What to feed weak newly hatched chick??

[ladydoc1992]

My incubator SUCKS!! None of my eggs hatched on their own..had to peel the chicks out of their shells like a batch of boiled eggs. Out of 6 eggs, 4 chicks were still alive, but one is very weak. I actually thought he wouldn't make it thru the night, but he surprised me this morning by moving around the brooder on wobbly feet! He is such a little trooper, I want to give him every chance to survive. Should I give him some of that vitamin water I give my other chickens, or maybe some sugar water?
All advise is welcome!!
(BTW..I have a new Hovabator Genesis arriving in the mail any day now, so hopefuly I won't have to go thru this hatching agony again!)

 

[Ukiah]

Welcome to BYC

What was wrong with them? High humidity drown them? Low humidity shrink wrap them?

Were there temperature problems? I know it was tempting, but helping a chick usually
does more damage - especially if the incubator envirornment was right. I, however, have
helped quite a few chicks myself who were stuck due to being shrink wrapped, and I've had the
weak ones. As for feeding & watering him -

Small pinch of electrolytes into a quart of water
Or
3 tablespoons of sugar into one quart of water.
Feed mashed up boiled egg yolk along with starter. The egg yolk will give energy.

Earlier this year, I assisted a shrink wrapped chick with hatching. He was to weak to walk, or
stand. I hand fed him boiled egg yolk and sugar water every hour for the next 2 weeks, and
he was able to eat own his own and stand by the third week.

Wishing you luck, & Keep us updated

 

[bikerchic]

I also would suggest getting some polyvisol vitamins for infants, iron free. Give 1 drop a day. It works wonders for chicks who need a little extra boost. Just place them on the beak and when it peeps it will swallow it. Make sure you don't get them in the nostrils.

 

[ladydoc1992]

Thank you for the suggestions!
I have followed all your advice and the little booger is improving! Though her legs are still a bit wobbly, she is eating and drinking with the others. Last night I would have bet my bottom dollar that she was on her way out..laying on her belly with her neck tucked to the side and very irregular breathing..sometimes she would just quit breathing, then shudder a bit and start again. Her eyes were shut and her body was limp. I have seen lots of chicks die..and they all looked just like this.
I had already prepared myself for burial detail this morning, so I was absolutely delighted and amazed to see her moving about when I got up today! So that's her name...Amazing Grace.

 

[Ukiah]

Great to hear

Sweet name, to! Best of wishes!

 

[ladydoc1992]

BTW, UKIAH...it was not a humidity problem , but a temp problem. My temp would fluctuate frequently during this incubation and it made the chicks too weak to hatch on their own, I guess. Seramas frequently hatch on day 20, so by the time it got to day 22 and no hatching, I knew something was way wrong. 2 chicks had pipped on day 19....and then nothing. When I peeled them all out of their shells, their yolk sacs had all been completely absorbed and their membranes were not bloody or shrinkwrapped. Had i peeled them out 1 day sooner, I may have saved the other 2, but hind site is ..well you know.
My old hovabator incubator is the culprit. That's why I order a new Genesis1588 automatic everything.
Kudos to you for tending that baby chick so diligently for so long. Did it make it to adulthood? Do you still have it?

 

[Ukiah]

Ah, yes. Temperature fluctuations. My little giant gives me enough of those.

Thanks, Just to give you background of the chick I had..

The chick was actually underneath a broody who hatched a few chicks out,
then gave up on the rest. Thinking they were dead, I did 'eggtopsys' on the remaining
eggs to find internally pipped, shrink wrapped chicks who were taking extremely faint
breaths. It was cold out - in the 40-50's, and they had survived two nights of this.I already
had my incubator going with a batch of eggs in there, I shoved the shrink wrapped babies
wrapped in a warm wet paper towel in there with the erea with the beak exposed and hoped
for the best, but expecting the worst. I was surprised to see all three of the shrink wrapped
chicks chirping and screaming with-in the next couple hours. After 24 hours of watching the
membrane stay pearly white and dry, I assisted the hatch, all but this one chick eventually
passed away due to being so weak. The one that survived, 'Trooper' as we called him, was
extremely weak himself. I made this little cup for him so that he could set up and look around.

He had a splint on his legs for the next two weeks to put them in place.
Here he is in his 'hospital' brooder next to the other 2011 babies.

He DID make it, he was eating, drinking playing and walking on his own now. Soon he'd have
buddies if he continued to make progress. I planned to keep him as a pet, with all my other
'rescue' birds who have been through life threatening ordeals. It was late in the evening one
day, since he was doing everything on his own now, I didn't have to be by his side 24/7, so
I laid down on the couch and napped, completely on the other side of the house, washing machine, dryer
& TV were all on. Somehow, my beagle mix got into the room, where all my brooders were lined
up on the floor. Of coarse, beagle went for Trooper and broke his neck. Since everything in the
house was on, I didn't hear any commotion, but when I awoke, found Troop laying on the
floor. It was awful, and I literally cried like a baby.

Your baby seems to be doing well, an update tomorrow if you can would be wonderful!

 

[Spring Chook]

amazingly sad story! poor little Trooper

 

[Pollmadoll]

I have just gone through assisting a serama silkie chick who pipped yesterday and was not progressing at all and I could hear was getting very distressed. So I decided to help this little miracle . It has hatched at 23 days but is also very weak . Would sugar water help?

 

[Skyranchmom]

My incubator SUCKS!! None of my eggs hatched on their own..had to peel the chicks out of their shells like a batch of boiled eggs. Out of 6 eggs, 4 chicks were still alive, but one is very weak. I actually thought he wouldn't make it thru the night, but he surprised me this morning by moving around the brooder on wobbly feet! He is such a little trooper, I want to give him every chance to survive. Should I give him some of that vitamin water I give my other chickens, or maybe some sugar water?
All advise is welcome!!
(BTW..I have a new Hovabator Genesis arriving in the mail any day now, so hopefuly I won't have to go thru this hatching agony again!)

I have a chick, that's is struggling, we have to feed it water with dropper, it eats if I put found front of it but not alot, it has splayed legs, it's about a week old, what else can I do to help it, using medicted, feed and vitamin water, I left it in the incubator for 2 days cause it hatched early and I had 2 eggs with holes so I didn't want to shrink wrap the other 2 , I thought it was OK to leave them in for 2 days, not so with this chick