Near Fatality - Listless Chick

This Stafford mosaic chick with a dark crest is especially promising.



But the smaller chick on the right is listless!! Neither one open their mouths to beg me to feed them.


Note the red color apparent between its wings. It also felt cold and very lethargic. These chicks seem to be doing well the day before when I banded them.



Turning the chick over, an abnormal yellow/green color was seen especially toward the vent. I washed the abdomen and found that a thin yellow green film was covering the abdomen. Carefully, I peeled it off. This film can seal the vent and result in death.


When chicks are just banded, there is a danger of diarrhea which may be associated with too high protein diet or infection of either parasites or bacteria.

Looking around the cage, I saw pure hard boiled egg which normally I stop once chicks are banded. I also noted just a couple of hours earlier that the other hen sitting on eggs in the same cage, had gotten off the nest temporarily and feed the chicks, so three adult birds where overfeeding them.

E. coli smells and not smelling any odor. I decided to correct the diet and add KD powder to the water. I reduced the concentration of the egg food by adding an equal part of ABBA green 92, added more greens, oatmeal, and dish of straight ABBA green and took away the pure hard boiled egg.



Today the chicks are fine!! I will keep them on KD powder in the water and keep checking the vent and washing it, massaging it to assure it is indeed open. After washing the vent and making sure it is open, I encourage the chicks to walk in my hand, this movement encourages a full chick to expel its fecal material.