Help! Day old chick with hiccups/dying ???!!!

[YearningForGoats]

My chicks just arrived in the mail, and all seemed ok, drank their first sips of water, etc. Then in a couple of hours, two of them were eating and drinking and running around like crazy. The other is still frail. Keeps opening her mouth like she is trying to get air or has hiccups (don't really know how to describe it). I've been giving her water with electrolytes (which is what the others are drinking) from an eye dropper and some chick feed softened with water from an eye dropper, but it doesn't seem to be helping. Any other recommendations to try? Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[mother o' chicks72]

is she just randomly opening her mouth? is it constant or frequent or is it not very often?

 

[YearningForGoats]

Thanks for your help! It has been a few hours now, and she seems a little better. She was opening her mouth very regularly for a while. Then it seemed like it was only happening for about 10 minutes at a time after I fed her. I've been doing an eye dropper of eletcrolyte water and one of watered down chick feed about every half hour. I massaged her crop a little and she burbed/gurgled a some which may have helped. For a while she was just sleeping standing up. Now she has finally layed down to rest (which seems to be working much better ... not falling over and waking herself up all the time). I am now mostly worried because she still has not taken a drink or eaten anything on her own and is just drowsy. The other two are running around like crazy.

 

[alcap]

wish I could help

 

[drumstick diva]

I think I would separate her from the others for now, if possible because they will wear her out with their hijinks. Maybe she could be in a box within the brooder so they won't climb over her or bump her around.
I don't care for eye droppers because it's easy to get it down the wrong pipe(into lungs), and cause aspiration pneumonia. Maybe she would eat something off your finger tip - like a bit of plain yogurt or mashed egg yolk.
Do you have any Pedialyte infant vitamin drops (NO IRON),maybe you could just get a drop in the side of her beak 2 or 3 x a day. That might perk her up.

 

[YearningForGoats]

Thanks! I guess I will take it easy on the eye dropper and try to get her to eat and drink another way. Thanks for the tips!

 

[YearningForGoats]

She made it!!! She is eating and drinking and running around with the rest of them now. Yeah!!!! So cute. Thanks everyone for your support!!

 

[huckleberryfarm]

I'm going through the same thing right now. I was also using a eye dropper. Hope mine perks up!

 

[VickoRano]

Hate to dig up old posts but this exact thing is happening to my two-week old. I don't know what it is; yeast infection, cocci, sour crop or just a temporary problem. I fed her the same thing; electrolyte water with some softened food and probiotics--I do use an eye-dropper, but I think I will stop and just hold her to a tipped cup or something. Did anyone find the answer, or was waiting the answer? She's been like this all day and I'm afraid of how she'll handle the night.

 

[jbs]

One of my chicks did this when she was a few days old. I had lost 6 chicks due to what i think was being shipped in cold weather, and i was sure this chick was going to die too. I tried force feeding her and it seemed to make her worse, i felt like i was drowning her. I let her alone and she was fine within an hour or so. I found a number of posts on BYC similar to this one, with chicks that were sneezing and hiccupping, and it seems to be fairly common that they just swallow something wrong or inhale dust or something. I hope that's the case with your chick and she works this out on her own. Good luck.