Parking lot chick! Advice needed please!

[Lor]

Report!
Jewels is pretty alert, still not eating/drinking very much. A bite/sip once an hour, approximately. I've mixed the chick starter with some warm molasses water, I've also offered warm scrambled egg and whole milk Nancy's yogurt. Do babies just hatched need to eat the first couple days? I know the egg yolk sustains them during shipping, and I'm pretty sure this one just hatched yesterday...thoughts? She's really not eating much. I've seen one fairly watery poo.

Could be why she isn't hungry yet. I hope she does well.

 

[Henhouse Harlot]

Could be why she isn't hungry yet. I hope she does well.

Me too, the sweet little peep!

 

[Henhouse Harlot]

Thank you, so much, everyone! It's wonderful to know I'm not doing this alone!

 

[BaaKaaawk]

I mean, she sure has a good hen taking care of her right now... so she's got the best chance she can get!

 

[Henhouse Harlot]

I mixed a fat, golden egg yolk from my happiest hen* with some of the yogurt. She ate eagerly! Four, maybe five, beak-fulls! She also finally pooped again, so I photographed that as well. Unfortunately, I'm out of medicated chick food with no way to go get more. I'm hoping the yogurt and ACV in her water will help..

*It turns out the happiest chicken lays the best eggs

 

[Henhouse Harlot]

I mean, she sure has a good hen taking care of her right now... so she's got the best chance she can get!

You're just plain awesome

 

[Henhouse Harlot]

Jewels is sleeping soundly with a full tummy
I have a question though, a lot of the next-door parking-lot chickens have obvious deformities, from inbreeding/poor care. Weird shaped combs, 6-7 toes, weird toe-like nubs in strange places, stuff like that. Now they do have Silky chicken blood mixed in, and I had heard Silkies had extra toes..? Here's a picture of the foundling. It has 5 toes, so is it deformed? Or is it a Silky thing..?? Thank you all!

She seemed not to mind being upside

 

[BaaKaaawk]

Extra toes are found in many breeds actually, not just silkies. Dorkings, Favorelles, Hodens, Sultans... I think Silkies and Salmon Favorelles are probably the most common toe-adders in backyard chickens- so it likely has those breeds mixed in there.

If the chick is still eating and pooping and alert (when not sleeping in your palm) then you're probably in a pretty good place at this point. Most that die at this age do so relatively quickly. Their health declines fast and they get that lethargic/sleepy look and pass thereafter. So hopefully you are out of the scary part of the woods... but there are still trees around you for sure.

 

[Henhouse Harlot]

Extra toes are found in many breeds actually, not just silkies. Dorkings, Favorelles, Hodens, Sultans... I think Silkies and Salmon Favorelles are probably the most common toe-adders in backyard chickens- so it likely has those breeds mixed in there.

If the chick is still eating and pooping and alert (when not sleeping in your palm) then you're probably in a pretty good place at this point. Most that die at this age do so relatively quickly. Their health declines fast and they get that lethargic/sleepy look and pass thereafter. So hopefully you are out of the scary part of the woods... but there are still trees around you for sure.

Thank you so much for your support and advice! Do you think I should add another chick for company? Or can a single chick survive..? (Not that I really NEED another chicken....lol)


I wrote that last night!

Since then, the other two chicks were brought to me, lol. Apparently that hen wasn't a great Mama. @BaaKaaawk my Chicken Math has gone off into addition and subtraction. We had one EE escape, so 45 Babies, plus my laying flock of 7, and now add the 3 parking lot chicks... Since I didn't choose them, they were rescued from a mob of hungry chicken. So.... oh wait! Plus my laying flocks "pet rooster", does he still count? He flew over the fence from the neighbors as well. Yep. I need a chicken calculator!

 

[Lor]

They're adorable.