Hatching Under a Broody Hen

[Arya28]

Sooo I figure I prolly ought to update you all with this- both for all of you who have been following this thread, and for people who might find this helpful in the future.

The night we stuck the new chick (silkie legbar) under mama, everything seemed fine. Mama saw her and let her sleep under her wing with the others. Everything went well until the afternoon yesterday.

Then, my mom went out to feed and water them, and found the chick buried head first in wood chips. She picked her up and she was limp and her whole head was covered in blood.

So she brought her in. Her head was covered in blood so much so she couldn’t open her eyes- and partly because her eyes were slightly swollen shut. When we saw how much blood there was (on a tiny chick!) we didn’t think she’d make it. We figured she must have had a brain injury from a peck to the head.

But, nonetheless, we wanted to try to save her. So we held her by the heater and tried to inspect the situation. We then stuck her in a tote with a hot water bottle, by the heater and made her drink some electrolyte water. Despite everything that had to have happened, the chick still had enough strength to be standing up.

A few hours went by of her being in the tote (we were just trying to get her to rest at that point). After a few hours we decided her chances of living were probably higher (we figured a brain injury or something else major wouldn’t take that long to kill a chick).

So we let her rest, covered her with a sock (which she really likes) and gave her electrolyte water every now and again. Mind you, she still couldn’t open her eyes. She still seemed really strong though, running up our arms and everything else. So we stayed up really late to make sure she was doing ok, and then I got up every couple hours to make sure she was warm enough and “tuck her in” with the sock again.

Today she is even stronger. Running around and peeping. We think the blood came from the wound on her neck, which we think must’ve been a peck wound from mama hen (?!). Today we cleaned her eyes so she can open them again now- one is still a little puffy but it’s a LOT better! We then cleaned her wound with iodine water. It’s mostly scabbed over but seems like there could be a little fluid, so we want to get rid of and prevent possible infection. We also gave her some oregano oil in her water, which works like an antibiotic.

She still isn’t eating on her own, so we mushed up chick starter in warm water and gave it to her in a dropper (to at least get some nutrients into her).

Anyway, thankfully, we think she will make it! I attribute part of this to her being half silkie— in our 9 months of chicken keeping so far, I’ve found silkies to be extremely strong little birds, surprisingly. They are really sweet, but do have a feisty side too.

So we are going to keep her inside until she’s healed. We will spoil her for as long as we have to!! But now we don’t know if it’s safe to put her back with mama and the other chicks once she’s healed. Seems like maybe a bad idea? We do have five chicks who are a month-old from our hatch in Nov. and they don’t have a mom in with them. Should we wait till she’s bigger and put her in with them?


Anyway. Just thought I should update you with this!

 

[aart]

OhGahhh!!
I'd wait until she's eating on her own before even trying to put her in with the 4 wks olds. That's a big age gap.
Can you put her really close to them?
A miniature look don't touch kinda of a setup?

 

[WVduckchick]

Oh wow, sounds like you barely saved the little one!

I had one chick this summer, late hatchling, that a similar thing happened to, but i had 2 hens sitting about 10-days apart, so I slipped the injured chick under the second momma when her chicks started hatching and she took it in (after i had gotten it back on its feet). But in your situation, I doubt i would try the original group. I'd wait till its big enough to put with your other group.

oh, I applied some Neosporin to the chicks neck/ear area, where they had picked on it. Healed up fine, I'm not even sure now which chick it was!

 

[song of joy]

But now we don’t know if it’s safe to put her back with mama and the other chicks once she’s healed. Seems like maybe a bad idea? We do have five chicks who are a month-old from our hatch in Nov. and they don’t have a mom in with them. Should we wait till she’s bigger and put her in with them?

I wouldn't recommend putting her with the mama hen, as she will probably attack it again. There's too much of an age difference between this late-hatched chick and the rest who hatched 4 to 6 days prior to it. For most hens, the window of accepting chicks is pretty small - only a couple of days.

If any of the eggs hatch from the incubator, she'll have some companions close to her own age. If not, I like @aart 's idea of putting her in proximity to the 4-week olds but not where they can get to her. Perhaps you could try to add her to the older chicks (from the November hatch) after they've been in sight of each other for a few weeks.

I would not be inclined to put oregano oil in the chick's water. It's very strong and could be too much for her GI tract to tolerate, especially in combination with the physical trauma and injury she's gone through. I'd be more inclined to give her a drop of Poultry Nutri-Drench (1 drop per day) until she gets her strength back. Also, mashed scrambled eggs are highly nutritious and highly digestible.

 

[Bryam]

Interssting

 

[song of joy]

@Arya28 I forgot to mention - if you're having trouble getting a chick to eat or to recognize food, tap your finger lightly on the food, while at the same time making a rapid "cluck cluck cluck cluck" sound. They will usually excitedly eat the food where you're tapping, or try to take food that sticks to your fingertip. Young chicks will almost always react to this instinctively, as they would to the hen's "tidbitting" call.

 

[Arya28]

Thank you all for your advice!

I'd wait until she's eating on her own before even trying to put her in with the 4 wks olds. That's a big age gap.

Yes! We definitely aren’t even thinking about it till she’s eating on her own. Just thinking about what to do in the future.

We maybe could set something like what you mentioned, @aart... but the thing is in the brooder in the garage, it’s only about 70 degrees under the lamp. I think if she’s not in with a mama hen she’s a little young to be that cold? But maybe we could stick the hot water bottle in with her... will have to think on that. Maybe wait till she’s a little bigger?

@song of joy As for the oregano oil... she only got a tiny tiny bit. The blend we have is diluted with olive oil to begin with. We put one drop in a glass of water, poured half of that out and added half plain water gain. So about half a drop in a glass of water. And then we just gave her a tiny bit of that water in a dropper- she probably didn’t even get an eighth of a drop.

As for the scrambled eggs, we tried that last night and couldn’t get her to eat them. We might try it again now that she can open her eyes!

 

[Arya28]

@Arya28 I forgot to mention - if you're having trouble getting a chick to eat or to recognize food, tap your finger lightly on the food, while at the same time making a rapid "cluck cluck cluck cluck" sound. They will usually excitedly eat the food where you're tapping, or try to take food that sticks to your fingertip. Young chicks will almost always react to this instinctively, as they would to the hen's "tidbitting" call.

Ok will have to try that!!

 

[song of joy]

Yes, 70 degrees is too cool for a very young chick, especially one that is recovering from an injury. I'd try the "mamma heating pad in the brooder" for heat.

Very dilute oregano oil may be OK. I was just concerned because it's so potent. I got a tiny bit of pure oregano oil on my skin once and it burned for hours, even after trying to wash it off several times.

 

[aart]

We maybe could set something like what you mentioned, @aart... but the thing is in the brooder in the garage, it’s only about 70 degrees under the lamp. I think if she’s not in with a mama hen she’s a little young to be that cold? But maybe we could stick the hot water bottle in with her... will have to think on that. Maybe wait till she’s a little bigger?

Put the light closer to her than the others?