2 day old chick won't eat, very weak

[kvmommy]

I had one chick hatch from shipped eggs with very damaged air cells. We are all very much in love with this clingy sweet super tiny chick. But...she won't eat. She won't drink. She wants to be cuddled and sleep. She got pasty butt last night and her vent is a little red. I think its from not eating. She actually hatched about 29 hours ago but she clearly needs food. She is still very unsteady on her feet. How do I force her to eat? I love her so much.

 

[SobbaChickens]

Are to trying water with a dropper?

Hope all ends okay

-Katie

 

[StripedBeaks]

I have had a few chicks like this before, try dipping her beak in a shallow pan of water, she will most likely drink some that way. As for food, i would wet some chick starter into a mush, then try to feed her some with your finger. If she still looks too weak and won't eat or drink alone, some unflavored pedialyte would do her some good. Hope this helps!

 

[kvmommy]

I dipped her beak in the water, I've added poly vi sol and made mush from the crumbles. She wouldn't touch it. So today I got a syringe and pedialyte and put a bit of poly vi sol in it got her to drink some then I added crumbles and got her to take some of that. It definitely gave her a boost but she still isn't eating. but she can stand upright now instead of falling and squatting. But she is still very unsteady. She pecks at my hands and clothes but will not peck food. I even tried a microscopic meal worm that is so small its smaller than the tiny piece of crumble and she didn't want it. She had green poop. Could it be coccidosis? If so, how do I treat?


Is it just hunger that makes her so unsteady and clumsy? I've never had a chick this clumsy 2 days after hatching. She is like a chick that is younger than 24 hours old. Or could it be neurological?

 

[kvmommy]

She is starting to eat wet mush but only if I hold the container in front of her vertically. If I lay it down and even if she follows it as soon as its horizontal she gets confused and won't eat. She also wont drink except from a dropper right in front of her face. I've never had a chick who couldn't eat right off the bat. She seems to get confused really easily. Getting stronger by the day. She still stumbles a lot and kinda walks sideways when she loses her balance but is getting better.

 

[lazy gardener]

She is starting to eat wet mush but only if I hold the container in front of her vertically. If I lay it down and even if she follows it as soon as its horizontal she gets confused and won't eat. She also wont drink except from a dropper right in front of her face. I've never had a chick who couldn't eat right off the bat. She seems to get confused really easily. Getting stronger by the day. She still stumbles a lot and kinda walks sideways when she loses her balance but is getting better.

How old is she now? If she appears to have something neurological, you might try to get a very TINY bit of vitamin E into her.

 

[kvmommy]

She is going on day 4..still smaller than the average LF chick. She is eating so much now just very unsteady. I don't have Vit. E on hand, will more poly vi sol work? She is doing great and I love her even though she pesters me constantly. I have to hold her all day...one of the few times in my life I have a legitimate reason to want bigger boobs. My bra is the only place I can keep her safely and do stuff but its hard to keep her perched on a board. I wear my big bra and kinda tuck her in but now she is too squirmy for that. She started trying to peck the food down in front of her but keeps missing. The moment I hold it up in front of her, she is totally fine. Definitely neurological.

 

[lazy gardener]

She is going on day 4..still smaller than the average LF chick. She is eating so much now just very unsteady. I don't have Vit. E on hand, will more poly vi sol work? She is doing great and I love her even though she pesters me constantly. I have to hold her all day...one of the few times in my life I have a legitimate reason to want bigger boobs. My bra is the only place I can keep her safely and do stuff but its hard to keep her perched on a board. I wear my big bra and kinda tuck her in but now she is too squirmy for that. She started trying to peck the food down in front of her but keeps missing. The moment I hold it up in front of her, she is totally fine. Definitely neurological.

I wouldn't give extra Poly-Vi-Sol. It'd be easy to over dose.

 

[craigHartland]

i've got a chick which is exactly the same I really don't know what to do, I really dont want it to die

 

[kvmommy]

I gave her poly-vi-sol and a syringe with chick feed and pedialyte. Because she manifested neurolgoical problems I also dosed her with Vitamin b-12. I hand fed her for over a weak and kept her with me in my shirt for hours at a time. Then it she could only eat mush and still needed help drinking. Took about 3 weeks before she functioned pretty normally. It was sooo much stress and energy for one little chick...but She was the sweetest chicken ever and totally worth it. She would fly out of her box every morning and crawl under the sheets and sleep with me. She would sit on my shoulder and played chase with the kids around the yard. We absolutely loved her. She did have this weird clacking thing she developed. She would clack her beak over and over, all day and all night. Nothing fixed that. Last week she disappeared from her pen. We all cried. Good luck with yours...I hope she survives and turns out to be wonderful like ours.