1 out of the 10 chicks we bought is weaker than the rest.

[katiesue]

Truffles has been sleeping for an hour now... but she's still breathing, and about 10 minutes ago, I actually saw her sit up when a sister stepped on her. So she's still hanging in there. It's time for the watering again, guess I'll try out that electrolytes recipe, see what that can do for her.... I pray that the ingredients I have are what she needs.

 

[katiesue]

SHE POOPED!! That's a good sign, right??

After waking her up, I gave her the electrolyte recipe without the salt substitute, and using sea salt in place of table salt. I used the medicine dropper, and gave her just a little over 1/8 tsp one drop at a time. She kept accepting it, and after the first drop, is when she pooped. Her eyes were open this time, and she stood on my hand rather than lay there totally helpless as she had been doing lately. When I placed her back in the box, she walked to a spot she liked, and settled down in a comfortable "roost" position rather than a "dead-look" position. She didn't try to peck at any food, but just went right back to sleep again.

Anybody know anything about feeding her egg white?

"Where there's life, there's hope" - my Daddy always said that as I was growing up.

Therefore, holding on to that glimmer of hope that I still have!

Katie Sue

 

[Eggcessive]

It is okay to feed the whole egg if you wish, and they love soft scrambled egg that is chopped up. Molasses will work as a laxative with chicks, so I would stick to the electrolytes. Sea salt is fine, but may have less sodium than table salt does. Try dipping her beak into water, and then let her raise her head up to swallow. That way she won't choke, and she will learn to drink. You are doing well trying to help her live--hopefully she will get with the program soon.

 

[cafarmgirl]

To be honest, I don't know how much salt I'd be wanting her to have at all. It doesn't take much to overdo it in birds, especially in a tiny chick. I would probably just do plain water or maybe add some Save-A-Chick. Give her some mashed, hard boiled egg and see if she'll eat that or make a wet mash with her chick starter and try that. If she's pooping she's been eating. She may have just been slow or stressed and then got more stressed with overheating. Good luck with her!

 

[katiesue]

At her 6:30 "watering" I gave her some more homemade electrolytes, and she actually was almost fiesty! Very encouraged, I placed her back with her sisters, and had dinner with the family. Every hour, I come back to give her more water or electrolyte mixture to be sure she stays hydrated. Between those hours, we watch all the chicks as they move around her, or we'll check on her to see if she's moved, etc. She's been moving around less, and seems to be getting weaker again over the last 2 hours. This last "watering", she wasn't at all fiesty, but I had to practically pry her beak open to get the first drop of water in there. She was unresponsive at first, but finally tipped her head back and swallowed. I was able to get her to drink more drops of water, one at a time. She is so weak... Besides whatever she's getting in this water..:sugar, molasses, baking soda, sea salt, etc... I don't think she's eating anything at all. She pooped a second time a few minutes ago, but it is very runny poop like you would expect from a liquid only diet. I don't think she could eat anything right now... not even cooked scrambled eggs. My thought was to give her the raw egg white the way I give her water... so she can swallow it.

She does KNOW how to take a drink as she did a few times when she first came home. We started dropping it to her only when dipping her beak in the water no longer got her moving. If she's too weak to drink, I want to make sure she still gets what she needs. As soon as she shows strength enough to get her own drink, we'll let her do that... but for now, I think we have to "spoon feed her" so to speak.

 

[Eggcessive]

To be honest, I don't know how much salt I'd be wanting her to have at all. It doesn't take much to overdo it in birds, especially in a tiny chick. I would probably just do plain water or maybe add some Save-A-Chick. Give her some mashed, hard boiled egg and see if she'll eat that or make a wet mash with her chick starter and try that. If she's pooping she's been eating. She may have just been slow or stressed and then got more stressed with overheating. Good luck with her!

The salt is to make the homemade electrolyte solution which is reprinted from The Chicken Chick and The Chicken Encyclopedia. The homemade electrolytes should be equal to the sodium in SaveAChick electrolytes.

 

[katiesue]

How about the amount of the solution that I'm giving her? What is a "dose"? I've been giving her 1/8 tsp once an hour, allowing her to sleep in between times. Sometimes I alternate back to the sugar water or molasses water for one or 2 times, then back to the electrolytes again. Is this about what I should be doing?

 

[katiesue]

Truffles is gone. She fought a good fight... she hung in there longer than I thought she could. She went to sleep with her sisters, and grew stiff by next water time. Sisters were still snuggled up to her, not trampling her, just snuggled up, sharing their warmth with her... but she was no longer there. When I picked her up, she was stiff as a stone covered with fluff.

I thank you all for your help and advice. At least we have a proper heating set up now unlike any we've had before, for the rest of the chicks. The other 9 chicks all appear quite healthy, apart from the next smallest one who has a pasty butt... my husband has cleaned her off, and we're using olive oil to try to prevent it again, but she's as active as the others, so we aren't really worried about her. Just keeping an eye on that.

Thank you so much again for all your help!

Katie Sue

 

[MonkeyRoo]

Truffles is gone. She fought a good fight... she hung in there longer than I thought she could. She went to sleep with her sisters, and grew stiff by next water time. Sisters were still snuggled up to her, not trampling her, just snuggled up, sharing their warmth with her... but she was no longer there. When I picked her up, she was stiff as a stone covered with fluff.

I thank you all for your help and advice. At least we have a proper heating set up now unlike any we've had before, for the rest of the chicks. The other 9 chicks all appear quite healthy, apart from the next smallest one who has a pasty butt... my husband has cleaned her off, and we're using olive oil to try to prevent it again, but she's as active as the others, so we aren't really worried about her. Just keeping an eye on that.

Thank you so much again for all your help!

Katie Sue

I am so very sad to hear this, she looked like a sweet little girl... Just know you did everything possible and with such care, unfortunately sometimes there isn't much we can do

 

[ChickenTenderJo]

It was amazing to me all you did as I read through each post on this thread and followed it eagerly as I hoped with you every time you posted. We also have a sick chic I'm hoping pulls through and up until your last post I thought for sure yours was going to make it. It's incredible how fragile and uncertain life is up till the last moment.

Things just don't look right for ours. I think the hardest thing for me is my son(who picked this chic to raise) is deeply effected by this and while I may feel vulnerable admitting this ,....I kinda am as well. I also want to do everything to try to save this chic. While we've explained to him that it's a natural thing in life for all creatures to live AND die....he takes it pretty hard. Good luck with your chics.