3 day old chick won't eat or drink UPDATE-she's BLIND

I was about to post about a similar situation-I am not sure aboutthis ones yeys though-it won't open them--or maybe it can't. It is form one of hte drowned eggs so I am wondering if it has another issue. It is having trouble balancing- keeps falling to one side- the same side. I am going to try getting some vitamins. I have it still in the hatcher - kind of a chick intensive care.
 
I know some would try to keep her, but I did hatch a blind chick once. Knowing all the extra care it would need and that it couldnt compete with the others, we culled it. Sadly, it was a Blue Orpington.
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I've got no experience with blind chickens, but I just wanted to say, bless you for helping this one! Sounds like she's a little fighter. I wanted to mention that once she's doing better, if you do not have an enclosed run or a place that she'd be comfortable in as an adult, you might consider offering her to someone who has space for her, and wouldn't mind having a "special needs" chicken. Just a thought. GOOD LUCK with her!
 
I've definitely thought about culling her, but I'm waiting to see how much progress she makes. If she can never be out with the chickens then I'll rethink things (ie she is not going to be a house chicken). The other problem will be if she is a rooster, then I can't keep her, and I doubt anyone wants a blind mixed breed rooster.

We'll see what happens. She is getting stronger and stronger, and is now eating well with just a little guidance. She's much less sleepy. I think I may need to separate her from the rest of the group (with a friend). The others are getting so big and strong, they keep knocking her over.
 
Let me begin by saying how sorry I am that you are having such a difficult time with this chick. We have a blind Golden Bluff : "Bella"- she is now about 9 months old. She was withering before our eyes. The other birds were plucking out her feathers, and bullying her. It was so sad. We had to decide to keep or cull her. My daughter stepped up and "adopted" her. We started by putting Bella in a rabbit hutch to keep her in a more confined area. We put her food and water in the same place each day. She was quick to learn what we were trying to do for her. As she became more comfortable with her habitat, she became stronger. We built her a corner avairary in one of our barn stalls. This May we added ten new chicks into the open area of the barn stall for some company for Bella. She loves it! The babies chirp and play along the side of Bella's avariary. Bella's feathers have regrown, she is much more active and happy. My daughter takes Bella out of the pasture (and away from the beaks of the older birds), to sun in the grassy yard. She has quite the personality, and the determination to live. We feel this was the right choice for our family. I send my prayers to you to make the best choice for your situation.
 
She's been doing well. I've been pulling her out of the group and putting wet mash in front of her, and she'll gobble it down. At least that was until yesterday. Yesterday, she stopped eating for me, or would only eat a little. I told her that it was okay, if she wanted to give up. I just felt maybe it was all too much for her. So I watched her for a while, and I looked in and she had taken herself to the waterer and was drinking. I was impressed, but she still wasn't eating. Then I saw her march herself over to the food and start eating. She'd been eating wet chick starter, but just started chowing down on the dry. So at least that is all taken care of.

I still have her in with the other chicks (10 days old). She just stays out of their way, she's probably a third their size. All but the 4 BLRW are going to another person tomorrow, so she should be less knocked around after that. I really don't want her to be socially isolated. I have eggs due to hatch in 2 weeks, so I'll be able to put her in with those chicks, and hopefully she'll keep up in growth rate with them.
 
How is your little baby doing? I've been reading through all of this trying to figure out how to care for a 4 day old chick that I think might be blind. It sounds like the vitamins and yolk/mash worked for you? If she eating all on her own all the time now?
 
Quote:
We have a 18 week old blind BO pullet , we did not know she was blind until about 14 weeks we thought she was just a little odd following really close to another girl sometimes holding on to her tail feathers....
She is doing great and her friend stays with her and leads her around takes her to the food and water, Her friend also puts up one heck of a fuss if you seperate them. I do check on them more than I would if she wasn't blind but she has a really great friend who I guess you would call a seeing eye chicken?................
 

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