Injured chick just found

[tropicalbliss]

Hello, welcome to BYC. Without pictures I'm not sure we can help.
Warmth, which you are providing, is the first step. Do you have any chick starter and electrolytes?

I also gave it chick starter!

 

[tropicalbliss]

Glad to meet you. You are doing great with that chick, and we are all rooting for you and that little guy. Be sure the chick has space to get under the heating pad (or near the rice sock, but also give it a big enough box so it can get out if it gets too hot.

Thank you so much! I made a little blanket nest with the head sock there and she had the option to cuddle around it or away from it. It went really well!She’s doing so good!

 

[tropicalbliss]

You can use Gatorade or Pedialyte. I've used taste and dye free Pedialyte... Depending on pharmacy or farm supply being closer to you.

I was able to make some electrolytes from scratch using water, salt, sugar, and baking soda. It seemed to really help!

 

[tropicalbliss]

Welcome to BYC! Good of you to rescue her. I would give her some warm electrolyte water and plain scrambled eggs. This will help restore her energy. Sorry for your loss.

Thank You so much for this great advice! She is doing so well!

 

[tropicalbliss]

For getting it warm in the first place, this is good.

But once it is warm and active, it will do much better if it can go in and out of a warm space.
Baby chicks naturally follow their mother around, eating and drinking, and snuggle underneath her to get warm when they need to. They do not stay warm all the time.

So it usually works well to make one space warm with a heat lamp, or a brooder plate, or a heating pad made into a cave, or something of the sort. And then have a larger space that is not warm, where the food and water are. That way the chick can go back and forth and keep itself at the right temperature.


A heating pad like that can be used, IF it is set up so the chick can come and go, and IF the chick is healthy enough to move itself around. When the chick can move freely, it might sit closer to the heating pad or further away from it, dependng on what temperature it needs at the time.

(But all of these things I am saying are for healthy chicks that can move around. For a chick that is too chilled or weak to move, you are right to be very careful with the temperature, and you are right that such a chick cannot self-regulate their temperature by moving to a different place.)

NatJ,
Thank You for this great advice! I am off of work right now due to an injury, so I’m able to spend a lot of time with this baby. I now have it mainly in a shallow cardboard box, and one end I have the heated sock along with several towels it can nestle under.. it really seems to like having something on it as well and seems very happy. I bought a thermometer and heat lamp for possible future set up, but I’m reluctant because of fire hazard.
Right now I jist have the box near me on the bed and I e been Re-heating the sock every 3-4 hours … not sure how long I should do this for?

 

[NatJ]

Right now I jist have the box near me on the bed and I e been Re-heating the sock every 3-4 hours … not sure how long I should do this for?

The chick will need a source of heat until it has enough feathers to keep it warm.
Some chicks grow feathers faster than others.
"Enough feathers" is different in a house than it is outdoors, because outdoors is usually colder or hotter than the house.

I would guess a month before it can be without heat in the house, but I might be several weeks off one way or the other.

When the chick stays in the cool area all the time, and never goes to warm up, you will know the chick no longer needs the heat.

You might also look into getting another few chicks to keep this one company. Chickens usually do better if they are not alone. Also, a group of 3 or 4 chicks can huddle together and keep each other warm at an age when a single chick would still need supplemental heat. (You might be able to stop the heat a week sooner with several chicks, as compared with just one chick alone.)

 

[tropicalbliss]

The chick will need a source of heat until it has enough feathers to keep it warm.
Some chicks grow feathers faster than others.
"Enough feathers" is different in a house than it is outdoors, because outdoors is usually colder or hotter than the house.

I would guess a month before it can be without heat in the house, but I might be several weeks off one way or the other.

When the chick stays in the cool area all the time, and never goes to warm up, you will know the chick no longer needs the heat.

You might also look into getting another few chicks to keep this one company. Chickens usually do better if they are not alone. Also, a group of 3 or 4 chicks can huddle together and keep each other warm at an age when a single chick would still need supplemental heat. (You might be able to stop the heat a week sooner with several chicks, as compared with just one chick alone.)

Aloha NatJ,

I’m really not sure where I would get the spare chicks, and I was going to try and re-introduce my baby Maile to a similar flock with one of the hens, which are wild hens around my place. There are three hens with similar ages babies, however, I do t believe this chic is from either flock because I counted the babies they had before I found this one. There is 5 aces around me and there are a few wild chickens that I don’t routinely see and the others I feed regularly. These are the ones that I am hoping to re-introduce . My plan is to bring this chick outside to be seen as it gets older. So far this baby is attached to me and cry’s if I’m not around it, so I’ve been bringing it wherever I go or am around it when it wakes up!
I’m not sure how to break the bond without the baby chic crying nonstop which will disturb my roomate!What do you suggest?

 

[NatJ]

I’m not sure how to break the bond without the baby chic crying nonstop which will disturb my roomate!What do you suggest?

It is lonely. You could give it a mirror or a stuffed toy or both. I've read that those can help a chick feel less lonesome (and thus, be more quiet.)

Chicks that are raised alone can have trouble interacting with other chickens later, because they have not learned the right skills. But since you want to re-introduce it to the feral chickens in the area, I can see why you don't want to buy more chicks, build a chicken coop, and plan to keep it forever. Hmm, definitely a puzzler.

I was going to try and re-introduce my baby Maile to a similar flock with one of the hens, which are wild hens around my place. There are three hens with similar ages babies, however, I do t believe this chic is from either flock because I counted the babies they had before I found this one. There is 5 aces around me and there are a few wild chickens that I don’t routinely see and the others I feed regularly. These are the ones that I am hoping to re-introduce . My plan is to bring this chick outside to be seen as it gets older.

If you can arrange a safe place outdoors, with a heat source, it could start being seen by the other chickens right away. How cold does it usually get at night? That can help you estimate when it will be able to do without a heat source.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...d-in-the-brooder-picture-heavy-update.956958/
This thread has photos and ideas about a warm "cave" for chicks using a heating pad. That lets the chick snuggle in and warm up, and come out when it wants to. It can work well in the house or outdoors in a pen.

@Shadrach you've dealt with some semi-feral chickens. Do you have any suggestions for OP's chick, and re-introducing it to the wild ones in the area? Or do you know who might be able to help?

 

[tropicalbliss]

It is lonely. You could give it a mirror or a stuffed toy or both. I've read that those can help a chick feel less lonesome (and thus, be more quiet.)

Chicks that are raised alone can have trouble interacting with other chickens later, because they have not learned the right skills. But since you want to re-introduce it to the feral chickens in the area, I can see why you don't want to buy more chicks, build a chicken coop, and plan to keep it forever. Hmm, definitely a puzzler.



If you can arrange a safe place outdoors, with a heat source, it could start being seen by the other chickens right away. How cold does it usually get at night? That can help you estimate when it will be able to do without a heat source.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...d-in-the-brooder-picture-heavy-update.956958/
This thread has photos and ideas about a warm "cave" for chicks using a heating pad. That lets the chick snuggle in and warm up, and come out when it wants to. It can work well in the house or outdoors in a pen.

@Shadrach you've dealt with some semi-feral chickens. Do you have any suggestions for OP's chick, and re-introducing it to the wild ones in the area? Or do you know who might be able to help?

Yes! A puzzler is right!! I just tried to set up a brooder in a large sized plastic tub and set up a 250 watt bulb set 18 inches above the ground and set up a bottle water and some food and straw because my local feed store was out of wood chips. My bird would not stop yelling even though I checked the temperature and it was around 100 under the lamp and about 85 on the other side. I really tried to wait it out and see if it would settle down. It it never did and tried to jump out even though the plastic is way too high. I ended up feeling really bad and took her out and set her back up with a blanket cave and heated rice sock and room for her to come out on the other end of a shallow cardboard box where I have a tiny cap of water and a small amt of food on each corner. The problem is, I have to wake up and re-hear the sock about every 3 hours. The chic seems very content and. Ever cries with this method! I’m getting exhausted though. I’ve tried to see if my friends that brood chickens would take her but no one wants to take her on because they have older chicks and the other has too many chickens already. I am trying to hang in there. She is a sweet, cute little thing, and literally was going to die of I hadn’t rescued her. I didn’t even know who the mama is ~ so it’s hard to match her back up with a flock, but one hen has 9 babies and they are the same age it seems.

 

[raingarden]

250 watts is a lot. I use 40 watt bulbs at about 16 inches this time of year. If you play around with it you may find an alternative to the rice sock.

I don't know of any way to stop the chirping other than adding another bird. Even a juvenile will work if you can keep the juvenile from stepping on the chick.