Special Needs Chick Need Help ASAP

[Mary Galbraith]

I had a chick hatch last night, he is completely blind. I can not bring myself to cull just because he's blind. How do I help this chick? Do I keep him with all the other chicks or separate? How do I get him to eat and drink? Syringe? Any other tips for caring for a bird with this disability would be great.

 

[Gray Farms]

It really should be culled. Its never going to thrive and have a healthy life.

 

[PollyGirl21]

I suggest mashing its chick feed and mixing it with water. My chickens are crazy about that stuff, and I hope it will convince yours to eat, too. The feed mixed with water will also get water in your chick's system.

 

[PollyGirl21]

If you do the thing I posted up there, you might want to feed the blind chick separately, so the other chicks wont hog the special food.

 

[fairie]

Honestly after many experiences similar with ill chicks it is best to stop now. Left alone it will not survive. You have a great heart but this will do neither of you any good. It will most likely pass on its own. Sorry

 

[Fishkeeper]

It's going to be constantly picked on by the others, and will never have a normal social life. It'll probably have to be isolated, which means it'll suffer, since chickens are social animals. You'll probably have to guide it to food and water a few times a day for the rest of its life. It won't be able to peck and scratch for bugs, play, or properly preen itself. Chickens, like the vast majority of birds, are extremely visually oriented. They don't function well when blind. If you're sure it's totally blind, the best thing you can do is humanely cull it, save it a lot of suffering and save you a lot of effort that's better spent on healthy birds.

 

[FullHouseMama]

I am really sorry you have to go through possibly making a hard decision. I did see a YouTube video about humanely culling a new chick with baking soda and vinegar in a sealed container so it would lose oxygen and fall asleep. That might be the easiest option for both of you.

 

[Fishkeeper]

You don't want to use baking soda and vinegar, that suffocates the chick with carbon dioxide.
Read below to learn how to use carbon monoxide (car exhaust) to kill a chick.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/non-violent-way-to-kill-a-chicken.259799/
The difference is, the "can't breathe" distress response comes from too much carbon dioxide in the body. Burning lungs, attempts to escape, all that nastiness. It's what you feel when you hold your breath- you don't feel the lack of oxygen, you feel the increase in carbon dioxide. The body can't actually track oxygen levels.
With carbon monoxide, the monoxide replaces the oxygen, but dioxide levels don't build enough to cause distress. That's why carbon monoxide is used for suicide attempts, and why leaks of it can be so dangerous. People exposed to it get sleepy, maybe get a headache, and pass out, and unless removed to clean air they suffocate without realizing it.
Basically, you shut the chick in a near-airtight box, preferably lined with a nest, and hook it to a car exhaust pipe with a hose long enough to let the exhaust cool before it gets to the chick. Chick falls asleep and never wakes up.

 

[llombardo]

There is a thread on here about someone raising 2 blind chicks, both are doing very well. Maybe do a search for the thread, I'm sure they will answer any questions you have. Nothing should have to die because it's blind. Chickens are not stupid, they can adapt with some help.

 

[llombardo]

Search raising blind chicks. The chicks name is mowgli or something. It came up but won't let me copy and paste