My chick can't stand yet. He only lays on his side. PLEASE HELP!!

[maddybuddy9932]

Starting off, this chick did struggle. He had a hole in his egg for a long time, and couldn't get out. It was like that for a LONG TIME, so I removed small pieces of the shell, and saw a tiny spec of blood. I quickly covered it with a warm cloth and placed him in the incubator.

In the night at some time, he did actually hatch with only a tiny piece of shell removal, but there is a new arising issue. I had another chick in the incubator who grasped walking fairly easy and dried. The one that struggled in the beginning, has not. He has been hatched for some time (I'm estimating around nine - twelve hours cause it happened when I was asleep) and still can't walk. He lays on his side in the bator. I'm not saying he doesn't try to get up. As he is laying on his side, he kicks his legs frantically and attempts to get up. While he is kicking his legs it is followed with frantic peeping. What can I do to help him?!

I try flipping him around to see if it'll help, but he tried to stand up, and falls onto his side.

 

[GitaBooks]

I'm sorry to hear that.

Yes, the inability to stand is fairly common in hatched chicks. However, it sometimes can be fixed by creating a "play stand" type set-up where the chick is held upright with its legs braced. The legs strengthen in the proper position and the chicks sometimes learn how to walk.

Hopefully this helps. Best of luck!