Chick not acting right

[EliseD2012]

Hi all!

I have a chick who is 4 weeks old. She is a peanut! She only weighs 1 ounce at this point and I know that is small even for her breed. She is a mille fleur. I know she is small because we have another the same age that is more than twice her size! This little one was also doing a strange mouth breathing thing, but it doesn't seem stress, heat, or respiratory related. She stopped that after a week, but then was doing a head shake thing. she isn't doing that anymore either, but she is still not growing! We ended up having to separate her from the other 3 chicks, not because they were picking on her (they were actually very protective of her), but because with the other three duking it out for pecking order the peanut got stepped on and now has a broken leg. It is splinted and we are hoping she makes it through this craziness that is her life. She is eating and drinking water, but she just isn't growing? She only gained 10 grams in a week. Please help! I am trying to figure out how to upload video and pictures, but I am having trouble because this isn't my computer I am using right now.

 

[RhodeIslandRed5]

Aww, poor baby. Try giving vitamins to help strengthen him/her.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

4 weeks old. She is a peanut! She only weighs 1 ounce at this point and I know that is small even for her breed.

This little one was also doing a strange mouth breathing thing, but it doesn't seem stress, heat, or respiratory related. She stopped that after a week, but then was doing a head shake thing. she isn't doing that anymore either, but she is still not growing!

but because with the other three duking it out for pecking order the peanut got stepped on and now has a broken leg. It is splinted and we are hoping she makes it through this craziness that is her life. She is eating and drinking water, but she just isn't growing?

I'm sorry your having troubles.
For video, upload to youtube or similar platform and provide us a link.

Her leg is broken? Could it be splayed or slipped tendon?
At night before she goes to sleep, is her crop full?
What do you feed?

Hopefully with a little more information and the video we can give you some suggestions.

 

[EliseD2012]

I'm sorry your having troubles.
For video, upload to youtube or similar platform and provide us a link.

Her leg is broken? Could it be splayed or slipped tendon?
At night before she goes to sleep, is her crop full?
What do you feed?

Hopefully with a little more information and the video we can give you some suggestions.

Videos are uploaded. Thank you!

Hoping it isn't a slipped tendon. I was told there is no way to fix that. She did have an x-ray (it is good to know a vet) he saw a shadow, not exactly a break, but thought that it might have been a break.

She eats chick feed, but I grind it smaller for her now. She is also getting electrolytes and vitamins in her water. We do do supplemental water feeding to be sure she is getting enough water.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Videos are uploaded. Thank you!

Hoping it isn't a slipped tendon. I was told there is no way to fix that. She did have an x-ray (it is good to know a vet) he saw a shadow, not exactly a break, but thought that it might have been a break.

She eats chick feed, but I grind it smaller for her now. She is also getting electrolytes and vitamins in her water. We do do supplemental water feeding to be sure she is getting enough water.

She's not doing any of the head shaking or gasping anymore?

She's a cutie! I would give her some poultry vitamins that contain E, B1 and B2 or you can give her human vitamins. 400IU daily and 1/4 tablet human B-Complex. Give her a bit of mashed up scrambled or hard boiled egg along with her chick starter.

I'm glad you were able to see the vet, hopefully if the leg is broken it will heal up fine.

Sometimes chicks catch up, they are runts. Sadly, other times, they just simply fail to thrive.

Keep us posted.

 

[Gilded Feather]

Just popped in to say I had a runt silkie who wasn’t growing like her hatch mates. She was literally half the size of the others at one point. Someone on here offered the suggestion of adding a probiotic to my chicks water so I went and bought a strip (3 packets) of sav-a-chick probiotics. I mixed one packet per gallon of water like the directions said and let the chicks have at it. When the water would run out, another packet would go in until I used up all the probiotics. As of now (2 weeks later) my runt is 3/4 the size of her hatch mates and is starting to feather out nicely. She even has more energy and this helped fix the chronic pasty butt that seemed to plague her. Maybe trying this will help your chick too.

 

[EliseD2012]

She's not doing any of the head shaking or gasping anymore?

She's a cutie! I would give her some poultry vitamins that contain E, B1 and B2 or you can give her human vitamins. 400IU daily and 1/4 tablet human B-Complex. Give her a bit of mashed up scrambled or hard boiled egg along with her chick starter.

I'm glad you were able to see the vet, hopefully if the leg is broken it will heal up fine.

Sometimes chicks catch up, they are runts. Sadly, other times, they just simply fail to thrive.

Keep us posted.

Thank you! I hope so too
She went for her recheck yesterday to be sure the splint is on fine, hoping when it comes off it is all healed! And no! No head shaking anymore. Do you know what could cause that?

 

[EliseD2012]

Just popped in to say I had a runt silkie who wasn’t growing like her hatch mates. She was literally half the size of the others at one point. Someone on here offered the suggestion of adding a probiotic to my chicks water so I went and bought a strip (3 packets) of sav-a-chick probiotics. I mixed one packet per gallon of water like the directions said and let the chicks have at it. When the water would run out, another packet would go in until I used up all the probiotics. As of now (2 weeks later) my runt is 3/4 the size of her hatch mates and is starting to feather out nicely. She even has more energy and this helped fix the chronic pasty butt that seemed to plague her. Maybe trying this will help your chick too.

That is so good to know! Thank you! Can you mix the probiotics with vitamins or do I have to rake her off vitamins while giving her probiotics?

 

[EliseD2012]

Aww, poor baby. Try giving vitamins to help strengthen him/her.

Thank you! Yes, She has been on vitamins for a few weeks now. As soon as I saw she wasn't growing like the rest.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Thank you! I hope so too
She went for her recheck yesterday to be sure the splint is on fine, hoping when it comes off it is all healed! And no! No head shaking anymore. Do you know what could cause that?

I hope she heals too!
The head shaking, hard to know, since it seemed to stop on it's own.