How do I get it to eat?

[Mom 2em All]

Dumb question- but I used my finger to tap at the ground up chick starter...and all this little Serama wanted to do was hide under my hand.
How long can it go from hatching without eating or drinking?

 

[jimnjay]

Chicks can go three days without food or water. That is how the hatcheries are able to ship us day old chicks. They are still living off the yolk that has recently been absorbed. You can add a bit of Vitamins and Electrolytes to the water and that some times stimulates them. You can also offer finely chopped hard boiled egg. Old time farmers often fed their little chicks just hard boiled egg for the first week or so. Keep an eye on the little one, you can buy hand rearing formula for caged birds but I doubt it will be necessary.

 

[Mom 2em All]

Thanks- I haven't got it to drink anything. When I showed her the water, she was too busy trying to get under my hand and kept climbing into the water lid- so I took it out.

Only since I posted that did she show just a tiny bit of interest in the food on the ground. Did not eat, but looked at my tapping finger.

(Right now she just discovered that she has a friend in the tank- the mirror taped to the side, and is busy cuddling with it. So, for the first time didnt try to get under my hand while I pecked at the ground up starter.)

She is still poopin, so I guess it will just be some time before she is ready.