Good Luck!Update on my Buckeye chicks.
Well the chick I rescued first on Wednesday, Little Runt, which I am chalking up to a stupid chick trick...fell out of the nesting box insert and got really cold...I had found it limp and gasping Wednesday afternoon after hatching and looking well that morning...it is now doing fabulous...to the point I am hard pressed to tell which one it is...so little Runt has become part of the fine Buckeye chicks.
Next, the egg I removed Thursday AM when I replaced Little Runt, became my first assisted hatch chick ever...it has gotten surprisingly much stronger today! Saran (who was shrunk wrapped and stuck in a half egg), was very weak all day Thursday and much of Friday ...so much so I was about to write him or her off. It had also had an unhealed umbilical cord stump, I figured it either had neural damage from the imperfect hatch or possibly internal infection from the cord site. So my outlook was guarded at best. However, after 3 full days of TLC, Chick Saver, Sulmet and Tetracyline, and lots of warmth in a brooder box, it began running around yesterday evening and today looked strong and chick like all day today...even eating chick crumble and drinking on its own!
So much so, I risked putting it in tonight with mom and the other siblings as we will have another relatively warm and dry night tonight and everyone is still pretty much on baby mode. I feared waiting too much longer as the other siblings will begin to pick up in activity level as they will be getting 4 and 5 days old...I feared they would begin to outstrip Saran for a more delicate foster situation. (I have trouble adding heat lamp fosters in with 5 to 7 day old hatchlings as the hatchlings have begun to run around a lot more by then, and mom has begun chicken lessons with the active chicks, so a shy foster usually gets trampled in the process).
Silkie Mom was very welcoming tonight. I placed Saran under her wing, but it soon pulled out and began to peep in panic. Momma kept chooking to it to climb into the feather comforter for bed while it peeped hysterically at the new surroundings. Then it got FUNNY....Momma kept dragging the big feather comforter, with all the little tucked in bed chicks, around to get closer to little Saran who kept peeping in panic and didn't know to go back under. I could see all the little feet of the other chicks trying to shift with Mom as she moved...like the scene in the Nutcracker when all the little children run out from under the big hoop skirt.
Saran wasn't catching on very quickly, so I finally picked it up again and stuffed it really deep under Momma's tail (risking a few pecks from mom) and it stuck. It's nice and dark, and if I can get it to stay there for a few hours, it should figure out that is where warmth and safety is. I plan to keep checking on and off tonight to make sure it imprints well with mom. Tomorrow will be nice and warm, so if it gets confused again, it shouldn't risk too much chill. I'll keep everybody on the Chick Saver/Sulmet water for the next couple of days...it won't hurt anyone, and it should help Saran transition better in case of any latent infection....and of course the dry chick crumble.
Keep your fingers crossed for me...I may get 4, count them 4, Buckeye chicks out of this yet!
Lady of McCamley
A photo yesterday of Saran (who looks even better today)
I put a 1 liter soda type bottle with a chicken nipple in it so my broody has water at the nest, no need to get up to hydrate. She gets up to eat & dust bathe about once a day, although I feed her little treats at the nest in the morning (cherry sans pit today, a few blueberries yesterday). Make sure she has food and water close by so she can access it easily is my best advice.
