Cold 11 week pullet, bugs, help!!

[Chick_In_The_Burbs]

I went to move my little gals in with the big girls tonight and when I picked up gal 3 she was completely unresponsive. She is breathing and I managed to warm her up a bit so she moved some but she is back to just lying there. All 3 were active and seemed normal yesterday but after handling her it is obvious something is very wrong. She is skin and bones; her crop has something in it but her keel is razor thin. She also had a bunch of small bugs crawling on her. Not fleas or mites, something tiny and brown with wings they don't seem to use. Little buggers got all over me too.

Planning on eye dropper feeding if I can get her awake enough. Any suggestions or insights? The other two seem fine for now but I am guessing they have the same bugs as she does.

 

[Leigti]

I don't know what is wrong with her. But hopefully some experienced people will come along soon and give you some ideas. Can you get her to eat or drink anything?

 

[Leigti]

Can you give her some kind of warm bath to try to get the bugs off of her? Definitely bring her in, too darn cold out there for anything right now.

 

[Chick_In_The_Burbs]

She got a nice bath, blow dried and is resting on a warming pack wrapped in towels. There is a bowl of food right under her beak. She has perked up a little bit but is still very weak. She is staying in our bah tub in a cat carrier overnight. Not sure what else I can do at this point.

 

[Leigti]

When I've had a sick chicken I noticed that they will very readily eat a raw egg. Or you could scramble one.

 

[hswolfwoman]

Need to get some food and electrolytes in her
You may have to put the food in her mouth. Be careful not to choke her. I've done this with mine and some rescues , they all lived , but you have to get that food in her . I fed mine a little bit every two hours . If you got a grinder , fine grind some layer feed if you have it , add some honey and probiotics, add enough water to get it in the syringe. There are different syringes you can get at Walmart or Walgreens that are made for thicker fluid. They have bigger tips . I cut mine off and make the hole on the bottom bigger to allow the food to be sucked up. Don't do this with fluids you might drown her. She'll get plenty of water in the mix

 

[Chick_In_The_Burbs]

I got a little into her. Trying again in a few. She really has no interest in opening her beak or swallowing what I get into it.

 

[hswolfwoman]

A good product to keep on hand is "survive"
You can get it at ALL BIRD PRODUCTS
It's made for saving birds . It did mine.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

It sounds like she may have poultry louse or lice. Whatever they are I'm glad you were able to get her more comfortable.

Hydration is the first and most important step, chicks can become dehydrated quickly. Electrolytes or poultry vitamins would be good if you have them. Once she is hydrated, then offer food. Wet chick starter, hard boiled egg, tuna, etc.

If she can't/won't drink then you may want to consider tube feeding her (water/food) . Kathy (@casportpony ) has a great thread on tube feeding. She has video and photo instructions or you can pm her for help.

Keep her warm and re-inspect her for the creepy crawlies, you may need to apply some poultry dust.

Let us know how she is doing.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/805728/go-team-tube-feeding (Photo of how to starts at post#15, page 2)


http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2012/08/poultry-lice-and-mites-identification.html

 

[Chick_In_The_Burbs]

She passed about 10 last night.

Wyorp- I will pick up stuff for tube feed in case this ever happens again. I just couldn't get her to swallow anything from the syringe I was using.

At least she was warm and bug free when she did go.