3 day old chick with eye pecked pjt

[Gizzy04]

Hi I have this 3 day old chick that my mom hatched from a incubator but a broody hen say on the eggs for a long time till she hatched 3 eggs and left the rest, well my mom tried to get the hen to take the baby which didn't go well cause later on she pecked his eye out and he won't open the other one.

I was wondering. If anyone had any suggestions on how to treat his eye and how to keep it clean and keep him healthy and I havent seen him eat or drink yet

 

[Shezadandy]

Poor baby! First I would gently clean all that blood off. Blood is really sticky and can act like glue in keeping an eye closed. Use a small 1ml syringe or an eyedropper with warm water to just gently and slowly moisten the area and let the blood soften. Because of where the injury is, I wouldn't add any kind of soap in the cleaning process.

Use something extremely soft like gauze -- NOT PAPER TOWELS - paper towels are VERY ROUGH. ... if there's no gauze to use - high quality toilet paper (Charmin) can help - maybe even a q-tip if used with care- once the blood is softened enough to start wiping away. I would do the gentle rinse on the other eye too just to make sure nothing is gluing it shut.

Keep the poor kiddo nice and warm while you do this - in someone's hand with a washcloth over the body, that kind of thing.

Once the blood/serum are off the injured area, go about drying the surrounding fuzz. Again- a high quality toilet paper like Charmin makes a GREAT chick towel/robe.

Then use either original Neosporin (no pain relief, i.e. none of the -"caine" drugs) or terramyacin ointment - something like that in the injured eye. That will help lubricate the area.

As for food - the first thing I would do is offer a little sugar water using a 1ml syringe or eyedropper. Don't force the mouth open. Just get a drop on the end of the syringe or eyedropper and then touch it to the corner of the chick's mouth, like you're greasing a hinge.

It might take a try or two but most babies love the taste and will start looking for more- the sugar should help perk baby up. Usually once you've got the mouth moving they'll do better drinking and eating. You can try moistened chick food or some hard boiled yolk or some scrambled egg.

 

[TheCluckyClucker2]

How did he do? I had a chick hatch under a broody mom and his head got pecked. He ended up dying. I didn't really know what to do so I did nothing. One funny thing was, that he would only eat mash out of a spoon.

 

[Shezadandy]

How did he do? I had a chick hatch under a broody mom and his head got pecked. He ended up dying. I didn't really know what to do so I did nothing. One funny thing was, that he would only eat mash out of a spoon.
View attachment 2844457

Ugh, I had one just like this, injured by the hen and it never came back around either. I gave the hen the "benefit of the doubt" accidents can happen and left the rest with her. And I was absolutely sick when in the next couple of days I found another one - 100% dead this time - with the same kind of injury. This after a week of no problems, all the normal broody behaviors. I haven't forgiven myself for that one yet.

So PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE TAKE HER CHICKS AND RAISE THEM IN A BROODER! I use an MHP arrangement, which is a heating pad over a frame so they have a nice dark snuggly spot to warm under, much like under the hen. They would need to be out of hearing range of each other to minimize the stress especially to the chicks.

And, of course, remember which hen it was and never let her brood again. I have 2 hens that are so similar that both go broody all the time - and the "innocent" one never gets to raise chicks because I didn't take the time to figure out how to distinguish the two of them. (oops)

 

[Shezadandy]

How did he do? I had a chick hatch under a broody mom and his head got pecked. He ended up dying. I didn't really know what to do so I did nothing. One funny thing was, that he would only eat mash out of a spoon.
View attachment 2844457

This is my "MHP". I started with 2 racks that are made to hold foil/saran wrap/wax paper on the inside of a kitchen cabinet, easily found at Walmart. I bend the 'bottom' of the rack to about a 45 degree angle to create a slope.

Then I put a heating pad in between these two racks. It has to be a heating pad that does not have an "auto off" switch - or one where the "auto off" can be disabled because of course chicks will need the heat available at all hours. One with 3 settings (high, medium, low) is best as their needs will change. The heating pad goes inside an old pillow case for protection.

I used zip ties around the frame "legs" to get them as tight together as possible so chicks can't get their heads stuck between the frame and the pad. I don't have a picture of the "legs" wrapped here, but I used Vetwrap (co-flex, whatever) to eliminate the possibility that any wee chick parts can get stuck in between the zip-tied frame legs. The frame legs are wrapped (electric tape or duct tape would work too) together so there cannot get any part of their bodies stuck between the two sets of frame legs.

Then a hand towel goes over the top, taking care that the sides and front of the structure are open and easily accessible so nobody gets trapped. Whatever brooder they're in needs to be wide enough so chicks can exit out the sides as well as the front. The hand towel is folded to fit - and changed as needed (the top of the MHP is popular and therefore gets lots of poop!).

Again, pictures were taken before the legs got wrapped - I left it like this for the pictures to show there will be a gap no matter how tight the zip ties are.

This gives the chicks a day/night light pattern instead of sitting under a heat lamp- which is also more dangerous and more expensive to run. As they grow, I prop the front "legs" up with a piece of 2x4 first- then when they outgrow that, they get another 2x4 under the back of the MHP. Usually by then they're ready to start perching and don't need it anymore.

There are as many MHPs as there are people who create them. Chick heat plates also work well for the purpose.

I hope the rest of your chicks stay safe!!