Lethargic chick NEED HELP

[airmom1c05]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=35356&p=4

Read post #38 from horsejody. You could PM or email her easily from there by clicking on her name. I hope it's not Mareck's. There is a subscriber named Ruth who advocates taking the baby chicks out as soon as they're about 1 week old and letting them play in the fresh air and sunshine. She makes for interesting reading with all of her experience in letting hens hatch and raise chicks. I have seen so many posts of dying chicks since yesterday, that I started reading up on letting the hen do it all! Here is something I found from Backyard Chicken Magazine:


http://www.themodernhomestead.us/article/Broody-Hens-1.html



I realize you rescued this chicken, and this doesn't exactly apply, but just the same, I think this is a GREAT read for anyone interested in options to incubators and buying baby chicks who have to be shipped then raised in brooder pens for 8 weeks.

The only other things I've heard/read/learned in my limited experience with chickens who are young/lethargic/weak etc. is a little sugar in the water which you've already covered - - - canned niblet corn or at least the juice from same - - - ACV 1 TBSP per gallon of water - - - probiotic yogurt - - - cooked oatmeal - - - calm quiet warm environment (except for the "let mama do it" approach. I pray you don't lose the chick. You are doing everything in your power not to, I'm sure. God bless you. You're in my prayers.

 

[hooligan]

Quote:
How old was Ruth? This baby must only be a day or two old. I am going to blend up an egg yolk and give it a try, It won't eat or drink (been using a dropper for the sugar water) so I will use a dropper for the yolk and see how that goes. At least his/her eyes are open and he seems a bit for alert now

 

[airmom1c05]

Oops! I noticed the second link I posted in the #11 reply to this thread was an accidental repeat of the first link. Anyway, I went back and edited it to the correct link which I'll post again here:



http://www.themodernhomestead.us/article/Broody-Hens-1.html

 

[ruth]

I feed mine scrambled egg for their first meal upon hatching and twice daily, along with cooked rice and other nutritional veggies/fruits - all finely diced up (along with medicated chick starter). The first day or two they are hesitant to try new foods but it only takes one to grab something and run with it and suddenly it's a shark feeding frenzy. I also feed them live crickets starting at about a week or two old. You should see the game of "cricket" that brings on.

Like Airmom said, I'm the advocate for raising them as close to nature as possible and for getting them out of those hot boxes and into fresh air and sunshine. I've never had a broody hen to raise her own chicks because I don't have a rooster. However Ruth did adopt the last batch of baby Buff Orps when they were about a day or two old. She stayed in run with them while they free ranged and took them to sleep in coop with her.

I have some that hatched from fertile eggs on Valentines Day and I'm already putting them out in pen on pretty sunny days for fresh air. You should see them run and play.

By the way, Ruth was about a week old when I got that batch of chicks and I picked her out because I thought she looked like a cute little owl - walked with her neck all pulled in - real quiet and timid. Learned right away that something wasn't right but she seemed to be eating and drinking o.k., albeit she would wait till feeding frenzy was over and quietly walk up to food and take a peck or two, so I left her with rest of batch. Found her "dead" on floor one night with the others running all over her. I began with the yolk mixed with a little milk to get a little nutrition in her. I worked up to mushier foods like wetted cat food and cooked egg. Also feed her liquid vitamins and vitamin E capsules - kept her isolated. It took a few days for her to regain enough strength to stand up and then I learned her neck was twisted and legs paralyzed. When she tried to walk she spun in circles and fell over. Took another week or two till she was able to walk.

Keep up the TLC - never give up.

 

[ruth]

Quote:
Thanks for the link. Loved the article and agree with it 110%. My last batch of chicks went into large confined run at two days old (no heat lights but it was August in New Orleans) and free ranged woods and property starting at 3 weeks old.

All my chickens free range pasture and woods and not only have I never lost a chick/chicken - they don't fight one another, no feather/egg eating/cannibalism - no egg bound issues, no prolapse, no thin shell eggs, no sickness. Just lots of healthy, happy, well exercised chickens. Of course, they have started hiding nests and eggs in barns and stables but I'm onto them.

 

[hooligan]

Well this morning I got up, expecting the worst...and he/she was in the water bowl cheeping away and had drank all the water...then promptly fell over as soon as I came close to them!
I have made some watered down oatmeal and I am hoping all will be well with him/her til I get home this afternoon.
He/she can stand but does the spin out if they try to walk. Your story gives me hope Ruth. You have done what most others wouldn't have. Thank you.
Airmom, I will be finishing up those links today in my freetime at work. Thanks for posting them.

Oh and btw I got about .01cc of the yolk into the chickie last night and I really think thats what brough them around

 

[ruth]

Glad to hear a good update. Make sure you leave plenty of water but since the chick falls over you might want to use a large shallow dish so it doesn't fall in and drown. But you don't want them to run out of water. Also if it's eating, feed it scrambled/boiled egg - rich in protein and all the vitamins.

The egg yolk is what revived Ruth. My husband had already pronouced her dead because she wasn't moving but I could tell she was still breathing. I had to force her beak open and drop it down her throat. I repeated the process a tiny little bit at a time over the course of hours gradually working up to a mushy mixture of yolk and wet cat food. It was funny because when she did revive she started grabbing and gulping the bits of wet cat food out of the yolk mixture I was feeding her so I knew she was starving. She ate like a starved dog.

 

[hooligan]

I left some liquidy oatmeal for her (going to call the chick a her and hope it is, bc I am tired of sayinghe/she/it/them lol) and more sugar water in a shallow dish.
I gave her a bit of the oatmeal mixture this morning but she doesn't seem interested in food-starter or the oatmeal, seemed to like the yolk last night though. When I get home I will make a mixture of the eggs with a bit of cat food and use a dropper to feed her. She had alot more energy this morning so I am very happy she made it the night.

After we got her last night we came home and set up her brooder but I used an under the tank heater (couldn't find my light) and I thought she'd be okay as we were going to a friends house for about an hour. When we came home she was stiff and cold and we thought she was dead. But all of a sudden she gasped and thats when I went on a mad search for the brooder light and made my first post about her....the little resurrected chick

Sounds like Ruth was alot the same!

 

[hooligan]

Lucas just emailed me...she died a few minutes ago.

 

[airmom1c05]

I am so sorry for your loss. The Lord knows you did everything you could, and I believe the little chick's short life was better for having you as its owner.