You will need to worm regularly using something like fenbendazole, especially since you have other poultry. Peas are also quite susceptible to blackhead, and your best defense is regular worming to prevent the blackhead protozoa carried by the worms from taking hold in the birds. I think the chick is too young for that to be the problem right now though. Just wanted to give you a heads-up for later.