2 day old baby chick not eating or drinking

[mbaker]

I have 3 baby chicks that are 2 days old. All chicks are being contained in a box with a heating pad under to maintain a temp. of approx. 90 degrees. One chick is a buff orpington, one is a rhode island red/buff orpington mix, and the other is an ameraucana. I had two ameraucana chicks, but this morning one of them died of unknown causes. The remaining ameraucana appears to be showing symptoms of not eating or drinking as much as the others, and I have not see him poop this morning. He is also raising his head and opening and closing his mouth like he is trying to drink. Does anyone know what these symptoms may be? Does anyone know if there is anything I can do to save this chick? The two ameraucana chicks were incubated from eggs that were brought back from a trip to a friends chicken farm in New Mexico, the Rhode Island red and buff orpington chicks were from eggs that were laid by our chickens here in Florida. Could it be possible that there are viruses here in Florida that the chicks from New Mexico may not be immune to?

 

[Autumn Mama]

Are the chicks two days old, as in, they "hatched" two days ago? They may only be getting ready to begin eating. Chicks can be without food for a couple of days-that's how they ship them.

That said, what are you feeding them? They have water? Clean with nothing in it?

I hope somone else has some ideas for you.

Repost if you need to, the posts move fast sometimes, ad it may get overlooked.

Also ytry posting imnthe raising chicks forum.

 

[pgpoultry]

I don't know exactly what may be wrong with your chicks, but a bit of first aid may help the one(s) left.
Dropper in (via clean eye or ear syringe) gently and slowly water with a bit of glucose or ordinary sugar dissolved in it. Hold the chicks head up and gently open up the beak and dropper or syringe in from the side giving her plenty of time to swallow between drops.
I have used this on chicks who seemed pretty moribund and they have perked up and gone on to be healthy adults.

I would then contact the supplier and tell them what has happened,

Good Luck,

Sandie

 

[mbaker]

The chicks hatched 3 days ago now. The buff orpington and rhode island red chicks ate 1 day after being hatched, but the ameraucana chick still seems to be showing signs of not eating or drinking much. I am feeding them chick starter feed and they have plenty of clean water to drink. I have used an eye dropper to give the ameraucana chick water several times. Also, I have added a little water to the starter feed to make it a little mushy, I read somewhere that this might help if the chunks are too big for them. I tried the sugar water combination on the chick that died yesterday, but I think it was too far gone to be saved. I will try it on this one and see how it goes. My mom suggested giving it a drop of olive oil in case it's digestive system is backed up, but I have not tried that yet. Thank you for your advice, and please let me know if you have any further suggestions.

 

[AndreaS]

Sorry to hear about all your trouble!

I second the sugar water. Also, you can pick up some poly-vi-sol baby vitamins without iron from the drug store. Try giving the little one a drop on the side of it's beak twice a day for a few days. That was a huge help for me when I had a weak chick. I think the vit b12 in it is supposed to help stimulate appetite as well. Just don't continue It for too long, because too many vitamins can dehydrate them.

Hard boil an egg, and then ground the yolk up very fine in a food processor. See if you can tempt it to eat that. When I had a weak baby, ground egg yolk was all I could get her to eat!

Good luck!

 

[motherhen2015]

I have a baby who was born yesterday and his/her mom will not have anything to do with him/her. i have been up feeding him a little about every 3 hrs of water and crumble feed that i have grinded up in my bullet. Any advice is greatly appreciated.