Please Help Me With Tiny! (and brooder question)

[Laurajean]

Gritsar: That is encouraging, she is gorgeous!

I just tried the yogurt and made Tiny taste it but she is not interested (neither are the other chicks, go figure). Don't dare try egg until I have grit. I moved the light back a little so it isn't so hot, but still need to try and figure out a better setup. It's killing me seeing her just stand there, looking lost and left out.

A question: If they are pooping does that mean they are eating? She is still pooping, so could that mean she's eating when I don't see it?

Thanks for all the advice, more is always welcomed.

 

[Manda0227]

I had one a couple weeks ago. Wouldn't sit, wouldn't lay, nothing.. just stood- he looked possitively exhausted. He was eating, and drinking.. temps were fine.. (I always noticed that if the temp was over 95- for mine- it was too hot). Then he stopped eating/drinking as much- and the pasty butt started. I cleaned it up, and VERY carefully clipped the fuzz under the vent so the poop had nothing to get stuck on- or very little. I hand fed him some sugar water, and I added warm water to their chick feed. (I call it their "oatmeal" and they got NUTS for it- and its a treat, but nothing different that they need grit for). I did the sugar water for a few days.. I also tried to separate him from the others.. I kept him in a smaller box inside the brooder.. he was in really bad shape one day before I went to work, I was fully expecting to have a burial when I got home, but I still gave him the sugar water, and left a little bowl of wet food for him. I came home, and he wasn't there. I had to look twice for him- he was with the others taking a drink, and just being with them. In my experience (which isn't that much!) chicks don't like to be alone. Either way..... These runts/sickly chicks CAN turn around, and start growing. My lil guy (or girl, I;ve always called him a boy though! lol) is a week behind, but started developing, and is doing well! We have a TEENEY tiny tiny Serama chick, and I had him and 2 others that were hatched around the same time in a seperate brooder for a few days before I put them in with the ones that are a week older- since they were so small. I just MADE SURE they were all eating drinking, and knew what was what, and where to get it. Now the lil guy pushes everyone out of the way- or goes under their legs to get to the food! Good luck with Tiny! I'm a newbie to chickens too- and this place is a WONDERFUL source or ALL kinds of information, and help!!

Also, I wanted to add... I did find isolating the chick for a LITTLE while helpful so you can SEE if its pooping, and everything. Pooping is good. That means something is being processed, and nothings blocked up!

 

[tigerrrrrrrlilly]

My first thought when you were talking about him hanging around food was, since he is so tiny he might not be able to eat if the pieces are too big. I agree to grind the food, you can grind it up for everyone so he is encouraged to eat with the rest like he wants too.

 

[Backyard_Chicken_rancher]

Do what I did with my first runt who is now living the very good life with his family out in the coop I made him his own little area in a rubber made create but what I did is I took an old flower pot (Plastic throw away kind) and cut a door into the 2 sides of it and on the inside I took a sterafoam ball the kind you get at a craft store, Bought a bag of fake feathers from wal-mart and glued them to it and then glued the ball to the inside of the flower pot.
Then I took (peepers) him out of that brooder an dput him in the create with his own feeder and everything and I fed him his own treats and everything till he was strong enough to be in the big brooder which took about two weeks to do now he is out there in the big coop running around with the others but when I come out with treats I am Dad to him he comes and sits on my knee follows me around the yard /coop I can even pick him up without a hassle now.
So to whoever it was saying that all runts must die has never taken the time to raise one up to see what it may have become.

Good luck with your wee one

 

[Laurajean]

Well, I don't think the food could be any more ground. I would not even describe it as crumbles. It's more a a texture like Parmesan cheese from a shaker. And he was eating it fine, up until yesterday, also when he started pasting up. He isn't getting picked on either, which is surprising. Ignored, for sure, but not bullied. He seems much more content, or at least comforted when I hold him. Even now, as I am trying to type and my hands aren't free, I tucked him into the top of my bathrobe and he likes that. And yes, I am in my bathrobe at 4 in the afternoon, since I haven't slept since yesterday over this little bugger. lol. Seriously, I cannot imagine having HUMAN children if I am this sick and worried over a chick.

I have noticed in the last few hours that he falls asleep at the feeder. At first I thought he was trying to eat, but fell asleep, but after watching closely for a while, I think that the height of the chick feeder is actually supporting him so he can rest, since for some reason he won't sit or lie down. But I'm a little nervous that he'll smother in the food.

Manda0227's story is almost identical to mine. He was eating and drinking fine until the pasting up started, and now he isn't eating and just stands all the time. Manda, did you force the chick to drink the sugar water? (by force I of course mean to gently dip the beak) or was he drinking it on his own?

The best way to describe him is "drunk". He's compromised, stumbles backward, staggers, etc.

Maybe I will try moistening some crumbles as others have suggested and see what he thinks of that.

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
If the poop looks like normal chickie squirts (compare it to the other chicks) and its not just a pile of water, then he's eating.
Here's the chicken poo page (warning: poo pics):

http://www.chat.allotment.org.uk/index.php?topic=17568.0

Down the page a bit you can see a pic of watery poo, from a hen thats not getting enough to eat.
Also, check Tiny's crop. It's on the right side of her chest. It should feel full or nearly full at the end of the day, empty in the morning.

ETA: It's normal for chicks to be afraid or disinterested in treats when first offered. Just leave it in with them for awhile and/or sprinkle some of their crumbles on top. They'll soon get brave enough to try it.

 

[froggie71]

I haven't dealt with a runt, but I'm thinking it wouldn't hurt to give this little one some poly-vi-sol without iron. This 1 just may need a little extra vitamins. Good luck. I'll be looking for updates.

 

[jossanne]

I had 14 barred rock cockerels that came as packing peanuts with bantam cochins. One little BR just didn't grow, and the bantams quickly caught up to him. I moved him into the brooder with the cochins, so I could make sure he was getting plenty to eat. I worried and worried, but he did fine.

Here he is with two of the bantams at 3 weeks old.

By the time the chicks were 18 weeks old, I could no longer tell the runt apart from the rest of the BR's. He was the same size as everyone else.

 

[goldeneggtees]

hi there, my runt lived and is a year old now and is one of my best layers, good luck with your chick!

 

[Manda0227]

Yeah, I dipped the beak. Sometimes he fussed, but everytime I made sure he at LEAST took 3-4 sips. I read it was like I tablespoon to the quart. At least, thats what I used. I didn't leave it out for him to drink all the time. It was a little bit of a "perk" up, and most times after he would feel better enough to go and eat. If the poop starts getting runny stop it, the sugar can make runny poops- but I really think that helped. I also would make up that "treat" I mentioned and I would put a teeney bit on his beak- and he'd sometimes eat it off. Seriously try that. I tried to give him yogurt- but that didn't go over well.