An Update: My chicks are about 7 months old now and 2 of 3 are laying eggs regularly! My one eyed cross beak (whom I've named Soup) still has not laid and I'm not sure she ever will, but she's thriving with the rest!
Maybe a month after my last post I started making oatmeal for Soup and she was able to eat that on her own from a bowl. But she grew very quickly and within a couple of weeks she was knocking the bowl over and kicking oats everywhere; I also wanted to make sure she was getting enough nutrients so I started torpedo feeding. I kept that up for about 2 weeks but it was exhausting to make so many little torpedos (Soup is always ravenous, lol) so I switched to tube feeding and it made life 100x easier for both of us. I got a tube & syringe originally from
Springwater Avian Health - they also have an "avian shake" mix for tube feeding, but I've been making my own.
The syringe didn't last too long and I ended up buying a bunch from
this company along with 2 more red rubber catheters (size 18 french) just in case. I actually like the red rubber one better than the original clear plastic tube I got: it's a little harder to get started but once she lets me put it in, it goes down really easy. Just a personal preference as both tubes work great.
For the feed itself, I've been using a small coffee grinder to grind up regular crumble feed and using a sieve to remove any bigger chunks so it doesn't clog. I also add a bit of
this to the mix and it keeps her feathers looking shiny. I keep this "dry mix" in a tupperware container and just mix a few heaping spoonfuls with hot/warm water in a jar, that way I can keep the jar in the fridge if I have leftovers and reuse it the next day. I of course make sure the food is cooled down or warmed up to room temp before feeding.
Over the last month, Soup has finally figured out how to pick up regular feed on her own! She stopped spinning in circles and learned how to aim; I got a
deep ceramic dish that's heavy enough she can't knock it over when she scratches through her food and I've been experimenting with mash, dry crumble, and dry pellets. So far I think she's eating the most when I make the wet crumble mash, but some day's she'll go for the other chicken's dry pellets instead - and she's so hyper she tends to kick their food everywhere
I left her to eat on her own for about 3 weeks now and decided I still need to tube feed her every once in a while. She's definitely not eating as much as a normal chicken would so she's a little boney, but funny enough she's more energetic than anyone else!
Bless you for taking these little souls home!!
