For the first time, we had a chick hatch without absorbing ANY of the sac into its belly. At first I thought it had a parasitic twin that had not developed, until I took a closer look. I carefully put it in with the other chicks after it and its sac had dried up a bit in the incubator. The sac dried up altogether pretty quickly, so I was able to snip it off the chick. I still assumed that this one would not survive.
About 24 hours later, that chick was still alive. It seemed to want to stay in the world, so I mixed up some electrolytes (water, sugar and a pinch of salt) in a tiny medicine cup. He perked up quickly. His behavior certainly was not that of your average chick, but he was trying.
Today I added applesauce to the mix – early in the day, It went down OK. At the grocery tonight, I purchased a jar of chicken, squash and grain baby food. YES, I bought a chick chicken. Meat is a reliable method of getting protein into their system quickly and chicken is easy to digest. Mixed with water, he took the new food mash from a big dropper. Every time he gets something down, he energizes.
For the full story and updates: http://farmette1769.wordpress.com/2012/03/04/chance-the-chick/
About 24 hours later, that chick was still alive. It seemed to want to stay in the world, so I mixed up some electrolytes (water, sugar and a pinch of salt) in a tiny medicine cup. He perked up quickly. His behavior certainly was not that of your average chick, but he was trying.
Today I added applesauce to the mix – early in the day, It went down OK. At the grocery tonight, I purchased a jar of chicken, squash and grain baby food. YES, I bought a chick chicken. Meat is a reliable method of getting protein into their system quickly and chicken is easy to digest. Mixed with water, he took the new food mash from a big dropper. Every time he gets something down, he energizes.
For the full story and updates: http://farmette1769.wordpress.com/2012/03/04/chance-the-chick/
