Our chick order from Ideal arrived this morning. All of them were in great shape, except for the tiniest one in the box, a barred rock roo.
He was smooshed, cold and stiff in a corner. To all appearances dead. He was not breathing.
A cold front moved through southern NM last night and we figured he just got smothered as they huddled for warmth.
We busied ourselves getting the live babies settled in and Papa wrapped the little guy in a paper towel and put him in the trash can.
DH went off to work and the kids and I got down to chores and homeschooling. A couple of hours passed by before one of the kids went to throw something away and saw the paper towel was moving a bit.
They brought me a stiff little bird who at regular intervals had what seemed to be spasms.
I figured his movements were related to rigor mortis or that it was reflex movements, but the kids were so worried that I decided to warm him up and feed him some sugar water, so at least they'd think their mom did all she could.
I couldn't see him breath at all. I put him under a heat lamp and gave him eye dropper drips of sugar water. Pressed very gently in his chest (chickie CPR) and within minutes he was definitely breathing! After about a half an hour he was opening his eyes and moving his legs and before we knew it he was sitting up and cheeping.
I am still not convinced that he will make it, as he is pretty weak. But it was a pretty remarkable thing to experience. I hope he does make it, though I know many would have culled him anyway.
The kids are amazed and, of course, have named him Lazarus.
I guess the old saying that "Where there is life, there is hope" is true.
He was smooshed, cold and stiff in a corner. To all appearances dead. He was not breathing.
A cold front moved through southern NM last night and we figured he just got smothered as they huddled for warmth.
We busied ourselves getting the live babies settled in and Papa wrapped the little guy in a paper towel and put him in the trash can.
DH went off to work and the kids and I got down to chores and homeschooling. A couple of hours passed by before one of the kids went to throw something away and saw the paper towel was moving a bit.
They brought me a stiff little bird who at regular intervals had what seemed to be spasms.
I figured his movements were related to rigor mortis or that it was reflex movements, but the kids were so worried that I decided to warm him up and feed him some sugar water, so at least they'd think their mom did all she could.
I couldn't see him breath at all. I put him under a heat lamp and gave him eye dropper drips of sugar water. Pressed very gently in his chest (chickie CPR) and within minutes he was definitely breathing! After about a half an hour he was opening his eyes and moving his legs and before we knew it he was sitting up and cheeping.
I am still not convinced that he will make it, as he is pretty weak. But it was a pretty remarkable thing to experience. I hope he does make it, though I know many would have culled him anyway.
The kids are amazed and, of course, have named him Lazarus.
I guess the old saying that "Where there is life, there is hope" is true.
