I have three 5 week old chicks but one of them is a bit wierd.
It acts lethargic and sometimes, when the other two chicks are up and about, I see this one laying down instead.
It's wings aren't neatly folded on its back but hanging by its side. Not loosely though, and I know it can use its wings.
When it hatched it seemed slow and I thought it might die there and then.
One eye is "popped out". Not fully but it is quite a bulge and the chick relies on the other eye quite a lot to see.
But strangest of all when I perched it instead of its head sitting back on its body it hung forward! When it "perches" on a flat surface its head lays on the surface in front and it looks dead. It also looks like it has heavy breathing.
All this and it's still alive!
Two bits of info that might be useful...
- It shares its mother with its father (inbred), although recently, on another thread I was told this usually isn't much of a problem.
- The mother is getting old and egg quality might not have been so good, even though two healthy chicks were succeffully hatched earlier in the year from the same hen's eggs
Any idea what sort of problems this chick has?
p.s. I'll try to get some pictures of it.
It acts lethargic and sometimes, when the other two chicks are up and about, I see this one laying down instead.
It's wings aren't neatly folded on its back but hanging by its side. Not loosely though, and I know it can use its wings.
When it hatched it seemed slow and I thought it might die there and then.
One eye is "popped out". Not fully but it is quite a bulge and the chick relies on the other eye quite a lot to see.
But strangest of all when I perched it instead of its head sitting back on its body it hung forward! When it "perches" on a flat surface its head lays on the surface in front and it looks dead. It also looks like it has heavy breathing.
All this and it's still alive!
Two bits of info that might be useful...
- It shares its mother with its father (inbred), although recently, on another thread I was told this usually isn't much of a problem.
- The mother is getting old and egg quality might not have been so good, even though two healthy chicks were succeffully hatched earlier in the year from the same hen's eggs
Any idea what sort of problems this chick has?
p.s. I'll try to get some pictures of it.
