Wing drooping, head sagging chick

[PonderingKiwi]

Edit: Thank you everyone who tried to help. Sadly, we got home from the long drive to civilization and she’d already passed away. We disinfected everything and decided to go ahead and preventatively treat the whole flock for cocci. We’re also supplying probiotics for everyone. And we got medicated feed while out there. Hopefully, everyone else will be ok. Anyway, thank you again. RIP little Runty.

First time chick mom here. We purchased her today with two others. She’s the smallest. She wasn’t very energetic when we first got home, but out other batch of chicks were wobbly and refused to sit down for a while when we first got them.. so I thought she’d even out. It’s been several hours now. Her sisters have settled in to the brooder. Peeping and eating and what I assume is playing. She’s still sagging and seems exhausted. Her poop is slime with no brown in it. She’s not eating or drinking. We rushed to the feed store and bought some electrolytes/probiotic/prebiotic/vitamin powder. Gave her a few drops in a syringe and then added it to the groups waterer as well for everyone else. My husband hopped onto the internet and found a recipe for a chick “slurry”. Egg yolk, water, and a sprinkle of the electrolyte powder. He mixed that together and sat with her and dabbed it on the side of her beak so she’d take little sips of that until she refused to take more. We then made sure the heat lamp isn’t too hot or cold and put her back in. That was maybe 10 minutes ago and no improvement. Not sure how fast all that was meant to perk her up. Is there anything else we can do? She’s so small and fluffy.. I would absolutely hate to lose her.

Edited to add the picture of what’s going on today. She’s still not eating or drinking on her own.. still droopy and not moving much.

 

[Purelychicks]

First time chick mom here. We purchased her today with two others. She’s the smallest. She wasn’t very energetic when we first got home, but out other batch of chicks were wobbly and refused to sit down for a while when we first got them.. so I thought she’d even out. It’s been several hours now. Her sisters have settled in to the brooder. Peeping and eating and what I assume is playing. She’s still sagging and seems exhausted. Her poop is slime with no brown in it. She’s not eating or drinking. We rushed to the feed store and bought some electrolytes/probiotic/prebiotic/vitamin powder. Gave her a few drops in a syringe and then added it to the groups waterer as well for everyone else. My husband hopped onto the internet and found a recipe for a chick “slurry”. Egg yolk, water, and a sprinkle of the electrolyte powder. He mixed that together and sat with her and dabbed it on the side of her beak so she’d take little sips of that until she refused to take more. We then made sure the heat lamp isn’t too hot or cold and put her back in. That was maybe 10 minutes ago and no improvement. Not sure how fast all that was meant to perk her up. Is there anything else we can do? She’s so small and fluffy.. I would absolutely hate to lose her.

what color is her poop? is there any blood? you could research to see if you think its coccidiosis. If it is coccidiosis you would treat with CORID liquid which can be ordered online or found in Tractor Supply. It would be 10ML per gallon of water - or 2 tsp per gallon of water. Does it have pasty butt? if so, soak butt in plain warm water to loosen hardened stool. Some chicks are just born weak and the best thing you can do for them is probiotics and TLC.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Is there anything else we can do?

Its too soon to be coccidiosis. Shipping stress is very likely.

Poyltry nutri drench administered like you're doing the slury sometimes works miracles.. it's patented for rapid absorption and doesn't require digestion to work. Also it has amino acids.. I'm not sure are in those electrolyte mixes.

 

[Purelychicks]

Its too soon to be coccidiosis. Shipping stress is very likely.

Poyltry nutri drench administered like you're doing the slury sometimes works miracles.. it's patented for rapid absorption and doesn't require digestion to work. Also it has amino acids.. I'm not sure are in those electrolyte mixes.

At what age is most typical for Cocci? I had a chick at a little less than 1 week old with straight bloody stool and figured it was Cocci so I treated for it. It was my broody mamas chick so had been exposed to flock & outside.

 

[azygous]

Right now, mix a half a teaspoon of sugar into half a cup of warm water. Hold the chick and drip the solution onto the right side of the beak, drop after drop. The chick will slurp it into its throat.

Sugar is the most important thing for chick stress since it elevates the glucose instantly. This provides energy so the chick will then be able to drink and eat on its own. You should see a change in less than an hour, but feed the sugar water at least every hpur for the rest of tonight and into tomorrow.

The best vitamin supplement as @EggSighted4Life mentioned is Poultry Nutri-drench. It's formulated for sick chickens and does not need to be metabolized by the liver to get into the chick's system.

It's not age but exposure to coccidia that causes coccidiosis in new chicks. But the incubation period is a minimum of five days. So chicks fresh from the hatchery are unlikely to be exposed and if they were, wouldn't have time for it to develop.

 

[PonderingKiwi]

what color is her poop? is there any blood? you could research to see if you think its coccidiosis. If it is coccidiosis you would treat with CORID liquid which can be ordered online or found in Tractor Supply. It would be 10ML per gallon of water - or 2 tsp per gallon of water. Does it have pasty butt? if so, soak butt in plain warm water to loosen hardened stool. Some chicks are just born weak and the best thing you can do for them is probiotics and TLC.

Her poop is clear with a little bit of white in it. Definitely not something I’m familiar with.

We read about cocci and she does match the symptoms, minus the bloody stool. However, she matches the symptoms of just being weak too. I’m going to try to get my hands on some Corid today.. should I treat everyone? We gave her a second feeding and more special water drops. Still no improvement tho. The rest are still good and strong.

 

[PonderingKiwi]

Right now, mix a half a teaspoon of sugar into half a cup of warm water. Hold the chick and drip the solution onto the right side of the beak, drop after drop. The chick will slurp it into its throat.

Sugar is the most important thing for chick stress since it elevates the glucose instantly. This provides energy so the chick will then be able to drink and eat on its own. You should see a change in less than an hour, but feed the sugar water at least every hpur for the rest of tonight and into tomorrow.

The best vitamin supplement as @EggSighted4Life mentioned is Poultry Nutri-drench. It's formulated for sick chickens and does not need to be metabolized by the liver to get into the chick's system.

It's not age but exposure to coccidia that causes coccidiosis in new chicks. But the incubation period is a minimum of five days. So chicks fresh from the hatchery are unlikely to be exposed and if they were, wouldn't have time for it to develop.

Right now, mix a half a teaspoon of sugar into half a cup of warm water. Hold the chick and drip the solution onto the right side of the beak, drop after drop. The chick will slurp it into its throat.

Sugar is the most important thing for chick stress since it elevates the glucose instantly. This provides energy so the chick will then be able to drink and eat on its own. You should see a change in less than an hour, but feed the sugar water at least every hpur for the rest of tonight and into tomorrow.

The best vitamin supplement as @EggSighted4Life mentioned is Poultry Nutri-drench. It's formulated for sick chickens and does not need to be metabolized by the liver to get into the chick's system.

It's not age but exposure to coccidia that causes coccidiosis in new chicks. But the incubation period is a minimum of five days. So chicks fresh from the hatchery are unlikely to be exposed and if they were, wouldn't have time for it to develop.

We’ve been doing the sugar water with the electrolytes and egg yolk. Still no improvement. It’s hard to get pictures of her because of the red light but here’s a picture of how she stands all day. She doesn’t sit hardly at all.. even to sleep. And today she’s got yellow looking super slimy poop. I’m concerned she’s a lost cause

 

[EggSighted4Life]

At what age is most typical for Cocci? I had a chick at a little less than 1 week old with straight bloody stool and figured it was Cocci so I treated for it. It was my broody mamas chick so had been exposed to flock & outside.

My current understanding is that it takes at least 6 days from exposure before symptoms may appear.

Upon looking again.. at a trusted resource.. looks like could be as soon as 4 days. for the prepatent period and it takes at least two days for sporelation.. so a little different inside a brand new fresh brooder than being born under a broody.. where everything may already be sporelated.. Even then most don't come off the nest at day 1.

https://www.merckvetmanual.com/poultry/coccidiosis-in-poultry/coccidiosis-in-poultry#:~:text=Coccidiosis is a protozoal disease,combination with characteristic necropsy findings.

And today she’s got yellow looking super slimy poop. I’m concerned she’s a lost cause

That's probably from the egg yolk.. are you gonna try and get the Poultry nurti drench?

Keep her butt clean.. Don't give up yet!

ETA: only one or two of the 9-11 strains of coccidia known to effect chickens MAY present as blood in stool.. all others will be virtually iundetectable.. and behavior (along with other clues like age etc) is the best indicator.

 

[PonderingKiwi]

My current understanding is that it takes at least 6 days from exposure before symptoms may appear.

Upon looking again.. at a trusted resource.. looks like could be as soon as 4 days. for the prepatent period and it takes at least two days for sporelation.. so a little different inside a brand new fresh brooder than being born under a broody.. where everything may already be sporelated.. Even then most don't come off the nest at day 1.

https://www.merckvetmanual.com/poultry/coccidiosis-in-poultry/coccidiosis-in-poultry#:~:text=Coccidiosis is a protozoal disease,combination with characteristic necropsy findings.



That's probably from the egg yolk.. are you gonna try and get the Poultry nurti drench?

Keep her butt clean.. Don't give up yet!

They didn’t have the drench stuff at the feed store but they had this, so it’s what we’ve been using. I’m afraid she’ll be dead in the 3 days it’s gonna take to order some

 

[azygous]

It's more likely the chick has coccidiosis than an infection, though infection often accompanies coccidiosis. I would treat this chick with Corid asap, giving it the drench dose along with Corid water for all the chicks as well as this one.

The drench dose for a small chick would be a drop or two of undiluted Corid once a day for three days. Again, this is in addition to the Corid water for five days.