Very poorly 14 week old

[Jojo1979]

Hi,

I have a 14 week old Vorwerk who has always been on the smaller side (got her at 10 weeks old with a Wyandotte) and over the weekend she became lethargic and she stayed mainly tucked in a corner of the come occasionally coming out for food/water. On Sunday I noticed she had not come out so took her to the vet. All respiratory signs good, no temp, heart rate fine and no mites. The vet thinks it could be ‘failure to thrive’ or a congenital thing and we were advised to wait a week to see what happened. Yesterday I sought advice from the chicken breeder who examined her and gave her antibiotics and a vitamin tablet. She didn’t eat yesterday but I did manage to get the odd drop of water in her and today she did eat a little bit of the mash I made her but no water. I have never had this before so I guess I’m wondering has anyone experienced this? Can a chick survive ‘failure to thrive’ or am I prolonging her suffering?
Thanks

 

[MarlaMac]

I think 14 weeks old is a little old to be categorizing as failure to thrive. It is usually very young chicks (usually in the first week of life). I could be wrong.

It sounds like she perhaps have a vitamin deficiency.

What does she normally eat, including treats?

What do her poops look like?

Does her crop feel/look normal? Is is empty or full? Squishy or hard?

If she is eating wet mash, she may be getting enough water through the feed.

If she were my chicken, I would start her on some sugar water (1 tsp sugar to 1 cup warm water) and see if she will drink that. The sweet/warm water might entice her.

I would also start her on vitamin therapy for about a week. 1 caplet vit e and 1/3 tablet vit b complex for 5-7 days to see if this helps.

If she still isn't eating, I would try some boiled eggs chopped up or some cooked and diced chicken along with perhaps some watermelon chunks or tomatoes (no leaves or stems as they are poisonous to chickens). Anything to try to get her to eat.

If she doesn't eat, then tube feeding could be an option.

 

[MarlaMac]

Also, I just looked up your breed. Your vorwerk will be smaller than your wyandotte. Vorwerks grow to 4.5 - 5.5 pounds and wyandottes grow to 6.5 - 7 pounds. So if you are basing her size on the wyandotte's size, that isn't a good comparison.

 

[Jojo1979]

Also, I just looked up your breed. Your vorwerk will be smaller than your wyandotte. Vorwerks grow to 4.5 - 5.5 pounds and wyandottes grow to 6.5 - 7 pounds. So if you are basing her size on the wyandotte's size, that isn't a good comparison.

I wasn’t doing a direct comparison but she is incredibly skinny and very very tiny. The vet said that she should be a lot heavier than she is.

 

[Jojo1979]

I think 14 weeks old is a little old to be categorizing as failure to thrive. It is usually very young chicks (usually in the first week of life). I could be wrong.

It sounds like she perhaps have a vitamin deficiency.

What does she normally eat, including treats?

What do her poops look like?

Does her crop feel/look normal? Is is empty or full? Squishy or hard?

If she is eating wet mash, she may be getting enough water through the feed.

If she were my chicken, I would start her on some sugar water (1 tsp sugar to 1 cup warm water) and see if she will drink that. The sweet/warm water might entice her.

I would also start her on vitamin therapy for about a week. 1 caplet vit e and 1/3 tablet vit b complex for 5-7 days to see if this helps.

If she still isn't eating, I would try some boiled eggs chopped up or some cooked and diced chicken along with perhaps some watermelon chunks or tomatoes (no leaves or stems as they are poisonous to chickens). Anything to try to get her to eat.

If she doesn't eat, then tube feeding could be an option.

She has had a thorough going over by the vet and she has a nice soft crop which is empty. She is on a growers feed and has the odd meal worm as a treat. I have tried giving her egg yolk and mash today but she isn’t eating at all. I have also tried with electrolytes and vitamins but she isn’t drinking even when I try with a syringe. The vet did say that sometimes they get to tired and trying to feed with a syringe is dangerous as they will aspirate.

The vet thinks that it could be congenital and that she isn’t absorbing the nutrients from feed.

 

[MarlaMac]

She has had a thorough going over by the vet and she has a nice soft crop which is empty. She is on a growers feed and has the odd meal worm as a treat. I have tried giving her egg yolk and mash today but she isn’t eating at all. I have also tried with electrolytes and vitamins but she isn’t drinking even when I try with a syringe. The vet did say that sometimes they get to tired and trying to feed with a syringe is dangerous as they will aspirate.

The vet thinks that it could be congenital and that she isn’t absorbing the nutrients from feed.

You could try torpedo feeding. That is a lot safer than tube feeding and it might work for her.

Here is a link to that with a video. I hope she starts to eat soon! I would still to the vitamin therapy.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...eeding-what-is-it-and-when-to-use-it.1532744/

 

[Jojo1979]

You could try torpedo feeding. That is a lot safer than tube feeding and it might work for her.

Here is a link to that with a video. I hope she starts to eat soon! I would still to the vitamin therapy.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...eeding-what-is-it-and-when-to-use-it.1532744/

Is this suitable to do even if she is very lethargic and not taking in fluids?