Chick only has one eye opened and not eating and drinking like others

[LizFB]

Good Day

Had a great hatch of six chicks, all but one is good. One little black one is smaller than the others and only has one eye open, didn't notice this before as its so tiny. Its not getting around as well as the others, the others often knock into it and run over the poor little thing. Its not wandering around like the others and I'm having to hand feed and water with a syringe and spoon. It sometimes is crying when in with the others but stops when I pick them up.

Any ideas on how I can help this chick get stronger

I'm feeding with egg yolk and food mashed with water
I've got water with electrolytes and another with vitamins

When I feed by hand it doesn't have much, and sometimes it shakes its head during feeding

any ideas

Many Thanks in advance

Liz

 

[lavendermarie]

Good Day

Had a great hatch of six chicks, all but one is good. One little black one is smaller than the others and only has one eye open, didn't notice this before as its so tiny. Its not getting around as well as the others, the others often knock into it and run over the poor little thing. Its not wandering around like the others and I'm having to hand feed and water with a syringe and spoon. It sometimes is crying when in with the others but stops when I pick them up.

Any ideas on how I can help this chick get stronger

I'm feeding with egg yolk and food mashed with water
I've got water with electrolytes and another with vitamins

When I feed by hand it doesn't have much, and sometimes it shakes its head during feeding

any ideas

Many Thanks in advance

Liz

I had a chick who was behaving similarly in terms of eating and drinking and who had both eyes closed a couple years back. In my chick’s case, her eye was crusted shut. It turned out she had really glossy gooey eyes, and we were able to get her eyes open by gently brushing it with a q-tip soaked in warm water. We had to do it pretty consistently until she got older. Maybe about a week or a week and a half old?

 

[LizFB]

I had a chick who was behaving similarly in terms of eating and drinking and who had both eyes closed a couple years back. In my chick’s case, her eye was crusted shut. It turned out she had really glossy gooey eyes, and we were able to get her eyes open by gently brushing it with a q-tip soaked in warm water. We had to do it pretty consistently until she got older. Maybe about a week or a week and a half old?

Thank you so much. I will give this a go

 

[lavendermarie]

Thank you so much. I will give this a go

Thank you so much. I will give this a go

Good luck to you and your chick!

 

[kurby22]

It sounds like you are doing all the things you can do for the baby. I’ve had several that are like this at hatch and I would say that sadly, 90% of them fail to thrive. If you give them warmth, love, food, water and vitamins and they don’t improve…something bigger is wrong and there is nothing you can really do but love them while they’re with you. I have had two quail survive the rough first couple days and eventually get stronger and catch up after several weeks, but most cases they are gone within the first 3 days to a week. I hope this little one is a fighter and makes it! You are doing all the best things!

 

[LizFB]

It sounds like you are doing all the things you can do for the baby. I’ve had several that are like this at hatch and I would say that sadly, 90% of them fail to thrive. If you give them warmth, love, food, water and vitamins and they don’t improve…something bigger is wrong and there is nothing you can really do but love them while they’re with you. I have had two quail survive the rough first couple days and eventually get stronger and catch up after several weeks, but most cases they are gone within the first 3 days to a week. I hope this little one is a fighter and makes it! You are doing all the best things!

Thank you ;-) we did lose about 3 chicks over the last few months, so I upgraded my incubator, but this one was hatched out of the new one. So maybe thinking there could be a genetic thing going on, and maybe one of my hens is the issue. Time will tell. Thanks for you kind words