Can chicks drink breast milk?

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deso81p

deso81p

Hatching
May 27, 2016
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Word of warning, I strongly advise against Googling the above phrase.
Down to business: we have a chick that hasn't been eating on her own. We've been feeding her QuikChick/sugar water out of an eye dropper but she doesn't peck at the chick starter feed or go over to the QuikChick dish on her own. She is 4 days old. She's also quite small compared to the other chicks and gets pushed around a lot.
I had read that feeding chicks a small amount of yogurt might help with pastebutt (if that's the issue)...long story short, yogurt isn't readily handy, but breastmilk is. Thoughts?
 
Yoghurt has probiotics, that's why it's recommended. Milk of any type doesn't. Dairy will often give birds loose droppings so I personally wouldn't use it for pasty butt which can be caused by loose droppings. Things like ground oatmeal and raw cornmeal are suppose to help, keeping the chick at a good temperature, not too hot or cold is important too. If your chick isn't responding at 4 days it might not make it, unfortunately not all do.
 
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I have to think there's a possibility it would help. Having seen what it can do in humans (I've never seen a newborn eye infection clear so fast)...it's pretty amazing stuff - they don't call it "liquid gold" for nothing.

That said, we aren't talking about a mammal here and I have no idea how chickens do with dairy. I do see a lot of people giving them yogurt and I would think breastmilk would be similarly easier to digest than, say, pasteurized cows milk.
 
Having seen what it can do in humans (I've never seen a newborn eye infection clear so fast)...it's pretty amazing stuff - they don't call it "liquid gold" for nothing.

Right? That was my line of thinking. I did give her a little before posting this and then got nervous that it might make things worse. She is definitely weaker than her mates, it could go either way for her. Going to give her some ground oatmeal but holding off on milk.
 
Yeah, not gonna google that, however when I had dairy goats I would either freeze extra colostrum for future babies or give extra to chickens. I'd also give them fresh milk and whey left over from making cheeses. Not a lot mind you, more like a treat.
They loved it and I never saw runny poops or a change in egg production.

@TurnbullClan you may even inquire at local hospitals about donating extra colostrum. Many preemies that are born desperately need it and those moms usually aren't producing it yet.
 
deso81p said:
Got it. Thank you!
We're crossing our fingers for this one!
Click to expand...
oldhenlikesdogs said:
Yoghurt has probiotics, that's why it's recommended. Milk of any type doesn't. Dairy will often give birds loose droppings so I personally wouldn't use it for pasty butt which can be caused by loose droppings. Things like ground oatmeal and raw cornmeal are suppose to help, keeping the chick at a good temperature, not too hot or cold is important too. If your chick isn't responding at 4 days it might not make it, unfortunately not all do.
Click to expand...
Breastmilk is full of probiotics !
 
oldhenlikesdogs said:
Yoghurt has probiotics, that's why it's recommended. Milk of any type doesn't. Dairy will often give birds loose droppings so I personally wouldn't use it for pasty butt which can be caused by loose droppings. Things like ground oatmeal and raw cornmeal are suppose to help, keeping the chick at a good temperature, not too hot or cold is important too. If your chick isn't responding at 4 days it might not make it, unfortunately not all do.
Click to expand...
Breastmilk is full of probiotics ! Same as raw milk
 

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