what else can I feed my chick?

[LittleMoss]

We have one little chick who needs special care, which is hard because she's our first chick ever! I'm worried she may not be eating enough - she pecks bits of chick crumb off my finger, but it seems such a tiny amount. Is there anything else I can give her? I've heard about supplements but don't know what or where to get them (I'm in the UK). I wondered if it would be okay to grind chick crumb up and dissolve some in water for her (she drinks quite happily) or would that be a bad idea?

 

[Yorkshire Coop]

Hi

How old is your chick? Is she your only chick? Do you have the chick crumb in a shallow dish she can easily get to? How big is your crumb?

You could make a mash of the crumb by soaking it in warm water this can sometimes encourage them to eat more. Also scrambled or hard boiled chopped egg can help them with their appetite.

 

[3riverschick]

get a cheap feather duster and set it up like a teepee so she can run under it. makes it like a mama hen.
make sure it is far enough from light not to cause fire hazard.
Best,
Karen

 

[LittleMoss]

The chick's two and a half days old - its our only chick at the moment. We're new to incubating eggs, and we didn't do well. I posted a question asking what we might have done wrong, and somebody said it was probably the temperature. We wonder if our house was too cold at night and that affected the incubator, so next time we'll leave a heater on in the room where the incubator is. This one was the only one to hatch and it had a splayed leg. We've treated that with bandaging and it seems to be making good progress. Then it called its toes up on one foot when trying to balance, so we've put a shoe on. The other foot seems to turn out slightly, so we've put a shoe on there which extends a little further outwards than the foot - I don't know if this will really help, I found it on the forum. The chick's certainly looking a lot better
I will try giving it some chopped up hard boiled egg or some chick crumb mash. I was a bit worried about giving it anything other than chick crumb, because I wasn't sure if other food could get stuck in its crop?
I weighed it today and its 35g. I don't know if this is a good weight, but I thought I can weigh it again tomorrow and so on and see if its gaining weight!
Thanks for your help. We're certainly learning a lot and thankful that with the help of people on this website our little chick seems to be doing well

 

[LittleMoss]

The chick crumb is in a feeder at the moment, I'll put some in a shallow dish instead.

 

[3riverschick]

This is what you need. Check and see if available in UK. Lasts for years, needs no refrigeration http://www.nutridrench.com Give chick one drop only by mouth. If chick is doing poorly , repeat every 8-10 hours until perky. Put in water for 1st 2-3 weeks. Water should look like weak tea. Just excellent for getting chicks off to a strong start.

https://www.amazon.com/Nutri-Drench-Poultry-Solution-FL-OZ/dp/B00GSOD8KG
Best,
Karen

 

[Yorkshire Coop]

At just over 2 days old it's really not going to be eating that much yet. They can easily live off the yolk they absorb prior to hatch for three days. Mine stay in the incubator for at least 24 hours after hatch then they go into the brooder where they tend to settle and sleep for a few more hours at first. To encourage your chick to eat you can tap your finger in the the dry chick crumb to replicate how a mother hen would show them how to eat. The noise and movement of the crumb in the dish really does get their attention and they then have to investigate what you are doing ~

I hope it all goes well with your chick and you can get her leg issues sorted out too
Yes temp and humidity sure can have an affect on developing embryos. But also can so many other things ~
Parent birds genetics and nutrition.
Egg quality.
How eggs are stored prior to setting.
Turning of eggs prior and during incubation.

 

[Yorkshire Coop]

P.S ~ Are you going to raise the chick on its own? Have you thought about getting a couple of others to keep it company?

 

[LittleMoss]

Thanks for all your help. We fixed the chick's splayed leg, but sadly it's died, it just got weaker and weaker, despite our attempts to feed it. Maybe for the best, as it was a lone chick and we really want to hatch again, so weren't keen on buying young chicks in to keep it company. Still sad though