Chicken Cake
In the Brooder
- Mar 25, 2015
- 71
- 2
- 41
She was hatched here and took about 48 hours to get up to speed, then seemed fine but maybe a little behind the others. Another Silkie hatched at the same time so I had a good comparison. This was through an incubation rental program and the chicks I chose not to keep went back last weekend, including the other Silkie. The owner of the company said Jellybean looked plenty energetic and might just be slow to develop. She had been fine since then until I raised the heat lamp at 10 days. Within a few hours she was showing some distress so I lowered it again but she hasn’t improved much, if at all. They are indoors so the heat lamp adjustment wasn’t that big of a deal.
I noticed all along that Jellybean seemed to eat at least as much as the bigger chicks. Now she is pecking around the base of the chick feeder and eating the “dust” but I don’t see her really digging in like she used to. They’ve had apple cider vinegar all along and I added unflavored, baby electrolytes to the water last night. Cooking up a mash of chick feed, yogurt and electrolytes right now. Next step is to separate but no one is picking on her and the nearly 6 week old chick has been a wonderful surrogate mother. I’m hesitant to mess up the dynamics unless I think she really needs it.
Anything else I can try?
I noticed all along that Jellybean seemed to eat at least as much as the bigger chicks. Now she is pecking around the base of the chick feeder and eating the “dust” but I don’t see her really digging in like she used to. They’ve had apple cider vinegar all along and I added unflavored, baby electrolytes to the water last night. Cooking up a mash of chick feed, yogurt and electrolytes right now. Next step is to separate but no one is picking on her and the nearly 6 week old chick has been a wonderful surrogate mother. I’m hesitant to mess up the dynamics unless I think she really needs it.
Anything else I can try?