Tiny Chick Needs a Boost!

[loralei]

I have a 6 day old chick that is much smaller than the others and they pick on her and bully her away from the food. I have separated her and am offering her scrambled egg, yogurt with honey and providing vitamines and electrolites in her water. She is eating but shows no interest in the egg or yogurt. What else can I offer her to help her catch up? Everything else seems normal; she's just small and not growing as fast as the others. She is active though and feathering out nicely.

Thanks ya'll!

 

[KMHunter]

Is she getting picked on all of the time? If not, I would pull her out a few times a day to feed her seperately, and put her back in with the others. They may not accept her at all if you keep her seperate full time. But if they are picking non stop, then for her safety, you have to keep her away from them. Anyway you can put a partition(sp?) up so she can be safe but they can still see each other? That would be best until she gets bigger. She may just be a runt. I wouldn't give her too many things other than good chick starter, and clean water. Maybe someone else will have some good ideas for you.

 

[gritsar]

I can't remember why, but I think you want to avoid honey in the very young ones.
I took my runt aside once, sometimes twice a day and offered her an extra feeding of the chick starter. She was being bullied away from the feeder. Adding a second feeder helped, but I still continued to offer a one-on-one feeding.
She's a fat butterball of a hen now. Still small in overall size, but weighs every bit as much as my bigger hens.

 

[loralei]

Thank you both! I truly appreciate your help! I have put her back in with the general population and will give her extra feedings away from the others. These chicks peck at one another constantly. She just gets more than her share since she is so tiny.

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
Do you have them under a white or clear brooder light? If so, you might try switching to a red bulb. It tends to decrease pecking. Good luck with her. I wouldn't trade my runt for anything.

 

[loralei]

I currently have them under a 125w white heat lamp. I tried a red heat lamp with my first batch of chicks. It was 250w and I nearly cooked the poor darlings! Do they make red in a lower wattage?

And seriously can someone please tell me how to get Blue-Kote off my hands?

 

[pixie74943]

can you put red cellophane over a white light?? Just wondered why no one has even mentioned this.

Or if you find an arts/lights shop you can buy red paint that is designed for staining lightbulbs.. could save you the trouble of buying another lamp

 

[kathyinmo]

Quote:
Oh no .... they would catch fire ... the cellopane that is. I wouldn't paint a bulb myself, as they are readily available in both clear and white, for the same price.

 

[Bedste]

I spray painted my 100 wt flood light with RED paint and it works great and they still sleep.....


Honey saved my Buff but she was 8 weeks old. I know that human babies cannot have honey for the first year of life, but I haven't heard anything about chicks...

I also gave my Buff canned salmon flavored catfood, calf manna and medicated chick start n grow soaked in warm HONEY water.... to moisten it.

 

[loralei]

Aggggh! I swear they are doing it on purpose! "Peck me! Peck me next! I want mom to paint my butt blue!" I've had 3 in the last hour!

I think for tonite it might be better to turn out the light until I can get a red bulb.

It was Wellies against Wellies; now it's Wellies against the BO's!

Thanks ya'll! I need a drink!