Baby chick keeps falling over

[Lizzy733]

You should be seeing improvement by now... chicks grow very quickly and joint issues can quickly become crippling if they don't heal in time to keep up with their growth. Can you give us a full update of eating\drinking, activity level compared to the rest of the hatch - ability to move around or put weight on the legs? It may be that this chick is failing to thrive and there are so many things that can factor into a poor chick like genetic defects, parent nutrition, health and age, incubator conditions etc... what was your hatch rate for this batch? Did you have any late quitters?

 

[ShannonsChimkens]

It may need to be “put down”. I just recently had to do it. Was very hard, but it will give you more time and energy to spend on the healthy ones.

 

[T.Pierre5]

i had 15 eggs in the incubator- 8 hatched and the other 7 didnt pip

You should be seeing improvement by now... chicks grow very quickly and joint issues can quickly become crippling if they don't heal in time to keep up with their growth. Can you give us a full update of eating\drinking, activity level compared to the rest of the hatch - ability to move around or put weight on the legs? It may be that this chick is failing to thrive and there are so many things that can factor into a poor chick like genetic defects, parent nutrition, health and age, incubator conditions etc... what was your hatch rate for this batch? Did you have any late quitters?

i had 15 eggs in the incubator- 8 hatched and 7 didnt tho they were fully developed. If you position him to kind of sit on his feet he does so and then he falls over. But he feels very thin. And after he eats the cocktail he kind of springs up but his legs are still wobbly. The other 7 healthy ones are very energetic and are eating and drinking on their own. The other one I have to give him vitamin water through a syringe and hand feed him his starter feed. Once u put it by his mouth he will eat it otherwise he isn't doing it on his own

 

[T.Pierre5]

I was coming to the conclusion of having to put him down but Im really attached to him. So I promised myself that by next Saturday(2 weeks exact), if he doesnt improve I will put him down because I dont know if he's suffering

 

[Cazook]

is it not walking by itself well at all? you can help strengthen its legs by picking it up and letting it 'walk' while you take some of the weight with its body. there's also a method where you put it in a high-sided container (so it has to stand on its legs and can't fall to the side) the chicks that were recommended with this were splay legged though.

 

[T.Pierre5]

its not walking at all. if i put him on his feet he walks a few steps and then falls. We are giving him 'therapy' by picking him up and letting him walk. He isnt showing any signs of slowing down. last night one of his legs were on my hand and he brought up the other so he could if balanced himself.

 

[aart]

Might try a chick chair:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/search/13280/?q=Chick+chair&t=post&c[title_only]=1&o=relevance

If a chick isn't up and feeding on it's own within a few days, week at the longest, I euthanize.

 

[T.Pierre5]

Hey guys. Went outside this morning and he was dead. I was silently hoping that he would because I didn't know if he was in pain or not. Yesterday he cried non stop. sleep then cried again. It kind of hurts. But I can now focus on the other 7 babies and also my new batch of incubating eggs. Thanks for the support and advice.

 

[ShannonsChimkens]

It is tough. But you can relax a little knowing that the others are ok and the little one isn’t suffering or in pain.

Here’s hoping the next batch has all healthy fluffy butts!

 

[T.Pierre5]

Its True. Thanks though