Is this chick okay?

[eggspletive!]

I just got my first three chicks tonight from a local breeder--two Aurucaunas and a Welsummer, and I'm worried about one of the Aurucaunas. I've only had them for about an hour, and the other two seem perfectly perky, but this one keeps trying to stand up, then its wings will droop low, then its head will gradually sink to the ground, then its body will gradually sink and it will go to sleep and stay like that for ten or fifteen minutes, then repeat. Is it just sleepy? What should I do?

 

[MissJenny]

I don't know nothin' from nothin', but it seems the usual approach, what I've read on here, is to start with poly-vi-sol baby vitamins, without iron. Add a little sugar to it's water -- make sure it drinks -- to give it some energy and to keep it hydrated.

since you didn't hatch these, check it for mites and lice.

And make sure it is warm... Is it possible it is a little stressed from having had a big exciting day of moving out of it's brooder and coming to it's brand new home. Excitement is exhausting.

Jenny

 

[tara7815]

Sounds very similar to what I'm dealing with.
Lil sugar in the water huh?

I'm taking notes -

 

[Katy_didnot]

It's not at all unusual for a young chick to just deel over asleep! If it is eating and drinking as well as falling asleep it's probably just fine.

 

[Luna_Chick66]

Quote:
Mine would do this, too. It's like they would fall asleep standing up.

 

[eggspletive!]

Well it hasn't had anything to eat or sleep yet. The Welsummer hasn't stopped eating and drinking since I brought it home, but this Aurucauna hasn't woken up at all. How can you tell if it's just sleeping?

 

[wyo-helpmeet]

If it's breathing it'll move, like checking the chest on a newborn baby.

 

[Katy_didnot]

Okay, I was looking for a different old post that I remembered, but I found this one and it has some pics of sleeping chicks that might be reassuring.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=140674&p=3

They do sleep at night though. How old are they?
They don't need to eat at all for the first day or two, but usually will.
If they're older than a couple of days, were they eating before you got them?

 

[eggspletive!]

It's five days old, and I sure hope it was eating before I got it! The breeder actually had them at the fair for the last couple of days. Not what I was expecting--I thought she was just going to have them at home. So I'm sure it's had a lot of stress, between being at the fair and then having to make the trip home this afternoon. I wish it would drink something before I go to bed.

 

[eggspletive!]

Well, I guess it was just really sleepy, because it's fine this morning! Thanks for your help. I dipped its beak in sugar water then went to bed and hoped for the best. At 3:00 I got up to check on them and it was standing up but not doing anything. Then this morning it's acting pretty normal, just a little less exuberant than the other two.

Thanks again.