B.Y.C. Dorking Club!

[Kyzmette]

April, thank you SO much! I'm so glad to know there are people who understand those of us who like our chickies more than we probably should, given that predators and illnesses and accidents exist, but we can't help it anyway.

Dorcus seems to be eating and drinking fine. I noticed she had something some others identified as pasty butt, but I've been keeping her clean and I'm not allowing any buildup. I've taken some suggestions and supplemented the water with a touch of apple cider vinegar and vitamins, and I have a spoonful of egg and yogurt in there for her, but she didn't seem to like it. I dabbed a bit of safflower oil on a qtip and put just the tiniest bit on her vent, since she seemed to be having some issues passing feces.

I will take your suggestions as well, and I thank you for them. If she doesn't make it, it won't be because I didn't try. I may never breed her, but if she doesn't lay down and die, I'm not going to treat her like she should.

Do I at least seem to be on the right track?

 

[RedBugPoultry]

I'm new to Dorkings, but everything I heard about the breed was great. Went to my first swap, picked up a dozen eggs and tried my hand at incubating my first chicken seeds. I was so fortunate; I got to watch the first hatch fully right before I had to leave for work, and it was beautiful. When I came home, however, apparently the incubator humidity plummeted during the day, even though I hadn't had any problems with it previously, and I lost all the remaining hatchlings. I'm afraid I've done everything wrong for this poor chickie, but it's been an amazing learning experience.

I am concerned that Dorcus doesn't seem to be growing much, and at 12 days she's not much larger than she was at 2 days. I picked up some companion hatchlings for her, and their growth rate is far outstripping hers. She also seems more sluggish than them. I'm giving them starter crumble and a touch of apple cider vinegar in the water. Should I be supplementing with anything else?

Dorcus at 11 days. Love her!

If you do not have anything else try crumbling up a boiled egg yolk into her food with a fork. There are many things in an egg yolk that a chick needs and I have saved many of chicks with this method. Does she have a pasty bottom? That would indicate a bacterial issue and you could even use sulmet to clear that up but the vinegar should have helped that too. If she has a pasty bottom you do need to clear that up. I hope she is still fighting--do try the boiled egg yolk. There is everything in egg yolk a chick needs though I usually do not feed much of it past the second week but in this case she looks like she could use some. Let us know how she does!

 

[RedBugPoultry]

April, thank you SO much! I'm so glad to know there are people who understand those of us who like our chickies more than we probably should, given that predators and illnesses and accidents exist, but we can't help it anyway.

Dorcus seems to be eating and drinking fine. I noticed she had something some others identified as pasty butt, but I've been keeping her clean and I'm not allowing any buildup. I've taken some suggestions and supplemented the water with a touch of apple cider vinegar and vitamins, and I have a spoonful of egg and yogurt in there for her, but she didn't seem to like it. I dabbed a bit of safflower oil on a qtip and put just the tiniest bit on her vent, since she seemed to be having some issues passing feces.

I will take your suggestions as well, and I thank you for them. If she doesn't make it, it won't be because I didn't try. I may never breed her, but if she doesn't lay down and die, I'm not going to treat her like she should.

Do I at least seem to be on the right track?

Leave out the yogurt and just get her to eat the boiled egg yolk crumbled with her crumbles. She may need a little sulmet to get her past the pasty butt which is a sign of a bacterial issue.

 

[Kyzmette]

Thank you! Should the egg yolk be raw?

 

[Kyzmette]

No, you said boiled. Boiling now!

 

[ki4got]

2) Get calories into her anyway you can. If she's not eating well on her own, put the chick food in a food processor/spice grinder/mortor and pestle/whatever you have (if using a coffee grinder, clean it VERY thoroughly first, she doesn't need the caffeine) and grind it into a fine powder, then mix it with the above electrolyte solution and syringe feed or tube feed her every few hours (if you tube feed her, be sure to strain it first so the tube won't clog). Be sure the mixture is not cold. (Ideally, there is a product called Emeraid Omnivore-Avian, made by Lafeber Company. It is a critical care tube feeding formula for debilitated birds, and is sold through veterinarians. If you have a vet nearby that sees birds you might see if they have some in stock, but it is hard to find, and not cheap. Alternatively, many pet stores will have tube feeding formula made for hand-fed parrots, which can be used in chickens for a week or so. If you use either of these products, you can use plain water instead of electrolyte/sugar solutions with them.) Balance the need to fill her crop with the amount of stress the feeding is causing when you decide how much to feed, but remember that she will die without calories. At the same time, do not overdistend her crop. A chick this size should start with about 0.5 to 0.8 ml (ml is the same as cc) of water/food at a time (total volume, not volume for each).

another easily accessible (in the US anyways) feed solution is Exact hand feeding formula designed for hand feeding caged bird babies... I've used Exact and was part of the test team when they first started developing it, through Florida Atlantic University's avian research team... granted I wasn't actually part of the research team, but one of the volunteer hand-feeders. LOL but the data I helped provide helped kaytee develop and perfect their formula...

I use KayTee Exact with my own chicks if they're weak for some reason, but caution about tube feeding, as it's very easy to hit the wrong hole accidentally. IF you decide to try tube feeding (or using a gavage aka feeding needle), find someone experienced with it to show you how, ideally...

you can mix the hand feeding formula a bit thicker than it calls for, and just use a 3-5cc syringe (not the luer lock type, but one with a tip) and put the tip in her beak, squirting in a couple small drops at a time. enough to make a round ball about the diameter of a piece of layer pellet. let her swallow that and give her another. at first it may take a while, if she's weak because eating takes energy. once she starts picking up, she'll gobble it down as quick as she can. once she's eagerly eating from the syringe, mix it a bit wetter and add in some chick crumbles, placed on a paper plate, and use some normally mixed in the syringe to encourage her to look down for her food by lowering it down and squirting a bit on the food on the plate.

 

[cukooformarans]

Framac, I believe our eggs are about the same color. Mine look incredibly white to me because my point of reference is my wheaten Marans. I still wouldn't call them any shade of brown really. But ivory is probably accurate.
I have tried to upload a picture but having trouble from my phone for some reason.

 

[cukooformarans]

 

[Framac]

I'll try to take a picture similar to yours. White carton, with the Wheaten eggs.

 

[Totalcolour]

Lovely eggs - I like the speckled one especially.