weak 4 week old and I'm babysitting her!

jeannieo

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ok, my friend and chicken partner in crime, got 4 baby bantys last friday and then asks me if i can babysit them while he goes to florida for a week! Of course being the sucker I am, I said yes. so the day before I'm to get them, he tells me one of the four died, a bantam polish. So I get the three remaining chicks and he says oh by the way, this one doesn't seem to be doing too well, just keep an eye on her. I said I hope she doesn't die on my watch and he said well, if she did I shouldn't feel guilty. Well of course I would. So, the other two, another polish and a cochin, are running around the brooder, chasing each other, eating and doing all the normal chick things and the one Araucana banty is just standing there. I researched a few threads here and decided to hold her because her feet were cold, and i figured that probably means that she is cold! I held her in the palm of my hand against my stomach with a face cloth over her and she conked out, really sleeping soundly. when she woke up I tried to give her some plain yogurt (nope), chick starter crumbles (yes!) and agave nectar water (yes again)
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. I put her in a pet carrier with a heating pad on low with a towel over it, is a heating pad o.k.? I have it on low. the whole time she's been here she's been like "crying." The peeping is much more plaintive than the others and now that I've been holding her for hours I don't want to give her back when my friend arrives home in a week! Am I doing all I can for her? I put her chick starter and agave water in the pet carrier.
 
Yes- the heating pad is ok. If you give her space to move to an area that isn't heated, she can self-regulate her temperature- this is important.

Make sure she's eating plenty. You should notice a hard lump on the right side of her chest, which is her crop (read: chipmunk cheek feedbag that is first stage of digestive system), at night, and possibly several times during the day.

Make sure she's drinking plenty. Her poos will be variable, but no red should be present AT ALL, and just compare to the others.

Sometimes there is just something that is wrong and they don't make it. I hope she does, and it's great you're caring for her so well.

Also- they are super social animals- her crying may have to do with her loneliness- get the 3 together again.
 
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ok, she made it thru the night but now she's not eating or drinking anything that I put up to her beak. I put her back in with her two other peeps with the heating pad on medium with two face cloths over it and she's standing right on it. Every time I picked her up yesterday, her feet felt cold but now with the h. pad, they're not cold but she just looks like she feels miserable. I have to go to work but my husband is home (with mild alzheimer's but with it enough so that when I call he'll be able to check on her while I stay on the phone to make sure he does it.) He was holding her last night and keeping her warm while I had to tend to everyone else (30 chickens, 10 parrots, 3 dogs, and a plethora of canaries, finches, and parakeets and the partridge in the pear tree!) Is there anything at all I can do for her?
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so sorry sometimes it seems that no matterhow much we care and how much we do.. they die, its no fun! we have lost 3 out of our 47 so far
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two died whhen they got home another our big outside dog thought she was a chew toy!
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I don't really know where they are from, someplace in Hamden CT. I am just the babysitter and I feel sooooo bad that she died while in my care!
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My friend knew that she was "different" from the others and he said that he thought she might not make it so he knew. It doesn't make it any less painful though. My friend hasn't called me so he doesn't even know that she died. Thanks all for your kind words.
 

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