Just yesterday the first egg hatched and out of it came a chick as strong as it can be. The next one, however, when I saw it, I got scared. He just stayed on his side breathing.
We got it out scared that a chicken might have stepped on him or will be stepped on and put it in a nice warm box with a hot bottle of water. Throughout the day, he showed promising improvements: started chirping, tried moving around (although kept falling over). He couldn't open his eyes and we thought they were glued together, so using a QTIP with warm water we slowly cleaned his head (this was after 15 hours finding him). At night, seeing his state, we thought that it would be best to give it back to its mother, who is already taking care of his/her brother/sister because we weren't sure if it's going to survive the night, and it would be in his best interest to spend the time with its mother. Today when we looked we saw that he started staying on his own and even making a few steps.
Concerns:
1. We say multiple time that the chicken steppes on them and we are worried that she might hurt the weaker one unintentionally. Will it be a problem for him?
2. His sibling is already eating as his mother taught him and drinking water, this one doesn't seem to want to eat or drink. We gave it water with a little bit of sugar and even put some of its food in it to provide him with some vitamins. He drinks it if we hold him and slowly dip his head in the water, but it doesn't eat on his own... Is this a problem for a two-day-old chick? Also, how often are we supposed to feed him to make sure he has the best chance? (we saw it poop)
3. He didn't open his eyes but now after we used the Qtip does... but we are unsure if he can see? How can we be sure?
4. The behaviour that we are most concerned about: He moves around for some seconds/minutes and then seems to fall asleep?? Like he just walks/stays for a few seconds/minutes and then he just put its head on the ground. While the day before he wasn't even able to keep his head up (and also showed this behaviour) now he can but always seem to fall asleep while doing something. Now he can stay on his legs and slowly lets his head on the ground, then after some seconds wakes up and after other seconds it happens again. Is this because he is tired or isn't getting enough energy or is it something more worrisome(neurological maybe)??
5. The umbilical cord (i don't know if this is what its called in chicks) is still attached. Should we just leave it until it falls or cut it off?
Any answer to any of the questions would be very helpful!!! Thanks!!
*this is the first time we have baby chicks. We got the eggs when we saw that one chicken started fancying staying on her eggs (we don't have a rooster) and taught that maybe she wanted to be a mother and we were right!
We got it out scared that a chicken might have stepped on him or will be stepped on and put it in a nice warm box with a hot bottle of water. Throughout the day, he showed promising improvements: started chirping, tried moving around (although kept falling over). He couldn't open his eyes and we thought they were glued together, so using a QTIP with warm water we slowly cleaned his head (this was after 15 hours finding him). At night, seeing his state, we thought that it would be best to give it back to its mother, who is already taking care of his/her brother/sister because we weren't sure if it's going to survive the night, and it would be in his best interest to spend the time with its mother. Today when we looked we saw that he started staying on his own and even making a few steps.
Concerns:
1. We say multiple time that the chicken steppes on them and we are worried that she might hurt the weaker one unintentionally. Will it be a problem for him?
2. His sibling is already eating as his mother taught him and drinking water, this one doesn't seem to want to eat or drink. We gave it water with a little bit of sugar and even put some of its food in it to provide him with some vitamins. He drinks it if we hold him and slowly dip his head in the water, but it doesn't eat on his own... Is this a problem for a two-day-old chick? Also, how often are we supposed to feed him to make sure he has the best chance? (we saw it poop)
3. He didn't open his eyes but now after we used the Qtip does... but we are unsure if he can see? How can we be sure?
4. The behaviour that we are most concerned about: He moves around for some seconds/minutes and then seems to fall asleep?? Like he just walks/stays for a few seconds/minutes and then he just put its head on the ground. While the day before he wasn't even able to keep his head up (and also showed this behaviour) now he can but always seem to fall asleep while doing something. Now he can stay on his legs and slowly lets his head on the ground, then after some seconds wakes up and after other seconds it happens again. Is this because he is tired or isn't getting enough energy or is it something more worrisome(neurological maybe)??
5. The umbilical cord (i don't know if this is what its called in chicks) is still attached. Should we just leave it until it falls or cut it off?
Any answer to any of the questions would be very helpful!!! Thanks!!
*this is the first time we have baby chicks. We got the eggs when we saw that one chicken started fancying staying on her eggs (we don't have a rooster) and taught that maybe she wanted to be a mother and we were right!
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