this is an update on the abandoned chick I talked about in this post here
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/looking-for-advice-on-raising-a-rejected-chick.1674045
He's doing very well and is getting more and more active each day.. He's also got his little wing feathers coming in!
I struggled to get him eating the chick starter once it came in since he was used to eating the mash I was giving him before.. This was pretty easily resolved by just adding some water to his new food so that it's a similar texture to what he was eating before (it also helped for me to pretend I was excitedly pecking at the food with my fingers lol). He doesn't seem to show much interest in chick grit when offered to him but since he's on chick crumbles now I'm not too concerned about it for the time being.
I did want to ask if anyone knows whether I should be concerned about the fact that he still isn't really drinking water by himself? I think that he's been getting enough moisture from the mash since it's almost soupy sometimes and he'll occasionally drink from water that gathers in the edges of his bowl from his food. I've already shown him where his water dish is and carefully dipped his beak in the water a couple of times but he doesn't seem interested in fresh water at all, only the 'food water' in his other dish.
Should I be trying to slowly give him drier and drier food until he's eating the crumbles without water? Will that make him look for his water dish on his own? If giving him wet food would be sustainable and safe for him then I certainly don't mind only feeding him food that's been turned into mash since it's really not a bother to make (he will always have access to fresh, clean water regardless of whether or not his food is hydrating him). I'm just not sure whether or not it's something I should try to wean him off of so I wanted to ask for other people's opinions.
Also he has a name now! His name is Deinonychus (I'm a bit of a dinosaur nerd) but we're calling him Dino for short. Here's some updated photos too
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/looking-for-advice-on-raising-a-rejected-chick.1674045
He's doing very well and is getting more and more active each day.. He's also got his little wing feathers coming in!
I struggled to get him eating the chick starter once it came in since he was used to eating the mash I was giving him before.. This was pretty easily resolved by just adding some water to his new food so that it's a similar texture to what he was eating before (it also helped for me to pretend I was excitedly pecking at the food with my fingers lol). He doesn't seem to show much interest in chick grit when offered to him but since he's on chick crumbles now I'm not too concerned about it for the time being.
I did want to ask if anyone knows whether I should be concerned about the fact that he still isn't really drinking water by himself? I think that he's been getting enough moisture from the mash since it's almost soupy sometimes and he'll occasionally drink from water that gathers in the edges of his bowl from his food. I've already shown him where his water dish is and carefully dipped his beak in the water a couple of times but he doesn't seem interested in fresh water at all, only the 'food water' in his other dish.
Should I be trying to slowly give him drier and drier food until he's eating the crumbles without water? Will that make him look for his water dish on his own? If giving him wet food would be sustainable and safe for him then I certainly don't mind only feeding him food that's been turned into mash since it's really not a bother to make (he will always have access to fresh, clean water regardless of whether or not his food is hydrating him). I'm just not sure whether or not it's something I should try to wean him off of so I wanted to ask for other people's opinions.
Also he has a name now! His name is Deinonychus (I'm a bit of a dinosaur nerd) but we're calling him Dino for short. Here's some updated photos too
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