Tough Chick Survival Story

[Project Blue]

I'm currently hatching a bunch of Ameraucana eggs and Saxony ducks. One Ameraucana chick opened a small hole the same time as everybody else but didn't emerge. The next day I could see the membrane was papery but a foot was twisted over his bill and decided to help him out. Well, here is where human error occurred, and hopefully no one will make this mistake. As I was carefully opening the egg making sure the egg sack was absorbed and all good to come out, and it was, there was a piece of umbilical membrane attached to a piece of shell. Worried his kicking feet would tear it up, I asked my husband to cut it. Not terribly intuitive about such things he cut it right against the body and blood started gushing out. An impossible amount of blood came out. I'm yelling get cornstarch, blood stop, but of course we had neither and I didn't have the guts to sear it. All I could do was hold him belly up with light compression with a paper towel. The chicks mouth opened up and he started going limp with ragged breathing but the bleeding thankfully stopped. I put him back in the incubator as near death as a chick can be. An hour later he was still alive. Figuring he'd need liquids I started dipping his bill in sugar water every 15 minutes and miraculously he got noticeably stronger. Many hours later I shifted to a cooked egg yolk slurry and started spacing feedings by the hours. At this point he is still twisted in a curved egg shape flat on his side but alive. So for a few hours I got him propped up in a natural standing position in a cup with paper towels. This served two purposes. One to help prevent aspiration, two so his bones wouldn't harden in an unnatural position. That night I woke up every two hours to feed the tiny amounts of liquid I was getting into him. Today he is standing and chirping. I'm still giving wide spaced slurry bill dips as I have not seen him eat. We found the smallest sibling and put that one in with the chick hoping to encourage the sick one to eat and drink and keeping him at 97-99 degrees. I think the chick went from a 1 percent chance of surviving to now maybe 85 percent. I really hope this chick survives. Some animals give up the ghost very easily and others if you give them a gnat's eyelash of a chance they will struggle to live mightily. Any name suggestions? Oddly he is also an unexpected color, darkest red. It's from a dilute wheaton rooster on buff and wheaton hens and one white EE.

 

[TheChickenGirl16]

I'm currently hatching a bunch of Ameraucana eggs and Saxony ducks. One Ameraucana chick opened a small hole the same time as everybody else but didn't emerge. The next day I could see the membrane was papery but a foot was twisted over his bill and decided to help him out. Well, here is where human error occurred, and hopefully no one will make this mistake. As I was carefully opening the egg making sure the egg sack was absorbed and all good to come out, and it was, there was a piece of umbilical membrane attached to a piece of shell. Worried his kicking feet would tear it up, I asked my husband to cut it. Not terribly intuitive about such things he cut it right against the body and blood started gushing out. An impossible amount of blood came out. I'm yelling get cornstarch, blood stop, but of course we had neither and I didn't have the guts to sear it. All I could do was hold him belly up with light compression with a paper towel. The chicks mouth opened up and he started going limp with ragged breathing but the bleeding thankfully stopped. I put him back in the incubator as near death as a chick can be. An hour later he was still alive. Figuring he'd need liquids I started dipping his bill in sugar water every 15 minutes and miraculously he got noticeably stronger. Many hours later I shifted to a cooked egg yolk slurry and started spacing feedings by the hours. At this point he is still twisted in a curved egg shape flat on his side but alive. So for a few hours I got him propped up in a natural standing position in a cup with paper towels. This served two purposes. One to help prevent aspiration, two so his bones wouldn't harden in an unnatural position. That night I woke up every two hours to feed the tiny amounts of liquid I was getting into him. Today he is standing and chirping. I'm still giving wide spaced slurry bill dips as I have not seen him eat. We found the smallest sibling and put that one in with the chick hoping to encourage the sick one to eat and drink and keeping him at 97-99 degrees. I think the chick went from a 1 percent chance of surviving to now maybe 85 percent. I really hope this chick survives. Some animals give up the ghost very easily and others if you give them a gnat's eyelash of a chance they will struggle to live mightily. Any name suggestions? Oddly he is also an unexpected color, darkest red. It's from a dilute wheaton rooster on buff and wheaton hens and one white EE.

Wow, that’s pretty amazing!
I hope the little guy survives!
Sounds like you are doing a wonderful job in caring for him!
Flour is also a blood stop to some extent.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Wow! Keep us posted, and pics when he's up to it.

 

[Project Blue]

I'm pretty sure the chick is going to make it. He is up and about and joined 5 other chicks. He looks skinny and smaller than his peers. I'm still force feeding a little egg in the morning as his eating skills are below par, but he tried to eat a mealworm today but cheeped so much he attracted 4 hungry chicks who took it away from him. He intently watches what the others are doing and is copying their behavior, but is still not very skilled at eating. Alone he didn't seem to try to eat or drink. BTW, force feeding was something I was really hesitant to do, but it's not hard at all. I just use a very small piece of egg and pry his mouth open and drop it in. He eats it down no problem. It takes about 5 seconds to do. I have not seen him drink but his body feels appropriately heavy so I stopped dipping his bill in liquid. We measure his temperature and when he dips lower than his peers we raise the temperature. It's been a lot of work, but I think he is near being mainstreamed into the world of chickens.

 

[TheChickenGirl16]

Wow, you are such a trooper.
Keep it up!

 

[Project Blue]

Wow, that’s pretty amazing!
I hope the little guy survives!
Sounds like you are doing a wonderful job in caring for him!
Flour is also a blood stop to some extent.

The blood came out very fast and by the time my husband was done checking for cornstarch I thought the chick had pretty much bled out and it was just a matter of time. I think staying upside down in the incubator with a paper towel compress for an hour was enough to close the wound. At that point I still didn't think he'd live but since he was still alive I thought to do my best to help him. I have a cow kit to help with emergencies like calving but never thought I'd need something quick for chickens. Im going to move a little blood stop in baggies everywhere I have animals and maybe in the car for people. Nice to know flour works in a pinch.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Names? How about

Courage
Trooper (suggested above)
Victor
Survivor

 

[TheChickenGirl16]

If it ends up being a little boy, would you keep him?

 

[Project Blue]

Names? How about

Courage
Trooper (suggested above)
Victor
Survivor

Trooper

 

[Project Blue]

If it ends up being a little boy, would you keep him?

Good question. I do keep a roo or two but mainly based on traits. He/she certainly is a superior/built chicken as I believe any defect would of made survival impossible. Definitely won't go into the pot, but might sell as a trio.