My lone 3 day chick is weak and cant feed itself although it seems healthy and alert

[casey6782]

I brought in one of the chicks that had recently hatched as it was left by its mum and was cold and almost dead. It was weak from the get go and can't walk let alone stand by itself, it also cant feed its self. Although it does seem healthy as it peeps a lot and responds to when I call or go near it. Since it can't feed itself, I've been hand feeding it rice, tuna and water - i know its not the proper chick feed but I am trying to make do at the moment. At the moment its eyes are always closed and it's always wanting to sleep, also it cant hold its head up but it is responding well and is somewhat alert which confuses me. it's fed and has had enough water but it isn't capable of standing up and
opening its eyes. Please help as I am trying to get this chick back into full health asap so I can let it go back to its proper mother. thanks

 

[tmf321]

I’ve heard a little sugar water can help perk a chick up if you don’t have electrolytes or nutridrench on hand but I’ve never tried it myself. Do you have a heat source for it? Poor thing, sorry I don’t have much to suggest

 

[casey6782]

I’ve heard a little sugar water can help perk a chick up if you don’t have electrolytes or nutridrench on hand but I’ve never tried it myself. Do you have a heat source for it? Poor thing, sorry I don’t have much to suggest ☹

thanks for the suggestion, im trying that now. And sadly we sold our heat lamp since we didn't need it anymore so ive been keeping it close to me all the time, or during the day we let it lay in the sun since its still quite warm for us and supervise it so it doesnt over heat. At night i snugly wrap it some fleece and put it near the hot water tank which is always a warm temperature for us.

 

[moxie20]

I brought in one of the chicks that had recently hatched as it was left by its mum and was cold and almost dead. It was weak from the get go and can't walk let alone stand by itself, it also cant feed its self. Although it does seem healthy as it peeps a lot and responds to when I call or go near it. Since it can't feed itself, I've been hand feeding it rice, tuna and water - i know its not the proper chick feed but I am trying to make do at the moment. At the moment its eyes are always closed and it's always wanting to sleep, also it cant hold its head up but it is responding well and is somewhat alert which confuses me. it's fed and has had enough water but it isn't capable of standing up and
opening its eyes. Please help as I am trying to get this chick back into full health asap so I can let it go back to its proper mother. thanks
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I recently got some silkies shipped to me, but they arrived a day late. They were all very weak and a few looked like they were not going to make it. One was actually unable to stand. Anyways, I found a few helpful posts on this forum and all of my chicks made it and are doing great now!

1. Sugar water - when they first arrived, I dissolved some sugar in to WARM water ( was told that the cold water can bring their body temp down too much). I dipped their beaks in every few minutes for a bit to make sure they were drinking it. This helped quite a bit, but they were still weak.

2. I hard boiled some eggs and then took only the egg yolks and mixed them with (warm) water with electrolytes. If you don't have electrolytes, I would try with plain warm water. I made sure to make the consistancy a bit watery so it was easy for the weak chicks to swallow. I had to manually feed a few of them with a small syringe. I did this once every few hours three times. On the third try, they were able to eat it without me having to use the syringe.

I would also suggest getting another heat lamp if you no longer have one.

 

[casey6782]

I recently got some silkies shipped to me, but they arrived a day late. They were all very weak and a few looked like they were not going to make it. One was actually unable to stand. Anyways, I found a few helpful posts on this forum and all of my chicks made it and are doing great now!

1. Sugar water - when they first arrived, I dissolved some sugar in to WARM water ( was told that the cold water can bring their body temp down too much). I dipped their beaks in every few minutes for a bit to make sure they were drinking it. This helped quite a bit, but they were still weak.

2. I hard boiled some eggs and then took only the egg yolks and mixed them with (warm) water with electrolytes. If you don't have electrolytes, I would try with plain warm water. I made sure to make the consistancy a bit watery so it was easy for the weak chicks to swallow. I had to manually feed a few of them with a small syringe. I did this once every few hours three times. On the third try, they were able to eat it without me having to use the syringe.

I would also suggest getting another heat lamp if you no longer have one.

Super glad to hear your silkies are doing great!! I will definitely try the boiled egg yolk one. Also I probably wont be able to purchase another heat lamp as where I live at the moment we are in level 3 lockdown due to the current situation so that means travelling is restricted and also the hardware stores are closed. And can't purchase online too since we only just came out of level 4, it would probably take 1 month for the lamp to come to me as the post has only just started to send out the rest of the non-essential parcels that've been piling up over the level 4 lockdown period so buying a lamp at the moment is quite difficult as you could imagine. but thanks so much for the advice hopefully is works, the chick is still quite weak despite my care towards it. )

 

[tmf321]

Super glad to hear your silkies are doing great!! I will definitely try the boiled egg yolk one. Also I probably wont be able to purchase another heat lamp as where I live at the moment we are in level 3 lockdown due to the current situation so that means travelling is restricted and also the hardware stores are closed. And can't purchase online too since we only just came out of level 4, it would probably take 1 month for the lamp to come to me as the post has only just started to send out the rest of the non-essential parcels that've been piling up over the level 4 lockdown period so buying a lamp at the moment is quite difficult as you could imagine. but thanks so much for the advice hopefully is works, the chick is still quite weak despite my care towards it. )

Yes that does make things very difficult. Do you have a heating pad? I’ve seen people create the same effect as brooder plates with them if so. Here’s some pics I found with a quick google search

 

[Cazook]

tuna and rice lacks nutrients for baby chicks, specifically fats and fat-derived nutrients (very important). i really second giving hardboiled egg yolk and a few pieces of dry soaked cat food. also if you are feeding these foods you need to give the chick a little bit of sand or very very small stones so it can digest the food - only food chicks can digest without grit is chick crumb (grain) or soft foods (yolk probably ok, but the sooner a chick gets grit the better its digestive system fares).

if it wont drink by itself you can get a little syringe and drop water on its beak to continue to drink. it should get the hang of it. you can also tap the ground where the food is to encourage it to peck at the food (this is how hens show their chicks what to eat)

you could maybe make a small brooder with a cardboard box and incandescent lamp, though not sure if it would be warm enough. add a thermometre to make sure. if it peeps loudly, it is too cold. if you can't do this, filling plastic bottles with hot water and covering them with towel could serve as diy 'heat nest'. and put carboard walls around it to keep the drafts out.