Hard boiled egg yolks for baby chicks?

[ladywolf]

Great info in this thread. All of my questions are being answered without me having to ask!

 

[bluegrasslady]

Glendor787 here is a pic of a mini brooder I built today for my one lonely chick. I'm using a water bottle for small animals and it seems to work pretty well for him. The regular chick waterers are good too but they make a mess of them so I decided to give this a go.

 

[glendor787]

Awesome!!! Thank you! I guess mine will be a lonely chicken too! Non of the others egg hatched. Today is day 21, so I guess I'm leaving it the incubator one more day! I haven't seen the baby eat or drink water at all...any idea how to make him eat? The food ison a red container, accessible to him, so it's the water. He looks fine, but just not eating at all. Please advice!! Ohh also I put I little heater close to him. It keep the room at 85 to 90 degrees!
Thank you!

 

[Fancychooklady]

Chicks can go 2 days without eating or drinking. Just before they hatch they absorb the remaining yolk to sustain them. 21 days is only an estimation , some chicks take longer. Last week my hatch went over to 24 days. I dip my finger in the water and drip it onto their beak, just to show them where the water is. I also dip my wet finger into the crumble and offer it to them. Their curiosity usually gets the better of them and they have a peck. Mine prefer scrambled egg to boiled. They seem to find the softer texture easier to eat.

 

[Fancychooklady]

Awesome!!! Thank you! I guess mine will be a lonely chicken too! Non of the others egg hatched. Today is day 21, so I guess I'm leaving it the incubator one more day! I haven't seen the baby eat or drink water at all...any idea how to make him eat? The food ison a red container, accessible to him, so it's the water. He looks fine, but just not eating at all. Please advice!! Ohh also I put I little heater close to him. It keep the room at 85 to 90 degrees!
Thank you!

That food looks too big for chick crumble. Do you have a heat lamp?

 

[glendor787]

No heat lamp, just a heater. It keeps the temperature close to the incubator or less. That's what they gave me when I asked for the food, should I wet it?

 

[glendor787]

 

[chooks4life]

@bluegrasslady:
Quote: I can't tell from the pic, but is the chick able to get away from the heater if it needs to?

I also believe never being exposed to fluctuating temperatures isn't good for them. They seem to feather slower which suggests an endocrinal response to ambient temperatures is involved, and since cooler temperatures have many beneficial effects on us and animals, such as encouraging our vascular systems to constrict gently, general health is aided by exposure to different levels of warmth and coolness.

I'm not suggesting you're harming him, it's quite normal for people to raise them this way. When raised naturally, they come back to their mother to 'recharge' their temperatures, and spend the rest of the time foraging. Being warm all the time doesn't provoke their cardiovascular systems to exercise properly. It's not only physical exercise that's needed. But in the long run I doubt you'd notice any serious ill effects. Best wishes.

 

[glendor787]

Hello,

So he wont eat...I gave him a mixture of boil egg, baby chicken feed and water. He ate it, so I can tell he was very hungry. Now he sleeping under a feather hat I got, heater on, very quiet. I need him to figure out how to eat by himself by tomorrow as I'm working, took leave today to stay with him. I won't mind getting a play mate for him, but the only guy I know that sell chickens, they are already like 2 to 3 weeks, way too big by tiny Pollito! Fingers crossed for him. He is the only hatch from 17 eggs.

 

[Fancychooklady]

The hat is a great idea! Some people use a feather duster, but they are becoming as "rare as hens teeth". Just mix the chick starter with a little water and keep offering the egg.
Make sure it can't drown in the water, add some stones or marbles to it.