wet-breathing, sick 3 wk Serama chick...treatments, advice?? video link...Please

[pdx2phx]

I have a 3 week old serama chick that started constantly peeping yesterday. she has been outside with her broody mom and 2 siblings with medicated chick starter, shelter, water etc. all have been well until yesterday.

her breathing is starting to sound clicky/wet and her tail is bobbing hard when breathing and chirping. don't see any sores, eyes/mouth throat appear clear. crop is empty. i brought her inside (by herself) with heat lamp etc. she can't keep up with the others right now and seems to be getting cold because mom & siblings are very active and running around in their outside pen.

Not sure when she last ate drank. I am holding her now and she's resting as she cries constantly if I don't, and I'm worried about stressing her further.

any suggestions for chick meds/treatments? i have VetRX, antibiotic, sav-a chic electrolyte (although I've never used it)

....not sure what to do since she's so tiny . please help if you can!

 

[chicknmania]

Can you tube feed her? What kind of antibiotics do you have? If you have something like Oxytet you might be able to
mix it with a chicken shake of some kind and give her a little bit that way. Another thing you might try (which would be easier)
is to do a nasal flush with injectable Tylan, that you can get at the feed store. You sort of tip her head down and take a dropper
or something you can drip the Tylan through her nostrils and it will run out her mouth. Might mix it with a few drops of sterile water.
A chick that small is gong to be hard, because she needs her mom and sibs, and soon, or she's gonna have to integrate into the
flock by herself and that will be harder for her.

 

[pdx2phx]

here is a video of her to show condition if this might help:

 

[pdx2phx]

Can you tube feed her? What kind of antibiotics do you have? If you have something like Oxytet you might be able to
mix it with a chicken shake of some kind and give her a little bit that way. Another thing you might try (which would be easier)
is to do a nasal flush with injectable Tylan, that you can get at the feed store. You sort of tip her head down and take a dropper
or something you can drip the Tylan through her nostrils and it will run out her mouth. Might mix it with a few drops of sterile water.
A chick that small is gong to be hard, because she needs her mom and sibs, and soon, or she's gonna have to integrate into the
flock by herself and that will be harder for her.

I have baytril (liquid) but would have to give it with a syringe orally or try the nasal flush like you suggest (never done that before) . I don't have Tylan and unfortunately I'll only be able to get it via Amazon (TSC locally doesnt have it)......have no clue how much to give a tiny chick or if I could really give her an appropriate amount safely orally. would Baytril be ok as a nasal flush?

I dipped her beak in water and she drank a little, pecked a little at food, but then started the loud peeping again until I cuddled her against my neck again. now she's preening in my hand against my neck and seems to be resting. Not like I don't have 1000 things to do today....

I could bring mom/sibs inside with her to hopefully reduce her stress, but am afraid of the others getting sick, and they are so active and wouldn't be happy being penned up inside.....ugh.

 

[chicknmania]

Poor baby! She doesn't really LOOK sick though! What happens when you say she can't keep up? When you say she can't keep up with mom and sibs, what is she
doing? idk about antibiotic, you could probably use anything in a nasal flush, but I'm just not sureabout the dose. And after watching the video, I'm not sure she NEEDS antibiotcs.
She looks more scared, than anything. Maybe momma just rejected her,. Or maybe she's got some genetic problem that's causing her familyto reject her. We had a chick
that happened to once, it was heartbreakng.

 

[chicknmania]

I sent you a PM. And btw, nasal flush sounds horrible but it's simple and they don't seem to even notice much.

 

[pdx2phx]

Poor baby! She doesn't really LOOK sick though! What happens when you say she can't keep up? When you say she can't keep up with mom and sibs, what is she
doing? idk about antibiotic, you could probably use anything in a nasal flush, but I'm just not sureabout the dose. And after watching the video, I'm not sure she NEEDS antibiotcs.
She looks more scared, than anything. Maybe momma just rejected her,. Or maybe she's got some genetic problem that's causing her familyto reject her. We had a chick
that happened to once, it was heartbreakng.

It's hard to describe about the 'keeping up with mom/sibs' part of the equation, but when she was still with them, they would run all over their pen & coop scratching, eating and the usual mom & chick stuff and she'd just cry in place, or would follow after and try to get under mom, and mom would get up and move again, leaving the chick behind over & over. She is smaller than her siblings, but up until a few days ago was always the first to respond to mom's food clucks, explore new things, etc, so this 'left behind' behavior is new. I didn't see any aggressive behaviors from mom toward her, just more like she was being ignored.

The weather has been nuts here too - high 70s to 30s at night, sunny, rainy, windy, warm/humid, cold/humid...we've had all of the above in the last 10 days. I think she probably has a 'cold,' doesn't feel good to constantly run around, and started getting cold since mom wasn't staying in place any more. (?)

She is doing better this morning - cries if I put her back in her pen but it seems more of a lonely vs. distress cry. She's eating and doing a lot pf preening. Still sounds a little 'wet' and sneezes occasionally, so will put a little more VetRX on her in a bit. I'm going to hold off on antibiotic for now, but will do more reading on the nasal flush. The amount to give (Baytril anyway) is so small for an adult Serama that I'm really concerned about how much to give a teeny chick.

I don't really want to raise a lone chick again (done it before, and although the last one was a great pet, her adjustment to being with the flock once she moved out was rough.....on both of us

!)

Thanks again for the advice!

 

[chicknmania]

She's so cute! I've done that lone chick raised by humans thing too and I know what you mean, it's heart breaking.
Glad she is doing better, and you have a better handle on what to do about momma..does sound like she was rejecting the baby and maybe getting tired of being mom.

 

[wendijosmiles]

I really have nothing of any value to add to this conversation - but I just wanted to say - that is a super cute baby you have there!

 

[luvmigrls]

Hey new egg, this is a great place to hangout & learn much bout our feathered friends.