Very sick baby chick Part III Nearing Panic now

[cackleberrylinda]

Hi,
Now, I have another chick exhibiting the same symptoms. Can anybody help me figure out what it is? I don't know how to go about treating this. I'll see if I can describe what they are doing. They sort of lean back on their haunches and seem like they are dizzy and start to fall over. When it is as advanced as the first chick they can't stand up. I have mixed breeds in there. The first was a bantam Buff Orpington. This one is a Ameraucana. Please somebody give me some suggestions. There is a little bloody poo. I guess it's bloody. Doesn't really look like blood exactly but the stool is loose and has a reddish discoloration in it. Do you think it's a bacterial thing? Or possibly a parasite. I have raised my fair share of little chicks and never had such trouble. Ever. Freakin' out here in Arlington WA

 

[HorseFeatherz NV]

What are you feeding your chicks? Medicated feed or non medicated?


I am wondering if you have a case of coccidiosis. I believe the treatment for it is sulmet.

 

[MotherJean]

Did you try vitamins already? If not, get the Polyvisol liquid kid's vitamins (without iron). Put one drop directly into the mouth of each chick daily for several days. Use electrolyte water (Pedialyte) instead of plain water.

 

[ultasol]

Use CORID or amprol to treat as sulmet can easily be overdosed and can only be used short term without toxic side effects.

DO NOT give vitamins as corid restricts the cocci's ability to uptake one b vitamin that it uses heavily, and by starving it of this vitamin, the cocci is killed and the population kept low while the chick gains immunity. By giving vitamins during treatment with corid you are negating the effects of the treatment.

 

[Knock Kneed Hen]

Do you have them on Pine shavings and NOT cedar shavings? A friend recently made this mistake and lost 3 chicks after having them a week.

 

[MotherJean]

Good luck to you. Please let us know what treatment you undertake and how it works out for you. That's how we all learn here.

 

[Oven Ready]

There's two aspects to this problem.

1. The dizziness and falling over.
This is due to a lack of nutrition so check if their crops are full, we've seen it in chicks, old birds, birds with diseases and hens who sit too long without going for food.
You HAVE to force feed them, while they are dizzy they will not feed themselves properly, if at all.
Either feed them with mushed up chick feed mixed into thick porridge with water (add some honey for quick sugar intake) or hard boil an egg (much quicker souffled in a microwave) mix that with some honey and then feed it to them, don't expect them to eat it out of a bowl. They have no idea what's going on. It's like they are hypoglycemic.

2. The reason they are not getting enough nutrition.
This could be that the mum is not showing them how to feed. There's nothing you can do with that but depending on how young the chicks are (a few days old if it's the mums problem) then they'll manage by themselves if they pull through. More likely, and by the sound of the poo, it's a disease that's caused them to stop eating, then they get dizzy, then they can't eat and so on until it's a bad news day.

Chicks don't last long without food, three days at most after hatching, probably only a couple of days once they're a little older. Feed them up, treat them for disease, keep your fingers crossed. It's about all you can do.

It should go without saying, but I'll say it anyway, keep your healthy chicks and sick chicks apart - wash your hands when you touch them - keep an eye on the healthy ones, make sure they are eating and pooping normally. And keep your fingers crossed (again). And make sure the egg is cold, and keep your fingers crossed - it can't do any harm.

Best of Luck.

 

[lamelde]

I have a chick showing the same symptoms (stiffening on haunches then falling backwards) - it's 4 weeks old now - the crop feels (not full/ but not empty). I separated it a week ago from the rest because they were picking at it. It feeds and drinks on its own - but no improvement with the uncoordinated walking still continues.

Is there treatment, or should I end it's suffering?

 

[chkn]

I don't know if that's stargazers where they look up until they fall backwards? I think it's a vitamin deficiency. There have been some discussion threads here about it. There's something called Sav-A-Chick and if you can't find that use the Poly-Vi-Sol without the Iron. Use the search feature here to read up a bit in the meantime. Keep us posted.

 

[lamelde]

I've been giving her one drop of vitamin every day for over a week and there's no improvement.

Is there any other treatments for this "stargazers" condition?