3 day old chick. BLIND???

[tammyd57]

You might try using a bottle waterer like for hamsters and rabbits. He wouldn't be able to fall in, and it would be easy to find if it's always in the same spot.
The tapping to get him to eat is good. I've been teaching my new hubby about baby chicks, and his fingernails are really short and he couldn't get a good 'tap' noise so he tried using a key and that worked great.

ETA: I forgot that I wanted to point out that if he hatched Wednesday then the yolk from the egg kept him fed for two or three days so he shouldn't be near starvation or even weakened by not eating or drinking yet.

 

[CrazyCatNChickenLady]

He didn't actually come out until late wednesday afternoon. His hatchmates hatched mon/tues, and I've been giving him a little food here and there via syringe. I cant make up my mind about moving him to smaller confines! He seems to be learning and I dont want to make him start off fresh with just 1 other chick! I've been watching them all and when about 6 or 7 chicks were eating he was running around (well weaving I should say!) and I have an egg carton with food in it(to make it easier for them/him! He actually fell into one of the egg holes with food in it but never actually ate. I think he's finally getting hungry because he no longer has yolk to absorb (maybe), and the instinct to find food is kicking in, or maybe its hunger!

. I think he's progressed more today then he has in the last 2 though so I do think he's improving!

Thank you guys soo much for the help! I always get so overwelmed and forget everything when its my own animals!

ETA: Tammyd, you posted as I was typing!!

 

[lemurchaser]

I have a blind chicken, she's now 3 years old and lives a normal chicken life. I started off by feeding her raw egg yolk in a syringe, then started her eating yolk out of a jar lid, then started mixing in wetted chick starter, then slowly stopped the yolk until she was eating soaked chick food 4-6 times a day. Then suddenly she started eating and drinking on her own. She was really stunted for a while and ending up growing up with chicks 3 weeks younger than her. I kept her with 2 friends in a small outdoor coop for the first year and would let her free range supervised. She's now got the whole yard and is out with 9 other chickens. She's a little odd, but she gets around fine and lives a good life.

 

[lemurchaser]

Here's "Helen" (my blind chicken)'s story:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=66183&p=1

 

[lemurchaser]

How's your little chick doing?

 

[CrazyCatNChickenLady]

lemurchaser: The first post you ever wrote about 'Helen' basically describes 'Bink'! Thank you for the link, it was very interesting! I thought about taking my little guy(its gonna be funny if it turns out to be a she!) to work with me one night just to see if the Dr. has an opinion, She only does dog/cat emergency so I dont really know if she could even tell me much! She'd probably get a kick out of me bringing a chick in though!

I gave him some yolk yesterday morning with some some chick-start mash, and he actually can see a little because he was able to see the orange/yellow yolk in the syringe and on my finger, but not very well at all! He also was pecking towards the chick food mash. I put it in a lid that was black so he could see the contrast between that and the light food. This am he was chowin' down, with a little assistace with balance and I had to hold the food right in front of him. He wont eat it without water mixed in either.. He knows where the food is in the brooder, just wont eat it.

I also put a rabbit water bottle in there, which all the other chicks LOVE to drink out of as well as the 2 regular waterers that have been in the same place because he knows where they are and gets the basic concept of drinking out of those! He tries!!!

but he doesnt know the rabbit water bottle yet. He is a lot smaller then the rest, but he holds his own for now.

 

[CrazyCatNChickenLady]

Here's a new pic of him, with his new best friend, the feather duster!!!

 

[drumstick diva]

Wow the size difference - little Bink and on the left, "the Chicken that Devoured Cleveland."

 

[CrazyCatNChickenLady]

Yes that other one is HUGE, almost as big as chicks over a week older then him! and Bink is so tiny! That was the one that hatched the same day as Bink too!!

Bink hatched from the brown egg, and the very large chick chatched from the very large olive egg right next to it!

 

[drumstick diva]

Ouch who laid that big olive egg - musta been a alien chicken from Mars. I hope Biggie isn't a bully