5 day old Easter Egger acting strange

[Flossiefoofoo]

So, like many here I am new to owning chicks. My chicks are 5 days old and I brought them home Saturday when they were 3 days old. All of them were doing very well: eating, drinking sleeping, pooping, playing-all of it was as to be expected...until today. I didn't notice at first but as the day went on, I found that my Easter egger was acting funny: she'll simply stand in one place or another and not do anything-no laying down to sleep, no playing and no eating or drinking that I saw. I mentioned all of this to the breeder I bought them from and she asked me to dip her beak in some water to see if she'd swallow, which she did, although not right away.
Then she asked me to give her some sugar water in the hopes that it's just a case of low blood sugar. I gave her the sugar water and she did perk up some for a minute but is back to standing still, by herself , facing the wall of the brooder. She just stands there with her wings kinda hanging down and doesn't do anything but breath (speaking of breathing, the breeder asked me to hold her to my ear to see if she sounded raspy and she did not).

If the other chicks come around her she just ignores them and eventually they will all move to a different part of the brooder while she just stays standing in the same place. The breeder said to give her more sugar water every few hours and to keep an eye on her and let her know how she's doing.

Y'all, they've been vaccinated so it's likely not coccidiosis and are fully guaranteed so she'd be replaced if anything happened to her but I really have grown quite attached in the few days I've had them and would hate to lose her. Yesterday she was queen of the brooder- charging the other chicks, trying to sleep on top of them, generally being a brat and definitely very active. Today she's the total opposite. Is there anything else it could be besides low blood sugar and is there anything else I can do?

 

[nikolairapunzel]

Did you check her for pasty butt?

 

[Flossiefoofoo]

I sure did and she's clean
She did protest quite a bit when I gave her her latest drink of sugar water a minute ago but as soon as I put her down again, she just kinda stood there like before...

 

[nikolairapunzel]

Is she standing under the heat lamp when she is doing this?

 

[Flossiefoofoo]

She'll stay wherever I put her down, like when I put her down after the sugar water, I put her under the lamp and she's still there. But before I picked her up to give her the sugar water, she was standing on the outer edges of circle of heat from the lamp and she wound up there because when I removed the soiled paper towels earlier, she moved only as much as she had to and then just stayed there. For an hour; that's why I put her under the lamp when I put her down. The blue dot in the first attached picture is where they typically hang out to sleep, that's where she moved from when I cleaned out the paper towels. The purple dot is the place she moved to when I was cleaning and, like I said, she just stood there for an hour. And, as you can see in that same picture, that's her standing alone under the lamp where I put her down after the sugar water After I took the first pic, she moved over to the sleeping area and all the other chicks took off. Now they're eating and she's standing facing the wall, that's in the second picture.

So she does move some but then she'll stand wherever she stops and stay there a long time.

 

[Flossiefoofoo]

She moved a little again, back to the place she was before I picked her up for the latest drink of sugar water. Could she be overheated? If so, why are the other chicks behaving normally in the same environment?

 

[Kiki]

She may not be drinking and eating enough.
Try to encourage her to do both on her own...tapping your finger in some feed that's placed on the ground might help.


Are you using a heat lamp?
I noticed you mention your chicks are not hanging out directly under the light... This leads me to believe that it is too hot.

Do you have a thermometer that you could measure the temperature with?

 

[Flossiefoofoo]

I do not have a thermometer except the kind you put under your tongue so I don't know the exact temp under the lamp but they definitely hang out under it, like they are right now. Sometimes they sleep under it as well, they just mostly prefer the "corner" I mentioned before. The brooder is about 4'x3' and they generally stay on the side where the lamp is but have plenty of room to move to the other end where it's cooler but rarely do.

 

[Flossiefoofoo]

Now you can see them sleeping in their preferred spot and they're together but not huddled, hanging loose, just like they should be. But Miss Easter is still over at the other end of the brooder.

 

[Flossiefoofoo]

She just pooped a little! Here's a pic of what came out (sorry). Initially I had pine shavings for their bedding but switched to paper towels after reading that during their first week they may consume the shavings before they know what food is and that could make them sick. This poop looks suspiciously like pine shavings...