Silkie Chick 345
In the Brooder
- Sep 28, 2022
- 7
- 3
- 11
Thank you to everyone who has helped out with great advice these last few days. I had 10 mini Silkie eggs and only one hatched, 48 hours later than expected (eight eggs did not develop and one stopped at about a week) and was extremely weak. This was obviously a bad start, but the chick survived the first night and we wanted to get it company to give it more of a chance. We bought two chicks locally, from someone who had only had a relative who only had the two hatch (panic buy, we are usually much more careful or for some animals take in rescues). These are also weak and one has a very wide-legged stance, so struggles to stand. We had conflicting information on the age, so are not sure if they are two or four days old. We are trying to help the chicks and will keep - they are under a warming plate, in a warm room in the house and I am feeding them sugar water from a pipette (placing a drop on the outside of their beaks to avoid drowning them). Please let me know if there is anything else I can do to try and help them?
I wonder whether to discard the egg brooder, rather than keep it to try again. We followed the instructions and the alarms for bad conditions did not go off. I read that problems with temperature can cause problems for the chicks and it is possible that the chicks we bought also had this issue, as only two hatched. I don't want anymore chicks to suffer if there is a mechanical issue with the brooder (on some of the reviews inconsistencies were found in the temperature inside, with mixed results for hatching).
I wonder whether to discard the egg brooder, rather than keep it to try again. We followed the instructions and the alarms for bad conditions did not go off. I read that problems with temperature can cause problems for the chicks and it is possible that the chicks we bought also had this issue, as only two hatched. I don't want anymore chicks to suffer if there is a mechanical issue with the brooder (on some of the reviews inconsistencies were found in the temperature inside, with mixed results for hatching).