Poor Chick!

[OrkyBetta]

My neighbor is a preschool teacher, and every year she hatches chickens and ducks from a local farm then returns them after she raises them.

Well she is gone for the weekend and I offered to tend to her 5 chicks and the duckling.

This one chick's legs dont work right, and he is going down hill big time.
I noticed he wasn't eating so I made a paste out of some food in an old jar lid by adding water to it, and picked up the little guy and fed him. That was kind of a mistake. he cries when I put him down, and I've been tending to him for hours now. He is geting weaker and weaker, and just set him up in a makeshift nest made out of 2 fluffy socks on a heating pad. He is no longer interested in any food.

Has anyone here raised chickens that can give me some advice? If he makes it through the night I'm going to find a way to get him to the vet tomorrow, but until then what can I do?

 

[OrkyBetta]

well, I got him to take a good gulp of food, and even open his eyes and raise his head for me...maybe he CAN hold out...

 

[mm_simb]

I don't know anything about chicks but I hope he/she makes it through. Good luck with him/her.

 

[GSD]

good luck sorry i cant help

 

[OrkyBetta]

Thanks. he made it through the night and ate this morning. I'm going to pick up some better food and a syringe today and see what i can do.

 

[OrkyBetta]

I splinted his legs with some VETRAP and cotton, and he is propped up on a heating pad and a sock. Every half hour I syringe some watered down chicken feed to him, I'll keep you updated i guess.

 

[clover]

hi if you have any worrie about him pm me coz i hacth chicks and care for them, he might have a bad leg and u have done the right thing in straping up

 

[OrkyBetta]

good news! The chick is walking a little and eating on his own. My mom is letting me keep it too!

 

[dulcie]

Ahhh.. well done we rescued a duckling with duff legs, (both pointing in) and an eye infection and he pulled through, he lost the eye but his legs gradually got stronger and he lives with our chickens now ! They are surprisingly resilient!

Good luck with keeping him/her ! I have a pic of one of our duckings will post in a min !

 

[OrkyBetta]

Horrible news, everyone. While I was feeding the Chick, dubbed
Nugget, I set him in his basket while I went downstairs to get something. When I came back, not even a minute later, to my horror I found I left the door open. My dog had found the little guy and shook him to death. He was still warm when I found him.

How dissapointing! I worked so hard to save that little guy, too.

Lil guy!

EDIT: spelling.

 

[OrkyBetta]

SO frustrerating! But the rest of the chicks and the duckling are coming back to my house this weekend, so maybe that will cheer me up.

 

[troutfly]

OrkyBetta --

I would be very carefull having the other chicks at the house, once a dog has the "taste of blood" in it's mouth it will continue to kill even if it is just for sport. I know it sounds horrible, but your dog may become dependant on killing things (squirrels, birds, kittens, and other small creatures it can capture) so I have to say once again to be very carefull with the dog around.

 

[Shark_Lover]

My baby meadowlark's foot was like that.

Sorry Orky.

 

[OrkyBetta]

Thanks all. Don't worry, troutfly, after the incident with the one chick, I was EXTREMELY careful with the others. I locked my dog in her cage when I took them out and kept my door closed and covered the box they were in. Every one of them made it back to my neighbor's farm in one piece, thankfully.