sgillette
Hatching
- Mar 6, 2016
- 2
- 2
- 9
3 days ago one of my little 2 week old chicks ate a fire ant. This is what happened, in case it happens to anyone else. Fire ants are pretty toxic so when I saw the chick had it I tried to take it away but of course it swallowed it! Looking back I should have gotten my tweezers and gone in after the ant, but I didn't. The next morning when I went in the coop to feed them, that chick was nearly paralyzed. Her eyes were closed and she was barely responding to me. I honestly had little hope but had to try to save her. I took her in and put heat packs in a box to keep her warm. I tried eye dropping water into her beak but she wasn't swallowing. I messaged her to try to get some blood moving. I did this every few hours through out the day. I knew she would be dehydrated if I didn't get water into her so I forced some down her and messaged her throat. I also gave her a few drops of apple cider vinegar. I don't know if that helped but at least it didn't kill her. I read that it helps absorb some of the ant toxins. I left her alone through the night. I heard her peeping the next morning. She had pooped (which was a good sign) but was still not responding much. Again, I kept her warm and forced water down her. I felt like since she pooped, food must be moving through her so I force fed her some wet mash. I did this every few hours through the afternoon. She finally pooped out the ant! I am happy to say she made a full recovery and I just put her with her sisters in the hen house. She ran over and started eating like nothing ever happened. Don't give up hope over a fire ant ingestion but do try to avoid it.
