new chicks

[jess19864]

i recently posted on here that my hen had babies. that was about 3 weeks ago now. I bought a few more babies and added them in with her and she accepted them like they were her own. She shows them where food is,keeps them warm. Ive been monitoring for any signs of rejection but shes doing everything right. Im concerned for one of her babies. it was smaller then the rest but supposedly the same age as the others i bought. From the getgo it really wasnt keeping up with the rest. I brought it inside and put it under a heat lamp and have been giving it sugar water to wet its beak. It makes a few chirping noises now and again but it went from just standing there and panting to this. Ive been doing what the farm i got her from suggested. A couple hours 85 degrees a couple hours 80 and occasionally dipping her beak.

 

[azygous]

The chick is dying and there's nothing to be done for it, I'm very sorry to say.

You may never know why the chick took this turn for the worse, but if you are real curious and have extra $$, you could have a lab do a necropsy.

Given that the chick was lagging behind the others in size and vigor, it might be a reasonable guess that it had genetic issues that prevented it from fully utilizing nutrients from food. But there is a chance it had a chicken disease from the flock where it originated.