I’m pretty sure she is near the end….
She seemed to be doing better but still not good.
Someone else told me in another forum that I should not have been trying to offer water/sugar water with a syringe and that she probably aspirated from it. I think they are right. I think from one of the initial times I put a little sugar water to her beak, that she aspirated.
They also said she was fine in the incubator for 48-72 hours.
All a learning experience, unfortunately. But this chick is not long for this world. So I’m just holding her for a bit.
Sorry to hear she's not doing well. It stinks.
Technically, yes, you can leave a chick in the incubator that long, they have egg yolk that they can live on.
But if they hatch already lethargic and with splay legs, can't get up and start moving around, then you either leave them there to hopefully pass on in a few days or you try to see if you can get them to come around. If not, then culling then putting the chick down would be necessary.
Splay legs will not correct on their own, so you would need to take the chick out, try hobbling/splinting and see if you can get the chick mobile.
If lethargic, same thing, this usually will not correct itself without some type of intervention.
While yes, chicks have a reserve of yolk to last on, moving and healing takes energy - food/water. The quicker you can get a chick eating/drinking (and moving) the better.
I'm not sure how else you would give a chick drops of fluid except by syringe or you can use a qtip. The concept is the same, apply a drop of fluid/liquid to the side of the beak and it will roll toward the front, the chick will usually take the drop in. It's tedious to do this, you can usually get them to take just a few drops in one session. But then they refuse more, so you wait a while and go again.
If the chick aspirated, she would have coughed or snicked quite a bit you would have noticed.
So sorry you're dealing with this and yes, it is a learning experience and yes, there will be more challenges that arise as time goes by.
It's worth it though.
One of my silkies hatched but it has splay leg and seems lethargic. It has been in the incubator for 24 hrs now.
I tried sugar water and it seems to perk up for a second then lays back down