Sick Week old Leghorn, Stumped

[arizonarancher]

I am very, very new to chickens - I'll completely admit. But I've kept tons of other birds before and have been around enough friends with chickens so I'm confident with my care of them.

I picked up some pullets a week and 1 day ago. One of them was a smaller leghorn, probably a few days old. The others were a little older but they seemed to do fine together. The day before yesterday I picked up new day old chicks and had them under a lamp. I put the little leghorn with them for size purposes.

This morning he was listless and laying on his side. I picked it up and he peeped and moved so I placed him under a lamp by himself. I thought it was dead after I did some chores outside, but when I went to toss him out he moved. It had a small amount of stuff coming out of his beak, it looked like food+water mixed up... I'm just not sure what to make of it. His neck is all the way back and he's on his way out, I was just wondering if I could prevent this from happening again.

I've cleaned out all the bedding and bleached it, they're kept on newspaper and new horse hay cleaned daily so I don't think it was from contamination.

If anyone has some words of wisdom I'm listening... I know I'll have some that die but it would be nice to know what happened. Thanks.

 

[ronott1]

I am very, very new to chickens - I'll completely admit. But I've kept tons of other birds before and have been around enough friends with chickens so I'm confident with my care of them.

I picked up some pullets a week and 1 day ago. One of them was a smaller leghorn, probably a few days old. The others were a little older but they seemed to do fine together. The day before yesterday I picked up new day old chicks and had them under a lamp. I put the little leghorn with them for size purposes.

This morning he was listless and laying on his side. I picked it up and he peeped and moved so I placed him under a lamp by himself. I thought it was dead after I did some chores outside, but when I went to toss him out he moved. It had a small amount of stuff coming out of his beak, it looked like food+water mixed up... I'm just not sure what to make of it. His neck is all the way back and he's on his way out, I was just wondering if I could prevent this from happening again.

I've cleaned out all the bedding and bleached it, they're kept on newspaper and new horse hay cleaned daily so I don't think it was from contamination.

If anyone has some words of wisdom I'm listening... I know I'll have some that die but it would be nice to know what happened. Thanks.

I am so sorry to hear about the sick chick!

First, make sure the temperature Is ok for them. the new ones need a max temp of 95 degrees. That should be the hottest spot with cooler temperatures for them to move into. The older leghorn would be in the 85 to 90 range for temperature. Also make sure they are not getting calcium. Parakeet grit has calcium in it so do not give that to them.

Try to get the chick to drink water with something like save a chick in it.

The chick could have been smashed by the bigger one or it could just be "failure to thrive"

I hope it gets better!

 

[cafarmgirl]

It could be multiple things but the first thing I always suspect at that age, and especially with being in a new environment with other new chickens is coccidiosis. Even in a clean environment they can still come down with it just by being exposed to a strain they've not encountered before. Brooders are perfect places for cocci, chicks inevitabley poop in their water at some point, they have cocci naturally in their manure anyway and it ust thrives in a warm environment. When I see a chick acting off and especially if they go down quickly I treat them all with Corid. I've pulled more then a few back from the edge that way. If it doesn't improve you've at least ruled out that possibility.

 

[arizonarancher]

Thank you both! I didn't have a different temp for him, I guess my very first mistake here was buying him younger looking than the others. Unfortunetly I was in the hands of the feed store kid and thats who he could catch Since then I found this website, then even contacted a breeder for my new chicks... so I'm getting there... its all a learning process though.

cafarmgirl, I'll pick up Corid for them in the AM to cover all possibilities, he/she did end up passing a few hours ago Its so tough, I get attached fast. Thanks for your suggestion, anything to keep them all healthy and peeping!

 

[ronott1]

Thank you both! I didn't have a different temp for him, I guess my very first mistake here was buying him younger looking than the others. Unfortunetly I was in the hands of the feed store kid and thats who he could catch Since then I found this website, then even contacted a breeder for my new chicks... so I'm getting there... its all a learning process though.

cafarmgirl, I'll pick up Corid for them in the AM to cover all possibilities, he/she did end up passing a few hours ago Its so tough, I get attached fast. Thanks for your suggestion, anything to keep them all healthy and peeping!

So sorry that you lost the chick. My guess is that it was the same as the others and did not grow. I have had that happen a couple of times with my hatches.

That is failure to thrive and there was probably something wrong with it's organs.