Failure to thrive - injured chick

[SeonaidsEarth]

I received my first ever chicks on Friday last week. The hatchery sent two extra in case any didn't make the journey. I was happy to see all 8 seemed alive and well! Then I noticed one little brown leghorn not really growing. She was the last to eat and often separate from the others. But they weren't mean to her. The actually seemed concerned. Saturday evening I noticed her limping and favoring her left leg. I could not find any evidence of pasty butt or a broken leg, but she definitely couldn't walk on it. Sunday she stopped eating and drinking. I made a separate hospital brooder, and today I hand fed her a paste of egg yolk, water, probiotic and a tiny pinch of sugar. She loved it! I didn't have to force her to eat it. She drank water from a dropper. I fed her again a couple hours later but she seemed even weaker. Now she cannot stand and flops over onto her side. What the heck? Is she just not strong enough to heal?

 

[rosemarythyme]

Possibly. Shipping can be hard on them, and doubly so if a chick already had some issues. If she has something internally wrong with her there probably isn't anything you can do to save her, but if she seems like she's still willing to fight, you can look up how to make a chick chair to prop her upright, and then I'd suggest giving her direct doses of Nutri-Drench to try and boost her as much as possible.

 

[Ryguy3684]

X2 on the Nutri drench. It can't hurt. I've used it to help two failure to thrive chicks make it over the hump. One of them ended up having some neurological issues, but she's a good, consistent layer. If you have a second set of hands, it'll make it easier to give it to her.