Raising a lone chick.

[GD91]

She's all alone

all her hatchmates died during a powercut. She's very lucky.

Currently shes under my top. Everytime I put her down she screams & I'm worried she will die. She was very quiet & making clicking noises & panting heavily in the brinsea mini eco, notactive at all, just lying there getting worse, but the temp reading was 37.5oC & all the vents were open.

Made me think maybe there were still fumesin their from the last cleaning or something.

That was during the hatch & the hatch ended under my top

because for some reason she was having the breathing problems that stopped as soon as she was removed from the brinsea.


Now she's been dried off with a hairdrier, she is back under my top, occasionally letting out a cheep when she remembers

.

But I noticed as soon as she pipped yesterday she has the start of crossbeak. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have noticed it if I hadn't seen it before. I'm pretty sure its caused by a temp drop now, since I've had it before in another hatch which suffered a powercut.

Everything else looks normal.

She's supposed to be a "Rose"Dutch bantam.

What do I do about her crossbeak? Its barely noticeable now, but it will worsen, can it be corrected? She's only 5 hours old or so.

And she's got no littermates

You can't just buy them here either!

But she wants me all the time already. I put her in the brooder under the heat lamp & as soon as she parts contact with my skin she stumbles after my hand, then sits looking bewildered before "cheep?CHEEP? CHEEP! CHEEP! CHEEP!"
Now she's riding around in my chest pocket with her head poking out.

Something tells me this is going to be interesting (and annoying)!

 

[Lady Chickadee]

You can't fix a cross beak from what I know. You can help though if shes having trouble eating from it then you can give her chick food mixed with water to soften it up but if shes eating fine then I wouldn't worry about it. There's several things you can do for a lonely chick. I suggest putting a stuffed animal or a small mirror in there with her.

 

[GD91]

Thanks.
Its very strange, her beak is straight now

she definitely had it crossed though when hatching. Her bottom bill was like it had slipped just a little to the right &over lapped her top bill.

Now its like her bottom bill has slipped backwards & to the left a little, so its now normal. I watched her for a bit & it didn't slip back into crossbeak.

She did spend a lot of time acting like she was rearranging her bottom jaw, she kept opening it & moving her jaw about like it was annoying her when she hatched for a bit.
She was wedged in the egg sideways, with her feet over her head & everything was just jammed up. She was also having leg problems when she hatched & was very weak. Her neck was also stiff from being curled so tightly & it took ages for her to straighten it out, but she's done a complete turn around on sugar water, vitamins & lots of TLC. She's very average freshly hatched chick now,acting completely normal.
Could her fetal position have pushed her beak to temporarily misalignment & now its gone back?

I'll be keeping a close eye on it, she's now 7 hours old & I only noticed the change with her beak 10 minutes ago.

 

[Lady Chickadee]

Thanks.
Its very strange, her beak is straight now

she definitely had it crossed though when hatching. Her bottom bill was like it had slipped just a little to the right &over lapped her top bill.

Now its like her bottom bill has slipped backwards & to the left a little, so its now normal. I watched her for a bit & it didn't slip back into crossbeak.

She did spend a lot of time acting like she was rearranging her bottom jaw, she kept opening it & moving her jaw about like it was annoying her when she hatched for a bit.
She was wedged in the egg sideways, with her feet over her head & everything was just jammed up. She was also having leg problems when she hatched & was very weak. Her neck was also stiff from being curled so tightly & it took ages for her to straighten it out, but she's done a complete turn around on sugar water, vitamins & lots of TLC. She's very average freshly hatched chick now,acting completely normal.
Could her fetal position have pushed her beak to temporarily misalignment & now its gone back?

I'll be keeping a close eye on it, she's now 7 hours old & I only noticed the change with her beak 10 minutes ago.

Hmm I'm not sure but I guess its possible, glad to hear shes doing better!

 

[GD91]

Well, its day 2 & I need some advice.

Fortune (as we've named it) is doing well. Its started eating & drinking etc.

Its got a teddy, a mirror, a feather duster as well as basic brooding equipment.

But oh, the cheeping! It is not interested in any of it. From the moment we put her down she just wants to be picked up

We've got her in the living room were there's plenty of activity so she doesn't feel lonely. Its also the only room we heat.

I put her down before for 10 minutes to do the dishes & she cried in living room the whole time.

The only time she's happy is when she's either cuddling with you or your showing her attention. I've found if I make a brrrring sound at her, she coo's back. She's really happy until she's put back in the brooder.

Then she ignores all her enrichment items (she may look in the mirror a bit whilst screaming) & screams. She's under my top now & sleeping.

I've never had a lone chick before. I wanted to order some friends for her (I found somewhere) but DH really didn't look happy at spending more money on pets that we really need right now. for rent.

Plus, we don't think it would make much difference anyway since she doesn't care for her mirror or anything else & would probably still scream to be out even if she has others in with her.

Also she's a tiny dutch bantam. How to I go about introducing her into my much bigger birds in a backgarden flock in the future? We were not supposed to have been keeping the chicks, they were for someone else who is no longer interested since the hatch failed.

Also I'm concerned about her flying the fences.... they are only 2 metres high.

I wing clipped my others & they all just drop the clipped feathers & grow new ones back through fast. Even my pekin bantam (our smallest) needs her feet trimming at least once a month.

I was told it was only needed once a year!

Any thoughts?

 

[seann]

I would still get at least one more chick to keep her company.