Ugh, eggtopsy gone wrong, SO upset!

[Kaerie]

Update: 26 hours now, and she's still hanging in there. I Neosporin'd and bandaged her umbilical stump last night, and it's scabbed up nicely. Changed the bandage this morning, and it looks to have closed quite a bit. but, she's walking more like a 1 hour old than a 12 hour old. Still highly doubtful of her chances.

We lost the pipper, though.. She never zipped, and by the time I decided to open the bator to see if I needed to step in, it was too late.

Pretty sure this whole situation was because of the condition of the eggs, or possibly the eggs and the bator, at this point. I'm happy we got one, anyway - who is now shrieking away at me. We got her a buddy from the feed store yesterday, and the two are thick as thieves - but when one shrieks "Hey, something's wrong!!" it usually leads to both of them doing so, until I go over to check on them. As soon as I get over there, they look at me, tilt their heads, chirp happily, and head back under the heating plate. Until the next time.

 

[Kaerie]

Another update: navel is healing nicely, chick is perked up and trying to walk. However, she's walking on her hocks and crawling, rather than standing up to walk. I have placed a band-aid around her legs, as if for spraddle leg (which she doesn't appear to actually have), and it seems to be helping. I am now assisting her to stand for a few minutes every hour, to strengthen those legs. I think that because she never kicked out of the shell, those muscles didn't get the workout they needed.

I'm a littttle more hopeful, but she has a lot of work ahead of her, and so many things could still go wrong.

I am also dropper feeding her Save-a-chick at the same time as each exercise session. I suspect that's what's made the difference in her level of alertness, so thank you to the previous poster that suggested that!

 

[ChickNanny13]

Doing "physical therapy" on it's legs is what I was going to suggest. Also you can make a sling it can sit in, feet touching the floor so it can "work" it's feet/legs. Search it in the Forums, someone posted a pic at one time (Thank you)

I'm wondering if it may be suffering from some vitamin deficiency = Riboflavin. Check the analysis for the Save a Chick, does it contain Riboflavin? Mix some boiled egg yolk in with it's feed. This is what I have in my notes ....

Riboflavin deficiency; PolyVisol without iron 1 drop 3x day side of beak, Vitamin B Complex, eggs, salmon, liver, beef, pork, spinach, nuts, sesame seeds, nutritional yeast, tuna, mushrooms, fortified cereals

 

[Kaerie]

Save a Chick does not contain riboflavin, but I am currently hard boiling an egg to mash the yolk up. I plan to thin it with water, and feed that.

She's currently sitting in a glass on my desk, with a crumpled paper towel in the bottom of it. The glass is narrow enough that she can stand to exercise her legs, and brace herself against the paper towel. I'm pulling her out for about 15 minutes at a stretch, before she goes back in the warm incubator for 30 minutes or so.. I really don't want her to get chilled out here.

She seems quite lively, just can't get around very well. The brace and boot reallllly isn't helping matters at all, I'm afraid, but that foot needs to straighten out. I don't think that will take long to fix, though. I'm hopeful that ones the boot comes off, she will be better at getting around.

I am also putting her in the brooder with the other two for a few minutes at a time. They keep pecking at her rear, which stimulates her to try to walk forward to get away from them. More exercise, right?

 

[ChickNanny13]

Monitor the pecking, don't want them to hurt her. You seem to have a handle on what she needs, takes patience and time Best of wishes with your little one

 

[Kaerie]

So far, I'm encouraged. For the last two hours or so, she's been pushing herself to standing, holding there for maybe 15-20 seconds, taking 2-3 steps, and then sinking down to rest. Then she'll do it again.

I have her in an empty incubator, with the temp at around 95-96 degrees. I used my wheat grinder to grind up the starter grower to very fine, and scattered that and some cooked egg yolk across a paper towel in the bottom of the bator. She just didn't seem to have any interest in the bigger crumbles.

I also cut the bottom perhaps 1/4 inch out of a plastic Solo cup and put a bit of water (with Save a chick mixed in) into it. So far, she has slowly been making her way around the bator, and found both the water and has eaten some of the food.

If she can make it long enough to take the brace/boot off, I think I'll allow myself a little hope. (Oh, who am I kidding? I'm trying to be realistic, but if she doesn't make it now, I'll be pretty devastated.)

Crossing fingers for overnight.

 

[Kaerie]

Update: We took the boot off this morning, and her foot is straightened out! I tried taking the brace off as well, but replaced it after a few moments. She's now running around with the others. I'm keeping an eye on them all, and will replace her in the incubator when I'm not able to be right with them.

She's a LOT smaller than the one that hatched 4 days before her. I knew they grew fast, but it's very stark to see them side by side.

Her navel has just a bit of a scab still - maybe 1/8" across. Question - should I continue putting Neosporin on it, or now that it's scabbed up, should it be okay?

I'm more optimistic this morning.. and honestly can't believe she's made it this far!

 

[April Barta]

Update: We took the boot off this morning, and her foot is straightened out! I tried taking the brace off as well, but replaced it after a few moments. She's now running around with the others. I'm keeping an eye on them all, and will replace her in the incubator when I'm not able to be right with them.

She's a LOT smaller than the one that hatched 4 days before her. I knew they grew fast, but it's very stark to see them side by side.

Her navel has just a bit of a scab still - maybe 1/8" across. Question - should I continue putting Neosporin on it, or now that it's scabbed up, should it be okay?

I'm more optimistic this morning.. and honestly can't believe she's made it this far!


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I am so impressed!!! She wouldn’t have made it without you. She definitely wouldn’t have made it in the wild. Circle of life and survival of the fittest and all... Hope she continues this amazing recovery! Good job chicken mama!

 

[Kaerie]

The brace came off this morning, and she's running around with her hatchmate like crazy.

I'm going to call it and say that, barring the other sorts of random things that happen to chicks, she's going to be okay!

 

[April Barta]

Amazing!