Weak Chick (doing better - update page 2)

[NellaBean]

Well my little dude is still hanging in there. Lots of poop all over his butt so I know he is at least eating (about half normal colored, half still whitish).

Actually the last two times I went in to check he was standing in the little paper plate full of ground up food just going to town chowing down....then he would stop and scratch scratch with his feet and then go to town eating again.

He put up a good fight when I cleaned his poopy butt earlier today.

I went and bought a coffee bean grinder just now, so I no longer have to smash the crumbles in a ziploc bag with a can of beans

I just checked again and he was sleeping (with all the others)....but the temp was up at 102 (whoops!) so I moved the light to bring the temp down a bit. They seem to enjoy it between 98 and 100.....they huddle at and try to pile up under the light at 95. When I moved the light it woke them all up and he got up and stretched his legs and then did a totally normal looking poop!

So while he is not out of the woods, he is definitely doing better than earlier.

[eta: and now he is on the plate eating the food again! Making up for lost time?]

 

[NellaBean]

Little dude is still doing okay. Everytime I go in there he is eating or drinking. Still uncoordinated and scrawny....but doing a lot better. Poop is much more normal, big appetite, good water drinker. he might be scrawny and uncoordinated because he is a few days behind the others. He even pushed one of his buddies out of the way for food today.

If he makes it, I guess he will be one of the ones I keep (I have 6 but only going to keep 2) of these cochins. He is clumsily hilarious. Hopefully he grows out of some of it.

 

[sfw2]

Hope the chick continues to improve.

 

[wyndski]

Glad to hear that your baby is improving. I am sure it will catch up to the others in no time. It seems like a lot of people seem to have a problem with really small chicks being able to eat the crumble. Most do not even know until the chick gets weak, I know I didn't. I thought mine was eating, until I looked really close. While she was peeking at it she wasn't really getting anything. After I crushed it smaller, you can tell she is getting it down.

 

[NellaBean]

Yes. I am not sure if he was weak to start with or got weak as he could not eat. Who knows! I have still been adding ground up food to their food dish every night. I think tonight I will do half finely ground, half roughly ground. Gotta transition sometime!

So since today they were 1 week old, I busted out the baby grit and the tiny little mealworms (or whatever they are).

Guess who was the worm eating machine? The one who shoved the others out of the way....stole their worms out of their beaks....ran around like a chicken with....a worm in their beak.....and learned how to grab the worms straight from the spoon?

Little chicken man! The others were a little bit sloooooooow getting on the mealworm wagon. Is it because they are cochins, or bantams? The standard (BA, EE, Leghorn) chicks were mealworm machines after about 10 seconds into their first session.

Anyways. Little chicken man (or woman!) is doing good! Still small, still playing catch up but he is still hanging in there! He has a great appetite. While the other five fight over the one food dish, he sneaks off to the other and has it all to himself. Genius!

 

[chookchick]

Funny how that is. My little pullet is always cowing down. She is a sharp one too--she's the first one to get into the leaves I bring in and snap up any bugs on them. If I put my hand in with food, she's the first one over to eat off my hand. I have a feeling that one day these little ones will catch up....

 

[addicted2chicks]

I am glad he is doing better.

 

[Judy]

I'd keep him, too, for sure!

 

[NellaBean]

Well Little Dude is doing just fine. He is way smaller than the others but is starting to get his wing feathers and eats up a storm. He is speedy like a little bullet too!

It's pretty obvious which one he is in these pics.

He likes to stand on the thermometer....warmest spot around! I always have it in the hottest area to get the top temp.

Then he gives me the "stink eye"

Don't make me show you my new wing feathers!

He is my favorite!

 

[stormylady]

Awwww cute little guy! Big things come in small packages and it sounds like you might have a quarter stick of Dynomite on your hands there! So glad to here he is doing great! Sandy