What's going on with this chick?

[squirrelgirl01]

Hello! I had a horrible experience with a Hoover's hatchery order this month. I won't get into that paragraphs-long story. Sweet Pea, one of my three surviving chicks, has never been "right" since we got her. She was on the brink of death when she arrived, and after nearly a week of nursing her day and night, she miraculously pulled through when I didn't expect her to. She's two weeks old tomorrow, and I think she will be a special needs chicken, but I don't know what's going on with her. She trembles all the time, even if she's warm. She doesn't have the best balance. She has trouble roosting on my finger because of this, and it seems like the grip in her feet isn't very strong. Sometimes when the rest of her is warm, her feet/toes are ice cold to the touch. Now, she's growing in her wing feathers really oddly. There are a few large seemingly normal feathers, but the smaller ones are sort of scraggly and they're curling up. Her wings are also very stiff and unflexible. What's wrong with Sweet Pea? Can anyone help me figure it out?

 

[azygous]

It could be low glucose and a vitamin deficiency.

Do you have Poultry Nutri-drench? If not, get some. Mix up a cup of warm water with a teaspoon of sugar and a squirt of Nutri-drench and give it to her to drink. It's okay of the other chicks drink it, too. Give this for three days and see if she improves. If she does, keep giving it for another week.

It would also help to give her special feedings of minced hard boiled egg and tofu to get some easily digestible protein into her. This is in addition to her chick starter. It's okay to let the other chicks eat it so she will be more apt to want to eat it.

 

[squirrelgirl01]

It could be low glucose and a vitamin deficiency.

Do you have Poultry Nutri-drench? If not, get some. Mix up a cup of warm water with a teaspoon of sugar and a squirt of Nutri-drench and give it to her to drink. It's okay of the other chicks drink it, too. Give this for three days and see if she improves. If she does, keep giving it for another week.

It would also help to give her special feedings of minced hard boiled egg and tofu to get some easily digestible protein into her. This is in addition to her chick starter. It's okay to let the other chicks eat it so she will be more apt to want to eat it.

Is Save a Chick vitamins and electrolytes just as effective as Nutri Drench? I gave her that for the first week when she was especially weak.

 

[azygous]

Not quite the same. Poultry Nutri-drench is formulated for sick chickens. It is absobed directly into the blood stream rather than have to be metabolized through the liver. In case the chick is underdeveloped, this may make a difference between life and death for it.

 

[squirrelgirl01]

Not quite the same. Poultry Nutri-drench is formulated for sick chickens. It is absobed directly into the blood stream rather than have to be metabolized through the liver. In case the chick is underdeveloped, this may make a difference between life and death for it.

Ok, I'll get some ASAP and see if it helps. Thank you!