3 day old chick...stepped on or kicked by son!! HELP

[heybarb]

My son had gotten our 3 day old chicks out and was letting them walk around with their mamas in the yard. When I saw him he was holding the chick & said it was dead, but it wasn't. It has a cut underneath its eye, which was bleeding, but now the bleeding has stopped. Its back was arched and it was making weird sounds, but now it is unconscience and limp but still breathing. It just moved so its neck is not broken. Please help!!! What do i do?

Do I keep it warm? Give it to its mama? It is "sleeping" now in my hand....but still breathing.

 

[heybarb]

Well, I was just sure she was dying, but she just sat up...both eyes are closed. Maybe she just got kicked? I'll put some neosporin on her cut. Should I try to feed her or give her something to drink?

 

[Mitzi&I]

I'm no expert, only advice I can think of is to keep the chick warm, under heat if it isn't already.

I hope all goes well.

 

[Fly 2006]

How old is your son, was he supposed to be handling the chicks? As I know nothing about your situation I cannot assume anything, I hope you have trained your son to respect your chickens however be aware that some children especially boys can have a desire to squeeze small creatures, a friend of my mothers had a son who squeezed their hamster to death! Hope the little chick is ok

 

[Ixyavi]

I can't really offer much advice since I'm still in the planning stages and haven't gotten any chickens yet, but I've raised a few ducks in the past.

Children can be rough and it happens, first and foremost I would think of it as a way to teach your son a valuable lesson about life and how fragile babies are.

I wouldn't return it to it's mother until you know it's going to be able to walk. I can only offer what I would do in your shoes, and that is put it in a box with a heat lamp like you do with baby chicks that you raise yourself, have food and water available but don't try to force feed it right away.

If he gets up and starts moving around more but doesn't seem to eat, then you might have to show him where the food is. Just keep him separated from the flock until you know he can hold his own. I believe he'd be more likely to die out with his mama than inside with you.

It could be as easy as him suffering from some mild shock from the incident, or it could be something neurological. He could have a broken back, or internal bleeding. There's really no way to tell other than to check on him very often and see what happens.

If he starts to get worse, I would put him out of his misery.


But I see it's been more than a day since this was posted, and I'm curious as to how he's doing now.

 

[heybarb]

The little chick died that night. We kept it warm and offered food & water, but it really wasn't interested. It is a valuable lesson for us all.