Help with chick I had to assist hatch?

[flipflops]

I hatched silkies over the weekend. I had 2 chicks that made big holes and started to zip Friday night but never made it further after almost 2 days. I assisted them and the one is up moving and walking and seems ok but toes are curled a little. The other one that I am attaching a picture of has remained laying kinda of crooked up and it' body seems to permanently like this. It has a little blood spot on the abdomen and almost looks a little underdeveveloped. Does this chick stand any chance or should I consider a humane way of putting her down? This is my first time hatching out chicks.

 

[lazy gardener]

You can do the snip with very little emotional trauma. Wrap the chick loosely in a paper towel, leaving enough toweling over the top so you can cover her head. Have a lunch sized paper bag handy. Hold the chick in your left hand, position the garden clippers at the top of her neck with your right hand. Fold the paper towel over the top. You won't even need to watch. Simply place the clippers in position, fold paper towel over top, do a quick snip, and drop the entire thing into the paper bag. Fold top down, and give her a burial in the yard. You can dig the hole before hand.

If you are going to hatch chicks, it's imperative that you be able to euthanize those chicks that need it. If you can't do so, or don't have some one to do it for you, you should decide not to hatch chicks again. Culling goes with the territory of hatching.

 

[bobbi-j]

Honestly, the kindest way is to snip. It’s fast and over with in less than a second. All the other “clean” ways prolong her suffering and end her life with suffocation. If you can’t do it, maybe you can find someone who can.

 

[lazy gardener]

Try a drop of Poultry Nutri Drench. You will want to wick a bit of it in at the side of her beak. don't try to put a whole drop in her mouth. Try that, if she responds well, then you might try wicking a bit of sugar water into her beak. Can you make a nest shaped bowl with a wrapped dish towel to hold her in a more natural position? If such treatment does not bring her around (PND every 4 - 6 hours, with water in between, then I would consider culling her. It all depends on your husbandry philosophy and the amount of time you have available to deal with her. There is no wrong or right decision here, as long as she is not suffering. You might try giving her a little buddy also.

 

[flipflops]

She is dried out now. But the odd thing is she has very sparing hair. She is actually missing patches of fluff. There is one little crusty place on her back but no nothing else. When I move her or try and sit her up her head and whole right side of the body is literally curled to one side. Also one leg is smaller than the other and on the smaller leg there are toes that are itty bitty and on the other side normal size. She is about half the size of my other silkies who hatched also.

 

[Fishkeeper]

It'll work, but it works by suffocating the chick, so I really doubt you want to do that.

You can use carbon monoxide from car exhaust. Put the chick in a near-airtight box, somehow fasten a hose to your car's exhaust pipe and into the box, and run the car. This is technically also suffocation, but it works differently. With CO2 suffocation, the body detects the excess levels of CO2 and causes the animal to panic. Carbon monoxide replaces the oxygen without triggering any alarm. The animal gets tired, falls asleep, and dies. It's why people commit suicide that way, and how people can accidentally die of carbon monoxide poisoning- it doesn't feel like anything is wrong. Works with all small mammals and birds, especially birds, but not on reptiles.

 

[flipflops]

I know that would be quickest. I just have a hard time with stuff like that. I know if I am going to be doing lots of chickens and breeding etc I should toughen up with that but this is the first. I have begged my husband too as well and he said he just cant.

 

[Fishkeeper]

Do you have a neighbor who can do it?

Carbon monoxide poisoning is technically suffocation, yes, but that "can't breathe" sensation comes from your body's reaction to too much carbon dioxide. With carbon monoxide, that reaction never comes. It's why carbon monoxide leaks can be so deadly, people simply don't realize that anything is wrong. They get sleepy, maybe get a headache, and pass out. Carbon monoxide poisoning is considered a humane way to euthanize most animals because, on observation, there's minimal to no distress. Also because we've talked to people who've nearly died of carbon monoxide poisoning, and they describe it as being like falling asleep. It's not the same as if you smothered an animal with a cloth, which would cause a suffocation distress response. It takes longer, but it's about the next best thing to decapitation or crushing the skull, and it's peaceful.

You can read a similar discussion here, where they used carbon monoxide:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/non-violent-way-to-kill-a-chicken.259799/

 

[abraga]

My best quess is that you most likely had issues with humidity at hatch. Shrink wrapped chicks. At any rate..the blood spot is where it was attached to the yolk..perhaps it had not finished absorbing everything b4 you helped them hatch. The chicks are most likely stressed due to the trauma of the hatch. I would leave them completely alone for 24 hrs to rest. A chick can go 2 days without food ..let them rest! Just keep them warm. After a good 24 hrs of rest, if they are more active and looking around, offer a few drops if water w nutri drench to thier beaks.best thing at this point is rest...helping chicks to hatch is very stressful on them. Don't handle them. Sometimes, due to being in the egg, some are a bit curled up at 1st. If it stays on its back to long , gently roll it back to its stomach. Best thing is rest to recover and warmth.

 

[flipflops]

My humidity at hatch and lockdown was always 65-70 using a genesis incubator. All others hatched fine. This one had been like this for about 26 hours now. I have rolled to stomach and she goes right back it' almost like her neck and curled toward her wing and the other wing sticks out.