I think I got a dud chick

[chickintexas]

I have been waiting for the feed store to get in their Ameraucanas and they finally came in today. I checked over the 3 that I chose thoroughly. Active and healthy looking. This afternoon, though, one of them starting keeping one eye closed. Now she won't open either of them. She's going through the motions but seems to lie down a lot more than the other two I brought home. I'm thinking about forcing some water into her thinking that she may be a bit dehydrated. Can't exactly drink when you're not looking for it, you know? Any ideas or thoughts? Thanks.

 

[sfw2]

Be careful if you decide to "force" her to drink - it's easy to drown a chick that way. It's best to try just putting the water on the tip of her beak, a drop at a time. You could also try putting some electrolytes in the water, or maybe vitamins.

Good luck! Hope your chick pulls through.

 

[chickintexas]

That's how I did it...dripped the water down the side of her beak and let her take in what she wanted. I've rescued my fair share of wild birds and talk about a battle to save a little life!

I do have an update on my peeper, though. After I got some water into her last night, she did appear more active and ready to eat. Her crop has been fairly and reasonably full. Her eyes were closed up again this morning and I thought for sure that the next time I checked the brooder that she'd be gone. I finally picked her up and looked at her eyes and finally decided to try to open them up. I figured she wasn't going to be with us much longer anyways, you know? I had to apply some force to get them open! You could almost hear an audible pop when they came open!. I did the same for the other one and she's a different chick now! She's running with the others and scratching at the feed. Why would her eyes seal up like that? There isn't any discharge and her eyes look very clear. Weird little critter!

 

[chookchick]

Thanks for the update on your little chick. So glad to hear she is doing better. Sometimes they just need a little time to rest and catch up. Your observations on her eyes are interesting, though.