Small chick

[MaggieRae]

I recently ordered 8 chicks from mypetchicken. All 8 arrived happy and healthy, if a bit stressed from the trip.
They arrived early, and my brooder had run into some troubles the night before. Basically, when they got here, my heat lamp was too hot, my rocks for the waterer weren't washed and the food dish wasn't full. I bought a lower wattage lamp, but that was broken, so I figured out a way to use the hotter one. It's not giving me any trouble.

Well, I dipped the beaks in water *a couple even figured it out themselves!* and scattered some feed on the ground. They all pecked at it and started drinking. I let them rest and they seemed to be doing okay.
There was one extra small silver laced wyandotte I'm a little worried about. I've never seen her drink, although I did dip her beak in the water. She's eating well, and she has a couple of friends that follow her around. She doesn't stand very tall or run as fast as the other chicks. I'm a little worried. Is there anything I can give her, or do for her that will let her get a little mass??? Thanks.

 

[noitulover]

you can try wetting the mash with water and a tiny bit of milk... might make it easier for her to eat and will get her hydrated...

also, you can try some polyvisol without iron... or chick electrolytes if you have some on hand... not too much though...

you could also try hardboiling an egg and crushing it up and see if she'll eat that (extra protein!)

keep dipping her beak!

let us know how she reacts!

 

[MaggieRae]

I'll go try hard boiling an egg...
And by wetting the mash, you mean just wetting the chick starter???

 

[noitulover]

yep! what i do is take about a tablespoon of chick starter and put it on a very small paper plate or a tupperware container lid, and turn the faucet on so that it drips every few seconds... then i hold the chick starter underneath the drip until the whole thing is saturated. then i add maybe 1/2 teaspoon or less of 2% milk to it and mix it in....

that is sort of my "recipe" haha

i just take the weaker chick aside and put it in a small box or hold it in my hand if it will let me and try to get it to eat the mixture.

 

[MaggieRae]

Thanks so much, I'll go try that! I've got some eggs boiling right now.

 

[MaggieRae]

Quote:
My whole house is lactose intolerant. Will lactaid milk be okay? Or should I just leave it out?

 

[elmo]

Quote:
My whole house is lactose intolerant. Will lactaid milk be okay? Or should I just leave it out?

Chickens, like all birds, probably can't digest lactose, either:

http://74.125.155.132/search?q=cach...birds+digest+lactose&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

Yogurt and cheese don't have lactose, so are fine.

 

[MaggieRae]

Well, I just gave her some crushed hard boiled eggs.
She loved it! She took a few minutes before she decided to try it, then she just gobbled it on up. This certainly woke her from her previous more lethargic state.
After I did that, I put her back in the brooder with her friends and gave them all some eggs on one side of their food dish. All of them were just so excited, so I gave them a bit more. The runt, whose unconfirmed name is Lily at the moment, ran around eating and acting as playful as any of the other chicks.

Another one, a australorp also seemed to 'wake up'. She kept biting other chick's beaks... This normal?

 

[Akane]

Lactose free milk is better for all animals. Personally I prefer to use sugar free plain fruit juice when moistening things with anything but water. While milk may have more of certain nutrients nearly all animals have trouble with digesting lactose and many have trouble with other fats or protiens found in the milk.

 

[City Gardener]

That's great that she's doing better!