Advice on 2 day old chick, please....update..

[VettekLisa]

I have a silkie chick that was hatched on Sunday, 12-14-08.
This chick is not eating or drinking on its own. It won't stand
up, but uses its beak and hocks to move around. Its feet feel
very soft, almost like there is no bone in them.

I am mixing warm water with the chick starter and feeding it by
syringe to the chick. It will eat/drink that way.

Any advice on this chick?

4 others that hatched with it seem fine and are running around.

I did have to cull 1 of the hatch. Actually, I made my SO do it. I
just stood there and cried. It hatched from its egg with the
yolk sac wrapped around a foot. Everytime it moved its foot, it
would pull more intestines out.

 

[beakkeeper]

I'm sorry you have this problem. You say it feels soft, like there's no bone? It sounds like a nutrition defect, and it will only get worse since it's not eating on its own. Personally I would *cringe* cull it, but if you are willing to nurse it through this 24/7 then you could give it a go. If it's not walking after another day, though...

 

[VettekLisa]

I'm willing to do just about anything that it needs, it it will help.
If it's a losing battle though, I'd rather just cull it now before it
starts to suffer.

 

[VettekLisa]

We went ahead and culled the poor thing this morning.
Its hocks were all swollen and hard, and were starting to
get sores from dragging itself around.
Thanks anyways, everyone.