Sick chick

[Klcourter]

Hello everyone, this is my first post and also first time raising chicks. We’ve had a tough time. One of the chicks, 9 days old, has been sick for 2 days. She is awake for only a few minutes at a time and sleeps the rest of the day. When she’s awake, she’ll walk a short distance and eat and/or drink. She’ll also poop. But she’s shaky and can barely walk. Then she’ll sleep again, mostly under or nearby the warming plate.
I’ve put ACV, garlic, and raw honey in the waterer. She ate a tiny bit of raw egg yolk yesterday and maybe one bite of hard boiled yolk today.
It’s so, so sad and I feel hopeless at this point. Does anyone else have a similar situation they could share? I am pretty certain she’s not going to make it but it’s been 2 full days…maybe there’s hope?

 

[nuthatched]

Give them fresh, plain water.
What's their diet? Are these shipped chicks?
How hot is the brooder? How is it arranged?

 

[Debbie292d]

Hello everyone, this is my first post and also first time raising chicks. We’ve had a tough time. One of the chicks, 9 days old, has been sick for 2 days. She is awake for only a few minutes at a time and sleeps the rest of the day. When she’s awake, she’ll walk a short distance and eat and/or drink. She’ll also poop. But she’s shaky and can barely walk. Then she’ll sleep again, mostly under or nearby the warming plate.
I’ve put ACV, garlic, and raw honey in the waterer. She ate a tiny bit of raw egg yolk yesterday and maybe one bite of hard boiled yolk today.
It’s so, so sad and I feel hopeless at this point. Does anyone else have a similar situation they could share? I am pretty certain she’s not going to make it but it’s been 2 full days…maybe there’s hope?

Hi, welcome to BYC!! So sorry to hear about your chick. Are you familiar with what coccidiosis symptoms are? Yours doesn't sound like it as they usually are all fluffed up, wings out, and sometimes poop blood. If it's doing any of that, you'd need to give them all Corid, powder or liquid, in their water for 5-7 days.

To encourage eating the starter is the best thing for it and ours love it with warm water on it, like put it in a small dish and make it into a consistency of thick oatmeal. That might spruce it up a little. I would also give it some Nutra Drench vitamins in their water for a day too. I hope it strengthens up.

 

[Klcourter]

Update. Thank you so very much, I started adding NutriDrench and feeding the chicks scrambled eggs, and she’s doing SO much better. However, she’s definitely not developed like the other chicks. She still stumbles sometimes, can’t jump up to perch, and cannot preen herself. Her neck is super short. Any thoughts if maybe it’s genetics and failure to thrive? I do have high hopes for her at this point though. She’s eating and drinking well and has good energy and definitely wants to do everything the other chicks do.
Thanks again!!

 

[realsis]

Update. Thank you so very much, I started adding NutriDrench and feeding the chicks scrambled eggs, and she’s doing SO much better. However, she’s definitely not developed like the other chicks. She still stumbles sometimes, can’t jump up to perch, and cannot preen herself. Her neck is super short. Any thoughts if maybe it’s genetics and failure to thrive? I do have high hopes for her at this point though. She’s eating and drinking well and has good energy and definitely wants to do everything the other chicks do.
Thanks again!!

You might want to try liquid vitamins. Vitamin defiency can show up in very strange ways in chickens.i had one that started doing summer salts and was really weak on her legs the vitamins took care of that. It won't hurt to give it a try. Hope this helps. Best wishes.

 

[Klcourter]

Another update: she’s doing great! She’s the small one of the bunch but I would say fully recovered from whatever was going on.

 

[stacyg7713]

Another update: she’s doing great! She’s the small one of the bunch but I would say fully recovered from whatever was going on.

Did just doing the vitamins in the water help? I seem to be in a similar situation with one of mine. Your symptoms seem quite similar. I tried adding some things to the water but not the vitamins.

 

[Klcourter]

Did just doing the vitamins in the water help? I seem to be in a similar situation with one of mine. Your symptoms seem quite similar. I tried adding some things to the water but not the vitamins.

Nutridrench vitamins and scrambled eggs, and making sure she ate and drank as much as possible.