Sick Chick?

[KatieBug2k6]

I have 20 chicks, only one has issues. This chick is as small as the ameraucana bantam chick who hatched a whole day prior. My family and I incubated and hatched 20 chicks out of 41 eggs. This little chick is tiny, didn't move very much after hatching, while the rest of the chicks would stumble about, or make a dash for the other end of the incubator. The chick (Lace) is a very mixed breed, with for sure standard sized parents, and is two days (hatching on Saturday). She (or he, I will be referring to as she), only seemed to move around from one side of the brooder to the other every few hours. She was somewhat alert and when not sleeping, would keep her eyes open. We never saw her drink or eat, just sleep in the warmest place possible. On Sunday, she was getting too cold, since the other chicks would get up to eat or drink, instead of snuggle with her, she wouldn't follow, just go back to sleep. I ended up babysitting her, giving her warm honey water which she drank eagerly on her own, when she could feel the water. The thing is, she had closed her eyes, and won't open them very often. If she gets startled or a little scared, she opens them a bit, but usually she's blind as a bat, like it takes to much effort for her to open them, and she has to use her energy for drinking. She can move around okay, I made a smaller brooder for her, putting water and food in small trays (peanut butter lids), and giving her two companions to snuggle with (Eggbert and Bean). After repeatedly giving Lace water throughout yesterday and today, she has grown strong enough to stand. She usually scuttles around or sits back on her haunches, as if top heavy. I've mixed her water with the chick food the others are eating, and she slurps it up, even though she does trickle water down her front. Before writing this I feeding her, about to take pictures of her to attach here, and she had her eyes open, was standing somewhat properly and was struggling against me when I tried to guide her to the water food.
I'm not sure what could have caused Lace to be so stunted and weak, and I'm wondering what more I can do for her. She has food, water, warm dry bedding, and friends. Any ideas?

 

[Mellowmalt]

whatever the reason, could have been a very young hen that laid a small egg, it doesn't look too bad and should do ok even if just growing a bit slower than the rest. I like to feed weak chicks egg yolk which will give it an energy boost to get it on its feet but don't expect instant results. Give it time to digest and sleep and every time it manages to eat it will grow stronger but eating is crucial for it. Warmth is very important too, weak chicks tend to need a degree warmer than healthy chicks. If it can eat it will catch up but if it fails to eat then it won't make it.

 

[janiedoe]

I want to wish you luck. Do you have any Save A Chick or other electrolytes in the water? You might try giving her a little NutraDrench.
Again, good luck and please keep updated your thread. Just adding a picture or an update during peak hours will draw more attention to it.

 

[KatieBug2k6]

This morning Lace was standing on her own when I roused her, and my mom said she was eating the normal food by herself. She keeps her eyes open longer to stare at me and now struggles a bit more when touched, like the other chicks!

 

[KatieBug2k6]

Lace is doing so much better! Not 100% but close, still sleepy. I gave her some egg yolk not too long ago, and she drank about half of what I gave her (see pictures attached). She's standing almost perfectly and keeping her eyes open. I was bothering her to see what she would do and she ran away, into the food dish where she stopped to scratch her chin, then fell over. The 17 chicks not in her gang are moving to a new place with lot's of other chickens and chicks. So, in a few days, once Lace is up to par, she, Eggbert, and Bean are going to follow.