there is something wrong with one of my chicks (newbie)

[AndreaS]

It's very frustrating, I know. It sounds like you are doing everything you can for this little one.
Do the other chicks trample it or Peck it at all?

When I had a weak chick, I had to separate her from the others, with her own heat lamp stuffed animal and food and water before she would eat or drink on her own. Keep up with the vitamins and hand feeding. She might just be a little slow starting out. My weak chick (Bernice) stayed about 1/2 the size of the others until she was 3 months old. Then she caught up with a growth spurt in about a week after moving outside.

I will admit, I carried her around stuffed in my shirt for security while doing stuff around the house!

Wishing you luck-

 

[my4ladies]

Oh Andrea...don't think I didn't think of doing that too!! The motherly instinct in me wanted to bring it in bed with me to snuggle too, lol. Poor baby.

Henney Penny~ my mom had a hen named Henney Penny, Rhode Island Red I do believe. One of her faves. Thank you for sharing your pics. How old is your chick?

I think I will bring it in today. We only have one heat lamp, but these last few days have been SO hot here that I've been turning it off on the chicks for the day. So I'll do that. Yes, it gets trampled by the others, but not pecked. I do think it's gotta drive the other ones crazy though with all that chirping. I think b/c it's so small it needs more warmth than the others. I've noticed that it stops chirping when it's super hot in there and the others are trying to escape the heat....the silkie baby is then comfortable. Another reason to bring it inside. I've tried to set it up so that the lamp is only in one area, but it still heats the entire box, even leaving one side open.

One thing I did this morning was set the little cup I've been using for the silkie in the box and it did actually drink from it...like it was familiar with it, so it knew what to do. So that was very promising!!! I finally have hope for this little bugger. Now I pray it's a girl b/c we're not keeping any boys : (

Thanks for the support. I'll update with a pic or two soon.

 

[oesdog]

Good to hear wee chick is getting abit stronger. I can understand the mother instinct completely. Yeah I would have brought mine to bed too. Only my head Roo would go mad!!- And kill himself laughing! I really hope that your little chickie is a hen. We have 6 chicks and I am soooooo hoping they are girls. But one we call Duck is getting sooo much bigger than the others and I am worried its a Roo. We also have Nugget who was quite big but the others seem to have cought up to it now. So we have three smaller ones out of the group outside with the Hen. Two of the Chicks don;t have names yet and I have a horrible feeling those two that we haven;t really 'bonded with' will be the girls and Nugget and Duck with be the boys! Ahhhhhh sooo worried about that. Then we have two indoors in the brood box we have done everything to keep alive Blue the yellow one looks very girly but has massive long legs so I am not entrely convinced. Omlet is smaller but I am not sure if that one is a boy too. We are not keeping any Roos. The Neighbors wont let us as they complain even though we back onto a very noisy farm! So any we can;t find homes for will be fattened up and we will have to eat them! Can't imagine that with Ducky and Nugget, Omlet and Blue but I guess that is what its about in the end. Were bound to have Roos and we just have to take the responsibility for them I guess. In the end I confort myself thinking they have had a longer better life than the poor critters in the suppermarket!

Oesdog - keeping thinking of you and you wee chickie!

 

[henney penny]

My chick was born last friday morning.It took a good 3 or 4 days for it to really start eating and drinking.I gave it water with a eye dropper the third day with some vit. in it.Now it can`t stay out of the food dish.I think it takes a while longer with the silkies to get there strength.She He likes its teddy bear.

 

[henney penny]

 

[AndreaS]

Henny Penny, what an adorable chick! LOVE the pictures! I sooo miss my girls being that small, although I must admit that I worried over them so much that I didn't enjoy them as much as I could have!

Mariah, glad to hear the little one is still hanging in there. If you do have to separate it, you could consider putting another small/docile chick in to keep it company. They don't like being alone.
Keep us posted!

 

[my4ladies]

I brought it in last night, ground up some egg yolk, bought it a feather duster (which it did like!), and woke up with it on my mind first thing this morning. I went to go check on it, and while still alive & chirping a bit, was kinda limp. Yesterday we saw it standing in the water dish drinking on it's own...so we really had hope! But this morning when I picked it up to offer some water, it's head just kept dropping down ; ( It chirped a little bit, cranked it's neck around, opened it's eyes real wide, and passed away in my hands. So sad.

Like my mom & husband said though...it wasn't right from the start, so I'm reminding myself that. I was hoping that it was just having a slow start and it would make it!

So...off to find a replacement "Foofy", per request by my kids.

 

[oesdog]

So sad for you, deeply sorry for your loss.

Some of the wee ones are just not meant to be no matter how hard you try. This little Foofy could have had some develpmental issue inside you never would have known about. So don;t feel to bad it is sadly part of rearing chickens.

Best of luck finding a new and hopefully strong and healthy Foofy the second

Oesdog

- your in my thoughts

 

[AndreaS]

I'm so sorry!

Like oesdog said, there was probably an internal/developmental issue. You did everything you could have. At least the little one was loved. I think That counts for a lot.

 

[henney penny]

It happened to me a few weeks ago to,it is sad but some are born weak.