Sick chick?

[bootherooster]

Hello everyone, I have a 1 yrd bantam hen who recently went broody and hatched a chick. Out of the 6 eggs only 1 hatched. However, I noticed the chick seems to be off. Whenever Mom tries to encourage it to eat, it just stands there like zoning out and begins to cry. Then the mom begins following the chick around to make sure it gets under her but it just stands there crying. I haven't seen it eat but I saw small chick poop yesterday, so maybe it did? (The chick is 3 days old).

 

[coach723]

It sounds like the chick is in distress, that's what a lot of loud peeping usually means. It sounds like mom is trying, but there may be something wrong that isn't fixable. You can try giving it fluids, some warm sugar water, some raw egg yolk mixed in a little water. If it's dehydrated, that may help. It's very hard to know when they are so small. There may have been incubation issues, it's often hard to know. Sadly, they do not all make it.

 

[bootherooster]

Thank you! I have save-a-chick electrolytes so I'll try that. Poor mom is in distress because the chick isn't listening to her