My chick is SQEAKING ALL THE TIME!

[we3chickens]

My chick is now 6 days old and has been constantly squeaking throughout the day and night. She is keeping us up and we are not getting sleep. She has like 5 to 10 min quiet times but its not very often. 2 days ago I had to clean her butt bc she had alot of poop on her. It was not completely clogging her vent and her vent was a little swollen. Everything looks good now though. I dont think she is eating or drinking good but I cant keep an eye on her 24/7. She is much smaller than the other ones. When I pick her up she gets quit and cuddles right up to me. She stands alot, squeaking or not and while she sleeps.

Now we hatched our chicks in a incubator. I had to actually help her out of the egg. She had to stay in the incubator longer than the rest bc she would not dry. Only one day longer I think. They are all in the brooder box now with a light, food and plenty of water. It seems to me that the other ones will be ready to go out to the coop( own their own side of course) before long.

I NEED SLEEP! Can someone help me. They are growing so fast and she is not(I call her Baby right now).

I seen somewhere to try to dip her beak in some water for 10 seconds and pull her up to swallow then repeat a few times. Then break for a little while and do it again. This helped for like all of 15 to 20 mins, if that. I really didnt time it.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!

 

[happyhens1972]

They will usually peep constantly if they are cold or hungry so first, address those....

Is she getting enough heat? Maybe you need to move the heatlamp down a bit. The others will move away if they are too warm but if it is too high, she will never be warm enough. Is she huddling with the others or is she always on her own? Could you put a small cuddly toy in for her to snuggle up to if she is not snuggling up to her siblings?

Food....is she eating at all? Have you showed her where to find her food and what to eat? Her mother would have done this by clucking at her and dropping food at her feet to show her what was suitable for eating. She may not have figured this out for herself yet.....try making a high pitched 'bok bok' noise and putting small pieces of food at her feet and tapping the feeder/drinker.

If she is being bullied off the food and water by bigger, more precocious chicks, she may very hungry and thirsty and is peeping to let you know. Can you seperate her off a few times a day for a few minutes and give her supplemental feeds and water.....maybe mealworms and/or scrambled eggs to boost her? You can also buy something called Poultry Nutridrench which is a liquid supplement that you can drip straight into her mouth to boost her energy as well as her hydration levels.

Lastly, you could seperate her for several days with just one companion chick, swapping the other chick out every few hours. This may force the other chicks to seek her out for company and warmth and thereby force a bond that otherwise may not exist. Then when they are more bonded and she has hopefully got bigger and stronger, return them to the batch. I have done this with great success when I had a 'runt' that no-one particularly wanted to bond with.

Sadly though, you may find that your little one is just inherently weak and will not thrive. Try your best for a few days but try to also be realistic and if you feel she is suffering or slowly fading, then culling may be your only kind option.

I wish you luck, let us know how it goes x

 

[we3chickens]

Thanks for the advise. Shes not being bullied. Shes not cold. Tried the snugly thing, she loved it but the others wouldnt leave it alone. Shes chirps very loud all the time. Last night every 20 mins I got up to cuddle her back up. It was awful. She has stopped eating all together and drinking. I am using a dropper now and have taken her out of the brooder away from the others. She stopped moving also but since I have been using the dropper, she is slowly moving. I dont know how much to give her or how often so I just let her decide when shes done. I figure she will probably die but I want to give her a fighting chance. She loves to be held and thats the only time she is not screaming bloody murder. I hate I cant do much more for her. I notice her legs quit working for a little bit but she is trying to stand on them now and gets up to move around a bit. Im going crazy bc I want her to be better and with the others. I hate I dont have more time but I am doing everything that I can. If anyone has dealt with this let me know. Like I said the others were not bothering her or running her away from the food or water. She was at least drinking water and eating at first, then slowed down on the eating and after last night stopped drinking and eating all together. Its so sad to see. Poor baby doesnt seem like she knows whats going on half the time.