Lone Chick... Help!

[chickenlife01]

I have a Copper Maran chick named Rico. He is about 3 weeks old. Rico was hatched with a milky film over one eye but I am pretty sure he can still see out of it. At first the other chicks didn't seem to mind, (he has 12 siblings)but now they are pecking at his eye and head and trying to, I assume, "take out the weak link". I placed Rico in a bird cage in my room so he's away from any further harm. He seems fine. Eating and drinking and behaving just like any other healthy chick. But, he's screeching! Any advice on how I can care for his wounds (they're pretty minor, no blood just swelling) and also make him more comfortable and less lonely? Thanks! -Hannah


P.S. The picture attatched was taken 2 days ago so the swelling is not in the pic.

 

[Suzie]

You should re-post this ,,, in the Emergencies etc forum....

 

[minihorse927]

If it is just swelling and no broken skin I would just watch the swelling and make sure the others did not do any internal damage. You could give him a stuffed animal to snuggle up with. I have done that when I have hatched one lonely chick out. Seems to work pretty good.

 

[schmism]

you can take a second small chick and put it in with him.

or give him a mirror. he will see himself and think its another bird and not think he is alone. (we have used this before in chicken ICU)

 

[chickenlife01]

If it is just swelling and no broken skin I would just watch the swelling and make sure the others did not do any internal damage.  You could give him a stuffed animal to snuggle up with.  I have done that when I have hatched one lonely chick out.  Seems to work pretty good.

The stuffed animal seemed to work really well! He was fine all night and is up and happy this morning. The swelling is going down now.

 

[Yazzo]

Sounds like Rico is going to be just fine in your care. Thanks for not giving up on him!

A little note to add: I've found that garlic has amazing healing properties for chickens, especially when it comes to any kind of infection. Garlic is an extremely powerful natural antibiotic, and I was totally amazed when I used it on a hen with a severe bacterial infection in a broken wing, and she was cured within two days. If I was you, I would feed Rico just a tiny bit (maybe 1/3 of a clove) of garlic every day, or every couple days for a while, if he's at risk of infection. Great thing is, you can feed it to him whole, and his gizzard will do the rest (with a human, if you want garlic to be effective, it must be crushed or chewed). Just see if he eats it on his own, or open his beak, put it far enough back towards his throat, and he'll swallow it.

Sounds like he probably won't get any kind of infection, but just thought I'd add that. In either case I would also just give him some fresh greens to peck at. The stuffed animal idea is brilliant!

 

[chickenlife01]

Thank you! I'll keep that in mind for future birdy emergencies! @yazzo