More Chicks with problems

[janjan1]

I'm very new to this mb, and have a 2-3 week old chick with a right broken leg joint. I've wrapped it with vet wrap to stabilize the break as it was a compound fracture. (horse stepped on it). The limb is not functional and just swings in the wind. However, She/he/it is eating, drinking and pooping without any problems. I've not counted it out of the fight since the will to live is very strong still. So I'd give yours some time to accept the broken limb and make adjustments in life. BTW mine is living in a box with all the necessaties of life, heat lamp, food & water and plenty of socialization I can offer. It gets taken outside to run, peck & generally act like a chicken. Don't know in the upcoming weeks what I can do about offering more, but I'll see when that time comes. It's better the alternative

Jan

 

[ruth]

Hi Hooligan - glad to hear they are all surviving. Sounds like they had just about starved to death. When they get so weak that you have to force feed them egg yolk/water by dropful - you have to keep it up every hour or so till they get strong enough to eat on their own. You've probably found that once they do, they love cooked eggs and will run around like crazy grabbing up the pieces - at that point you know they're going to make it.

Ruth too would only eat on her own if I held her so hold her I did. If I held her she would grab at and gobble down her mixture of eggs, veggies, fruit, crumbles that I held up to her but it was a couple of weeks before she would eat on her own. But again, she had a twisted neck and paralyzed legs so I think it was just easier for her to eat when I held her in position with her head held straight and the food right up to her face. So by all means hold your little special needs chick - it will soon become your favorite pet. Ruth used to love to sit on my lap and have me preen her feathers. Today it warms my heart when I see her running around the farm with the rest of them - you would never know there was anything ever wrong with her.

If you can get some PolyViSol (liquid baby vitamins) it will help to put it in their water or give directly in beak of ones you are having to feed.

 

[hooligan]

Ruth, the little red chick passed away yesterday but all the others are doing well and eating by themselves and running amuck! And yes, they do love thier cooked eggs!

 

[ruth]

Sorry to hear about the little guy. It might be a blessing that he passed on his own since he had a broken leg. I have a little one with a deformed leg too and I don't know which way to pray. Hatched Valentines Day and the others are already 3 times his size. He eats and drinks on his own and hobbles around but I just don't know what's in store for him if he can't learn to use his bad leg at all. Many times as he's trying to stand and eat/drink the good leg keeps giving out from under him and/or wobbling back and forth. I can't imagine how he will survive when/if he puts some weight on. Right now he's not much bigger than the day he hatched but I keep reminding myself that Ruth made it despite all odds against it. Sometimes we just have to do the best we can and then let go and let God.

Thank you for taking on those poor sick/neglected chicks. Looks like you've saved a few that otherwise would not still be here.

p.s. they also love finely shredded cheese (once they learn what it tastes like). Also high in calcium and protein. I've been feeding all my birds shredded cheese daily since hatching and you should see the way the older birds go crazy for the cheese - it's like chicken crack.

 

[mhoward92]

yup, its sad especially when they are your favorite little one. I had 2 little ones of the batch (one passed away after the first day) but there other is doing great and very alert. she is always the first one to wake up and poke her head up to see that im there. she then starts running around waking all the others up lol. she's the funny one of the bunch. but she eats drinks and poops just as much as the rest

 

[ruth]

Hooligan - how are the rescued chick survivors doing?