Worried about the chicks...!

[alorp27]

I purchased 10 australorp pullets... All of which hatched on march 26th. I got them on the 30th. On the second day, when i was sleeping, the heat lamp blew and they were all cold. One died that night and the rest were all wet and cold. They were all kinda sticky, which i am imagining was from the water with sugar in it. They must have gotten in that in the night.

My girlfriend and I gently wiped them with warm water and a rag and dried them the best we could and got the other 250 watt bulb on them ASAP... 8 started moving around and eating and drinking very well, but the one still acts strange. Initially they were all stiff acting and could barely move. Like I said though, 8 of them turned out fine from what we can tell.

They are 7 days now, and the one that does not seem to be doing too good, rarely opens its eyes. It chirps every 10 - 15 minutes or so, and it always falls asleep standing up. It is very wobbly when it stands, but when it wants to, it can run. Other times, it sleeps face first and looks dead... I have to physically touch the tip of its beak to the water to get it to drink a small amount, but it never drinks or eats on its own. When it poops, it is always watery, which I imagine is from only getting the little water it gets and no food. All the other chicks eat and drink now fine. They all scratch and peck at everything and run around, so they clearly seem fine. Just this one seems messed up. The one in bad shape also seems to let its wings sag more so than the others...

If I look at symptoms online for what chickens can have wrong with them, I can come up with a ton of different possibilities, so I stopped trying to diagnose on my own. I also doubt it is a virus or parasite or anything, because this seemed to stem from the blown bulb in the night. I'm sure getting wet didn't help things any either. If anyone has any ideas, please let me know. I'm somewhat a novice with baby chicks, so all and any advice, would be greatly appreciated. Thank you... I'll try what I can to save this chick... They look so darn cute, it's hard to see something so small and delicate be sick, and it made us feel even worse when the one died... Especially if it's over the stupid light... Really hope I can fix this.

 

[Fierlin1182]

Really sorry to hear about the mishap with the light! That must've blown. Your chick doesn't sound like he's doing so flash. We had a bit of a dodgy chick once too, she was displaying behaviour similar to yours, standing there looking dead. We fed it a bit of garlic. Had to physically shove it down the throat as she wouldn't eat anything, but a few hours later she was starting to improve. I don't know if that would help, but whenever we have a sick one it's always worth a shot. Good luck. I hope you find something that works soon.

 

[alorp27]

Thank you for the reply. We will try that... It's opening it's eyes now more often, just not eating. I'll see how the garlic works... I can get her to drink when we dip it's beak but that's all she will do. The sugar calories in the water is probably the only reason she has lasted this long.

 

[alorp27]

Well, good news... She has been running to the water and drinking in on her own. Haven't witnessed eating, but the fact that it's drinking under its own power is a good sign...

 

[Fierlin1182]

I'm so relieved for you! That's really good news. I hope she continues to get better from here. It's pretty sad when one of the chicks seems to be sick.