What is wrong with this baby...Is it suffering...Can I help it? - Page 2

Quote:

Originally Posted by billyb 

Is he/she drinking, eating, going to the bathroom??

 

I can get it to "drink" with a dropper.  I give it Poly-vi-sol, Sav-a-chick (electrolytes) and Vit B & E in water.  It does not accept solid food yet.  It is still young -4 days old, so I'm hoping it had some of the yoke left in its little body.  It seems very weak and I feel like it might be in pain because of the swelling.

I am about to begin Prednisone treatment for the inflammation in the head and hoping if the swelling goes down, it will have an appetite.

...I'll keep everyone posted. 

 This poor baby just kept getting weaker and weaker.  It didn't seem to want to live.  It backed away from the dropper (everytime) and was probably starving too.  The prednisone probably couldn't work because not enough was getting into its little body.

Last night I used the baking soda & vinegar mixture and put the chick in the container next to the mixture.  The lid was closed tight and it fell asleep.  I hope it didn't feel anymore pain than it already felt.  At least I know it isn't suffering any more.

That was the hardest thing I've ever done....although at the same time I knew it was the right thing to do.

Quote:

Originally Posted by billyb 

Did it drown the chick?!  Or was it in a different container and then you put it in one big container?

No, it didn't drown.....different container.

My son took this photo moments before we put him in the container (and I found it on my camera yesterday).  Poor baby, so sad!  He was so weak and sick.  I'm glad he doesn't feel any pain now. 

The chick was in the container and the 'Vinegar/Baking Soda mixture' was in a *baby food jar next to the chick in the same container.  I'm pretty sure it fell asleep (from the gases) and then suffocated from lack of oxygen (the lid was closed on the container).  I could not watch.  My husband and son gave me reports during it's final moments.  My son buried the little guy the next morning between two chrysanthemum plants.  I'm such a big sap when it comes to cute, fuzzy animals, but I have no regrets for putting it out of it's misery.

*I should mention that when I added the vinegar, it bubbled up and went over the side of the jar and did get the chick wet.  If I had known it would do that I would have put in less baking soda and less vinegar.  It did get his down feathers wet a little, but it didn't get on his face.

By the way, here is a picture of the other babies that I took yesterday.  I put them in a laundry basket in front of a sunny window while I clean out their brooder.  They love the sunshine and the chick scratch/oatmeal treat!

I had asked my DH to put it down for 2 days, but he couldn't.  He had dispatched meat chickens before, but this was different.  I even asked a couple of friends if they could put it down and nobody could.  I totally understand because it is so darn cute and we wanted it to live so bad. 

However, it was not responding to anything we tried to do to help it and when I heard of this method....I knew I had to use it. 

This was the first time I'd ever done this and hopefully the last.  But if not, at least I know of a way that I'm comfortable with in the future.  Thank you for everyone's support and may we all have healthy chickens!