week old chick very weak

[Icedangel11]

Well, it's not looking good. I have another chick who doesn't really seem interested in eating. He's sluggish but still active. While the other chicks are peck peck pecking away he might give some slow pecks. His crop isn't nearly as full as the others and I'm afraid I may very well lose another chick.

I got the Easter eggers from a smaller feedstore who ordered them from a hatchery. I'm not sure WHICH hatchery but I've never had this issue with my TSC chicks, that's for sure. I'm not even sure what I'm supposed to do at this point and it's making me very, very sad. I've put sugar in the group water and can just hope he drinks enough of it to get through whatever he's working through.

 

[bumpercarr]

Well, it's not looking good. I have another chick who doesn't really seem interested in eating. He's sluggish but still active. While the other chicks are peck peck pecking away he might give some slow pecks. His crop isn't nearly as full as the others and I'm afraid I may very well lose another chick.

I got the Easter eggers from a smaller feedstore who ordered them from a hatchery. I'm not sure WHICH hatchery but I've never had this issue with my TSC chicks, that's for sure. I'm not even sure what I'm supposed to do at this point and it's making me very, very sad. I've put sugar in the group water and can just hope he drinks enough of it to get through whatever he's working through.

Sounds like you have coccidiosis (sp?). Might want to try some corid in the water for 5 days for all of them. I had it in my first hatch this year and the symptoms were listlessness, breathing hard, sleeping when everyone else was not, not eating well, not drinking well and sometimes (late stage) abdominal swelling. Mine would move around when I would try to handle them, but then immediately lay down, breathing heavy. Do you feed a medicated feed? I started after I lost two out of that first batch.

 

[Icedangel11]

No, I don't do Medicated feed but I think I'll start just in case.

I checked on him and his crop wasn't very full, so I fed him half a crops worth of sugar water and he perked up really quick and started eating. Now he's got a crop about 75% full. He tends to react last, and doesn't make much of a fuss about me handling him. He's not panting or breathing hard, though. But I noticed his belly made some odd noises (like gurgling) when he drank water. He's always been a super puff ball so I can't tell if his feathers are ruffled but he doesn't feel any bigger than his siblings. He's not sleeping, he's just a bit slow on the draw. Say i I make a weird noise all the other chickens will look up at me but he'll keep eating/drinking/doing whatever he was up to. And if the other chicks flock away from me he takes a few moments before he starts to run away.

If one has it does that mean they all have it now? Because I also have ducks that run with the chickens. (One is VERY much imprinted on them and can't be separated without severe stress. )

Edit: Sorry my terms aren't very scientific. A lot of the time I just use their crops fullness to judge what they need.

 

[bumpercarr]

No, I don't do Medicated feed but I think I'll start just in case.

I checked on him and his crop wasn't very full, so I fed him half a crops worth of sugar water and he perked up really quick and started eating. Now he's got a crop about 75% full. He tends to react last, and doesn't make much of a fuss about me handling him. He's not panting or breathing hard, though. But I noticed his belly made some odd noises (like gurgling) when he drank water. He's always been a super puff ball so I can't tell if his feathers are ruffled but he doesn't feel any bigger than his siblings. He's not sleeping, he's just a bit slow on the draw. Say i I make a weird noise all the other chickens will look up at me but he'll keep eating/drinking/doing whatever he was up to. And if the other chicks flock away from me he takes a few moments before he starts to run away.

If one has it does that mean they all have it now? Because I also have ducks that run with the chickens. (One is VERY much imprinted on them and can't be separated without severe stress. )

Edit: Sorry my terms aren't very scientific. A lot of the time I just use their crops fullness to judge what they need.

Generally they would all get it, but some aren't as affected by it as others are. The first batch where I lost two, I didn't treat at all because I didn't know what was wrong. Coccidiosis is supposedly caused by damp conditions, although I live in arid country and mine still got it. It is basically a bad bacteria in the stomach, where they need good bacteria to process their food, the bad gets in and then causes this problem for SOME (not all) of the chicks. The other thing that I noticed was that the poo was a little runny. Now that mine are all on medicated feed, their poo is smaller and more solid like an adult chicken's (but smaller). Chicks are particularly susceptible. All chickens have it to some extent, usually they become immune to it as they grow up. Hope this helps. If you catch it early enough the corid can cure it, if that is what the problem is. I don't think that corid hurts ducks, but you might want to check.

Some people recommend apple cider vinegar added to the water to prevent cocci. I used that with the first hatch and they still got it. Went to the medicated feed and haven't had a problem since.

Hope this helps.

 

[Icedangel11]

Hrm.. I'm not entirely sure. His poops seemed normal, though he has been dealing with a little pasty butt.

I think I'll switch over to the medicated in just the chick room. I have 1 Silver laced Wyandotte and 5 "Araucanas" (Easter eggers.) left out of nine chicks and that's simply not okay. Up until this batch my chicks were perfectly fine. I may call the feedstore and see which hatchery they ordered them from so I can avoid it. Out of 15 chicks before them they've all been fine. And the stress has all but made me sick to my stomach. :/

 

[bumpercarr]

Hrm.. I'm not entirely sure. His poops seemed normal, though he has been dealing with a little pasty butt.

I think I'll switch over to the medicated in just the chick room. I have 1 Silver laced Wyandotte and 5 "Araucanas" (Easter eggers.) left out of nine chicks and that's simply not okay. Up until this batch my chicks were perfectly fine. I may call the feedstore and see which hatchery they ordered them from so I can avoid it. Out of 15 chicks before them they've all been fine. And the stress has all but made me sick to my stomach. :/

I'm so sorry. I completely understand the stress thing. The medicated feed doesn't actually have antibiotics or anything like that in it. It has a probiotic that helps build their digestive systems.

Cheer up, you still have some beauties that need you!!!

 

[Icedangel11]

Thank the heavens he's still alive! Him and 4 other chicks were sleeping in the opposite corner of their normal snooze place. They didn't want to come out but I wasn't going to force them.

I guess I'm going to have to try and find a place with some medicated feed. Though I really hope it's not that expensive. There's been too much month at the end of my money. Would there be any home alternatives if I can't afford it? I really don't want to lose him. ;n; He's my super fluffy cute baby.

 

[Icedangel11]

I got the medicated feed and replaced the old feed with it. He seemed wobbly on his feet and didn't want to eat so I had to manually feed him. Just as his crop half filled up it vanished, so I gave him some more bite, some more water, and set him down. I'm going to do this every hour or two to make SURE he's getting enough to eat. I don't know what else I can do for him.

 

[Icedangel11]

Just finished the second forced feeding. Took me about 30 minutes to do.

I boiled an egg and mixed the egg yolk with some water and feed, started with about 3/4th egg yolk, 1/4th feed. Then at about a 1/4th a crop full added a little more water and a little more feed. Then near the end it was mostly feed with about 1/4th egg yolk. Mixed to about a toothpaste consistency.

He fought the forced feeding a LOT more than the last time. So I'm taking that as a good sign. He's been under the heat lamp and appears to be *slightly* less wobbly. And the gurgling while feeding stopped about halfway through. I think he was just hungry. He pooped, too. It was mostly yellow-white liquid with a small amount of brown. Not overly surprising seeing as most of his foodsource has been sugar water.

He finally feels like he's got some weight to him. Before he felt so tiny and hollow now he's got some substance to him. He feels much more chick like now.

I'm going to continue to force feed every hour. The other chicks seem to be doing fine so I'm not going to supplement them too much. I think I'll do his egg yolk mix again and add another egg yolk in it tonight. Two a day isn't too shabby. I think a lot of his weakness is coming from the fact that he's not eating anything at all.

I left him with a somewhat squishy crop that's about 75% full. It's probably the biggest meal he's had in a while.

 

[Icedangel11]

Just finished another feeding. He was still pretty full so I didn't want to give him much more. He kept spitting out the solid food so I reduced it to liquid and had him drink some.

He's no longer wobbling when he stands (at least not much) and has a LOT more fight in him. He laid down to sunbath under the heat lamp and was more active in watching the other chicks. Though he doesn't seem to care for running after them. He seems a bit less fluffy, too.