Very sick chicks. Pale face/comb. Can barely hold herself up

[Ash.M]

We have a chicken that has been a little under the weather lately. Sneezing and acting a bit lethargic but was still moving around and eating. Today when we came down to check on her she can barely keep her eyes open, she lost a bunch of weight, we can't really get her to eat, she can barely stand up. She has sticky brown/black poo. We had previously been treating for a respiratory infection with tylan. Vet dedected no coccidosis in our other sick chick. What can we do to save our poor chick. Seems like she is on her way out. Thanks for any help. We just got some water with nutridrench down her (by dropper full)

 

[Sylie]

Hi Ash, Welcome to our flock! Is the brown poo so dark that it's hard to tell if it's brown or black? or in your post did you mean that sometimes it's brown and sometimes it's black? Brown, sticky poo (like the color of chocolate or even a tad lighter) is normal. Especially in young chicks. Is the chick still taking the tylan?

 

[Ash.M]

No it's a very dark brown almost shiny black

 

[orrpeople]

I am hoping others with info on respiratory issues will jump in here, but I can just give you the first steps for most illness, and (your instincts are good) hydration is usually on the top of the list. Pedialyte or 'Sav a chick" electrolyte are good- fast acting vitamins like nutridrench are important too. Tube feeding her, if you can't get her to drink, is an option.
Will she eat some scrambled egg? Mealworms?
I am so sorry you are going through this.

 

[Ash.M]

This chick is probably about 6 weeks old

 

[4 ever Orpington]

We have a chicken that has been a little under the weather lately. Sneezing and acting a bit lethargic but was still moving around and eating. Today when we came down to check on her she can barely keep her eyes open, she lost a bunch of weight, we can't really get her to eat, she can barely stand up. She has sticky brown/black poo. We had previously been treating for a respiratory infection with tylan. Vet dedected no coccidosis in our other sick chick. What can we do to save our poor chick. Seems like she is on her way out. Thanks for any help. We just got some water with nutridrench down her (by dropper full)

 

[Ash.M]

Right now she won't eat scrambled eggs or any regular food. I got her to eat maybe one mealworm. We have already lost one chick to whatever this is. It is not Marek's, we paid for testing to rule that out.

Thanks for all the help

 

[HenniesInMyHeart]

Oh sweetie, it really could be cocci. Your baby might be having a GI bleed of some kind and cocci can do that. Dark, tarry stools are a sign of bleeding; the digested blood comes out like black tar in their poo. The pale combs/wattles and weakness are additional evidence that blood loss may be involved. Even though your other baby didn't test positive for cocci, this one's symptoms seem to point to it. Otherwise, this is a longshot, but is there any chance she could have gotten into rat poison that would thin her blood?
I would probably start her on Corid (amprolium) from the feed store. It's a coccidiostat. The bottle is pretty big because it is made for cattle, but there is a dosing chart somewhere on this site to convert for chooks.
Right now though, put one drop of straight NutriDrench right in her beak, no dilution. Hang in there and please keep us posted. You are in my thoughts and prayers. <3

 

[orrpeople]

If she were mine, I would tube feed her. Check into it. Kaytee baby bird formula (petsmart carries it) has a good amount of protein and works well for tube feeding

 

[orrpeople]

And it doesn't hurt to give her Corid just in case she does have coccidiosis.