Week old olive egger chick tiny and not gaining weight?

[Hoglord]

Hello!

First time raising chicks and owning chickens at all. I want to give lots of context so sorry this will be long..

Basically I started with 4 x 1 day old chicks from a local breeder who hatches all year round.. it’s early Autumn here in Australia and currently going through a heat wave.

One of the chicks (Pekin) died at 4 days old after she started to get very sleepy and avoided food. I syringe fed her carefully with egg yolk, electrolytes, vitamin supplement, and a bit of water with amprolium as I suspected coccidiosis. (I used unmedicated feed)

I decided to treat all chicks with amprolium in their water which I have refreshed everyday for 4 days now.

After that first chick died, I noticed the olive egger chick kind of acting the same way. She did not get worse though. Still fairly active but not as active as the other two. She is not progressing at all really.

I have been weighing the chicks every day and this one has not gained a single gram in a whole week. Her feathers are growing a bit but she is only 30 grams. She eats and poops a bit but she is still very much acting like a day old and not very independent. Not eating much.
She peeps quite a lot too.

I have tried to feed her yolk, electrolyte and the nutrients in a syringe a few times but she barely eats it and complains loudly (I am not forcing, just putting drops on the side of her beak). I am giving up on that! Too stressful for both of us.

To be honest, the chicks were all tiny when I got them and ranged from 25-32 grams. I believe because they were hatched late summer/early autumn, their eggs were potentially not very good quality as the hens were probably putting their energy into growing new feathers after moult. I wish I knew this earlier and waited for springtime to get them.

Also I should mention these chicks were late to hatch (according to the breeder) and my pick up date was delayed 2 days. She said perhaps there was a temperature issue in the incubator.

Would you say it’s bad breeding practice to hatch chicks late summer?

What do you think??? Is there anything I can do for the olive egger?!

The other two chicks are doing well.

There’s a lavender Sussex who is growing so fast and has gone from 32g to 55g in one week!

And there’s a Polish who was very late to hatch started at a tiny 25g and is now 39g.

I am feeding them an organic chick starter and give them either scrambled eggs or yoghurt mixed with their feed as a treat once a day. The tiny olive egger seems to like treats a bit.

Please, any ideas or insight would be most appreciated!

I’m so worried I will lose this one too.

 

[BDutch]

I suppose you do everything you can!
The breeder might have had a contaminated environment why you got these poor chicks. I had a similar pitiful experience with the first chicks I bought 10 years ago.

The peeping indicates there is something wrong with the tiny chick. I wouldn’t know what is wrong or what else you can do. The heat plate and giving water with electrolytes on the side of the beak is fine.
Personally I would try to give wet starter / chick feed. You can mix it with boiled egg yolk too.

Be prepared to loose this chick. Some just don’t make it. It’s not your fault if it doesn't survive. Back then I had one peeping, late summer, chick that lived a few months and died just when I thought she started to do better.

It is a good idea to keep searching for a few more chicks now or later. You can wait and see which gender the survivors are before adding new ones.
If you add new chicks later on they might not tolerate each other and the older /stronger ones will start pecking the small ones. But there are ways to deal with that.

 

[Hoglord]

I'm sure new to this too, but I was wondering if they're too hot or cold. Is the chick not moving away from the light, or is she staying away all the time? What about the others?

Again, I'm new, and you probably already know this. It just sounds like that based on what you said, and I've heard about that on podcasts and books I've read in preparation for the 4 chicks I'm getting tomorrow.

Well I don’t have a heat lamp. I have a brooder heat plate which they still go under even though it’s very hot weather. The other two chicks are perfectly fine and vigorously chickening!

 

[Australorpfamily]

Thanks so much for your advice and supportive words. I have found a place who has some sexed chicks available but I think I only want to get one more to replace this one that will probably die because they are causing me so much stress and I don’t want to add to the stress! Thank you again

Have you tried pecking the food on the ground with your finger? And going like cheep cheep yourself? Mimicking a Mama hen? I do that and with the water too. Good luck

My heart goes out to you and the little one.

 

[Hoglord]

Have you tried pecking the food on the ground with your finger? And going like cheep cheep yourself? Mimicking a Mama hen? I do that and with the water too. Good luck

My heart goes out to you and the little one.

Yes I do that and she responds somewhat but either looks and doesn’t eat, or eats a tiny bit and then walks away. Thank you

 

[Australorpfamily]

I heard to dip their beaks. I tried pecking too, but they didn't seem to catch on. They did try to huddle under my hand though. Mama must have been an UGLY chicken if they think my hand looks like her!

We dip their beaks in a few times when we get them home, my kids call it "first day at school" (swirlies lol) it takes a couple times but generally speaking they catch on. Our last batch huddled under my son's hand until the brooder plate heated up

 

[Australorpfamily]

Yes I do that and she responds somewhat but either looks and doesn’t eat, or eats a tiny bit and then walks away. Thank you

Do you happen to have a heat gun to sort of check her temp? And surrounding area? I'm sure you've tried everything, just tossing out other ideas

My husband took care of an injured chick from our first batch for over three days, dunking her beak, giving her eggs, wet mash, so I get the feelers. Ours was 4 weeks and pulled through but it was touch and go

 

[Hoglord]

Just want to thank you all for suggestions but unfortunately she died at a week after I posted (chick was 2 weeks old) not meant to be I suppose! Other two chicks are doing great although the polish is slow growing she is eating and doing all the good chicken things so I’m not worried! planning on getting new chicks in the spring (September). Thanks everyone so much

 

[BDutch]

Just want to thank you all for suggestions but unfortunately she died at a week after I posted (chick was 2 weeks old) not meant to be I suppose! Other two chicks are doing great although the polish is slow growing she is eating and doing all the good chicken things so I’m not worried! planning on getting new chicks in the spring (September). Thanks everyone so much

Sorry for the loss of this poor thing.
Thanks for the update.

 

[cavemanrich]

All I can say,,,,, Is try your best
I would just offer clean water with no additives. (electrolytes), and the Starter crumbles. As to eggs, I would boil them and offer the yolks. Let the chick pick at it on her own. Your healthier chicks could eat the egg whites.
Consider getting a few more chicks from that breeder, but maybe 2 week old stock. Maybe breeder has more experience raising baby chicks.
We all learn as we go along.

WISHING YOU BEST,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,and