Urgent Care for Suddenly Sick Chick

[mes06a]

I apologize for the hasty nature of this post.

I have twenty cornish crosses/slow white broilers. They are one week old.

This morning I noticed that one of them appeared to be a bit smaller than the others. I planned to monitor that chick in particular.

By noon, this chick seemed a bit colder than the other birds (preferred closer proximity to the heat light than the rest.)

This chick has now been moved into a separate brooder. The chick fluctuates between rolling/flopping about and periods of zero movement.


I am obviously afraid that this chick might be beyond help at this point but if anyone has any suggestions, please share them.

Also, if anyone could help me identify the problem and point me in the right direction for keeping the other chicks healthy...I would very much appreciate that as well.

Thank you all for absolutely any and all help!

 

[beetandsteet]

This sounds to me like Marek's disease. Here's a super helpful article on Marek's: https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/the-great-big-giant-mareks-disease-faq

 

[mes06a]

Thank you so much for the help!

I may have misread/misunderstood but it seems that Marek's disease has an incubation period of 3-25 weeks. If that is true, would the manifestation of any symptoms at the age of one week actually preclude Marek's disease as a possible diagnosis?

 

[mes06a]

I'm afraid that the chick has died.

I would still really appreciate any and all help, observations, suggestions, etc in the interest of keeping the other nineteen in good health. I have not yet seen any problems in the rest of the group.

It might also be noteworthy that I did not see any problems in the group (including the chick I just lost) prior to today. Does this situation seem to warrant further investigation (e.g., sending the chick off for a post mortem) or should I wait and see how the rest of the group does?

Thank you for any and all help!

 

[beetandsteet]

I just did some research and yes, you're right, it is extremely rare for a chick to get mareks before 6 weeks.
I do not have much experience at all with chick diseases, but I would definitely keep a close eye on all your other cornish crosses and immediately isolate any ones that show any signs of illness. I really hope your little chicks will be ok!