Can a weak chick be saved?

[wleigh1021]

I tried hatching chicks for the first time and they hatched over the weekend. I have one chick that is really weak. I had to help it hatch on Saturday because it was stuck in the shell. I blame myself because I opened the incubator to remove the chicks that hatched 2 days earlier as they were trampling new hatchers. It had one foot with curved toes and maybe a bit of splayed legs. It can barely stand and can't walk. It sleeps most of the time. It won't eat or drink on its own. I carried it around all day in the hood of a sweatshirt I put on backwards so it would be warm and not picked on. I've been feeding it egg yolk with a bit of sav-a-chick and poultry booster mixed in but don't see any improvement. Should I keep trying or help this poor chick move on?

 

[JaeG]

It is possibly just exhausted from getting stuck in its egg. And I don't think it was your fault - sometimes they just get stuck. Don't force it to eat or drink as it should still have its absorbed yolk to sustain it. They can live on that for three days. I'd monitor it for a bit longer before making a decision and make sure it is warm enough.

 

[ChickNanny13]

A pic of it's legs would help, if its splayed you can put a brace on it (search Splayed Leg in the forum) also there's a website PoultryPedia with helpful information.

The curly toes could be Riboflavin deficiency, not sure how much riboflavin Save A Chick/Poultry Booster has. I've used PolyVisol without iron (1 drop on the side of the beak 3x day, not in it's mouth, may aspirate) boiled egg yolk mixed with chick starter.
2x JaeG about eating/drinking, check to see if it's pooping.

Main thing is keeping it warm, in a couple days you can try showing it how to eat ... "Pecking" at the food with your finger, as well as showing it with your finger how to drink. Make sure it has traction under it's feet when you put him down, no newspaper.

 

[wleigh1021]

Here are pictures of the 2 that hatched one day late. Both had curled toes. I put Band-Aids on their feet to straighten the toes then loosely wrapped feet in vet wrap for grip. The really weak chick barely stands. Spends most of the time on it's belly breathing hard. The other one tries to hold itself up but can't walk well. If walking it usually walks backwards. I'm hoping it will be able to walk much better when it's boots are off. Both have received a tiny drop of liquid vitamin b complex yesterday and today (on top of egg yolk and sav-a-chick mixture) but I see no difference.

 

[ChickNanny13]

It does take time for the vitamin therapy to work, you're doing the best you can. Are you warming them? Only you can make the decision whether you want to continue treating the weaker one or letting it go, it's not an easy decision but one that we must make at time when raising animals

 

[wleigh1021]

Thanks chicknanny I put the really sick one to sleep as it also appeared to have mushy chick disease. Poor thing really didn't have a chance. I'm working on the other one with vurled toes. Keeping it warm and fed watered and got the poly visol and have administered 2 drops today. I can't figure out what is wrong with it's legs though. They're not splayed but one is always in front of the other. Researching now to see how the can be corrected. I might try the drinking glass method.

 

[lazy gardener]

What are you using for a heat source? How are the other 2 chicks moving and acting? Are they running around and eating/drinking well? IMO, the best thing you can give to ALL chicks, including the robust ones and the not so good ones is Poultry Nutri Drench. It sounds like your little runt would be better off if you culled him. It's been 3 days. If he was going to improve, he'd have done so by now. Curled toes is either due to poorly calibrated incubator or nutritional deficiency in the breeders.

What did you use for a bator? Forced or still air? What was your temp and how did you calibrate your thermometers? Your temp was apparently low.

 

[ChickNanny13]

Make sure the PolyVisol is with NO IRON. Sounds splayed = when the legs are not under it but to the sides or like yours. Check out the website PoultryPedia, besides the cup therapy there's a sling too.

 

[wleigh1021]

The brooder is a heated chick pad in my garage which is 72 degrees and I have been carrying the sick chicks around in a sweatshirt with a hand warmer and making sure it doesn't get too hot in there. I hatched 16 chicks total and the 2 that hatched a day late are the ones with a problem everyone else is active. I used a hovabator Genesis with fan and turner with a hygrometer inside to monitor. Temps and humidity looked correct through incubation but may have been altered too much at the end when I opened it to take out chicks that hatched early.

 

[wleigh1021]

I'll check that out thanks! Yes, I got the no iron kind