Need help with one day old baby chick

Georgetownchick

In the Brooder
7 Years
Oct 29, 2012
72
0
39
My hen had four eggs hatch yesterday. I found one of the babies soon after hatching laying down, breathing but not doing much else. I thought it would pass away but it didn't. Last night I put it in a box on some bedding to make it more comfortable and to keep the other chickens from bothering it. This morning it was still breathing and chirping every now and then. Still not doing much else. Keeps its eyes closed. It also has dried blood on its belly. This afternoon I fed it some water with electrolytes mixed in. It drank the water. Tonight I gave it more water with baby vitamins mixed in. Should I just keep doing this? The box I have it in is in my garage where it is warm. The high today was almost 100. Should I put a heater light on it though for the nighttime? Please do not suggest I kill it. I can not do that.
 
Generally chicks are kept at 95 in their first week of life, so it depends how cold it gets in there at night. As long as it's warm the whole time I wouldn't see the need to put in a heat lamp and risk over heating it.
I had a similar case with one of my chicks once when it came out the egg too early and so hadnt properly absorbed the yolk yet. It was bellding into the tissues I put it in and did actually survive though the other it happened to didn't.
Your chick is probably anemic so keep doing what you have so far and put a little dish of chick crumb next to it so it can peck at it if it wants. I had a case similar to this when I bought my phoenix hen who had lice so bad she couldn't even stand up. I gave her suppliments in the corn that she'd sit and peck at, treated her for the lice and she did eventually recover.
Good luck
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