Day or two old chick

[OkieChickenLady]

Ok I need help! We had 13 chicks hatch and I have this one that was a little late and I had to help it along, it seemed to weak to break out. Now it's breathing heavily.. I am not sure if it is eating or drinking so I gave it drops of water and it seemed to get backed up for a bit with water backing up into its mouth. It is itty bitty compare to the others and most of the time has its eyes closed. All of the other chicks are getting along just fine.. eating, drinking, scratching, pecking and doing what normal chicks do. I'm worried about this little one... any advice or thoughts? Oh another note is it's feet were curved a bit and it still falls and stumbles some.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Late hatchlings will have curved toes from pushing so long on the shell.
You can try to tape the toes/feet straight but sometimes they fail and isn't worth the time.
A natural sweetener like molasses, agave nectar or sugar in the water may give the chick enough energy to allow it to eat on its own.
NutriDrench is a great product to get latecomers going.
There are many things that can affect this situation. Turning and breeder nutrition come to mind.

 

[OkieChickenLady]

Late hatchlings will have curved toes from pushing so long on the shell.
You can try to tape the toes/feet straight but sometimes they fail and isn't worth the time.
A natural sweetener like molasses, agave nectar or sugar in the water may give the chick enough energy to allow it to eat on its own.
NutriDrench is a great product to get latecomers going.
There are many things that can affect this situation. Turning and breeder nutrition come to mind.

My incubator has a turner and these chicks came from my hens which are pretty healthy. This chick hatched about 4 days late. Could it be some kind of deformity or issue with the chick? I will try the sweetener but what about the heavy breathing? This chick is shaped a little different too, it's neck is like bent.. hard to explain

 

[OkieChickenLady]

All of my other chicks have smooth necks that extend well and this little chicks neck seems to be bent like an L

 

[Windus]

All of my other chicks have smooth necks that extend well and this little chicks neck seems to be bent like an L

Look up "wry neck", I am treating a chick for that right now.

 

[OkieChickenLady]

Look up "wry neck", I am treating a chick for that right now.

Can that cause these symptoms? Literally it's entire body moved when it breathes, it keeps its eyes closed most of the time. The neck is really bent like an L and it's TINY compared to all of the other chicks

 

[Windus]

There are many different thoughts on the causes, I am going to post some video of my chick in a bit

 

[OkieChickenLady]

There are many different thoughts on the causes, I am going to post some video of my chick in a bit

It's def not wry neck, his neck looks normal not twisted back or anything. It's more like it's scrunched down in the L position like there's a bend in his neck if that makes sense at all

 

[Windus]

you should post some pics

 

[ChickenCanoe]

My incubator has a turner and these chicks came from my hens which are pretty healthy. This chick hatched about 4 days late. Could it be some kind of deformity or issue with the chick? I will try the sweetener but what about the heavy breathing? This chick is shaped a little different too, it's neck is like bent.. hard to explain

4 days is more than a little late.
As I said, deformities can appear when a chick has to work too long to escape. The labored breathing could be for the same issue. Once the embryo is 21 days old, the only nutrition left is what it is absorbing within its body. 4 days late will have it extremely hungry, thirsty and weak.
It is rare for me to have a chick hatch more than a day late without crooked toes and curved feet.
There are a number of reasons for a chick to hatch late.
http://extension.illinois.edu/eggs/res24-00.html
Since the rest of the chicks hatched fine, we can rule out temperature and humidity. Other causes of a late hatch are extremely large eggs, old breeders, eggs stored too long, inbreeding or just a weak embryo.
But keep in mind that the more one hatches, the more one will have chicks with deformities and other problems. It is just the law of averages. Not every child born is destined to be a supermodel.
I once hatched a chick with 3 legs. One protruded from its abdomen and one of the others had 5 toes.