Is My Chick Sick?

[274255]

I have a 5 day old chick(Red Rock) that is the only one I got from incubating 12 eggs( Long story). It poked a hole in the shell and 12 hours later made some progress. I helped it a bit and it was able to finally get out of the shell by itself. It hatched on day 23. I had also bought 25 Buff Orpington chicks and got them on day 21 of my incubator eggs. My chick had some yolk sac tissue with a few small pieces of shell attached still hanging from it's hind end after it got out of the shell. I left it on as it wasn't very big and wasn't hindering the chick. The chick seemed a bit slow getting going and I kept it in the incubator about 28 hours before putting it in the brooder with the 25 Buffs. I trimmed off the fibers with the shell pieces before putting it with the Buffs. They didn't bother her(I want it to be a girl) much and mostly ignored her. She was 3 days behind and a lot smaller but seemed ok. She is eating and drinking and pooping but doesn't seem to be coming along as fast as the rest even taking into account of her being 3 days younger. She seems to be breathing hard and will drop her head straight down and fall asleep standing up and then will lay down. She sleeps a lot but that could be because of her breathing. Sorry this is so long. Does anyone have any advice or thoughts? I'm more concerned about her breathing more than anything else. Thanks for any replies

 

[jessietacos]

Usually when a chick is breathing heavily, they are too hot. The best solution is to raise their heat lamp a bit. Hope this was helpful

 

[274255]

When I first put her in the brooder she stayed under the heatlamp and started panting. I moved her a bit to the side and it took her a little time to realize that she could walk away from the heat but caught on pretty quick. Now she is just breathing hard but not panting. She seems a little more active this morning and came to get some chick starter that I drop on a board. They love that as they make a noise when they are eating it. She was there with the rest picking at the food so I'm hoping she is just a little slow and will be ok.

 

[jessietacos]

You're probably right, some chicks don't develop quite as fast as others