I brought a new batch of chicks home from the feed store on Friday. By day two, one of the little Prairie Bluebell Eggers was showing little to no interest in life. I tried many of my usual strategies and was getting quite depressed. Especially given I couldn't even make any kind of progress with various fortified softened mixtures by eye dropper. Any attempts were met with a posture of 'just leave me alone to die'. Then, in the middle of the second night, I got thinking about her occasional little attempts at picking 'bugs' (imperfections) off of a cardboard wall I have in their brooder. She would occasionally kind of wake up, head to side of the cage and pick at imagined wee insects. In the same vein, she also would fight any attempt at taking in any water with electrolytes - BUT, she would 'chase' and drink a drop that that ran sideways down the eyedropper.
Soooo, (at about 2:00 am) I made up a wet paste of food and tried sticking it on the wall of the brooder. She didn't miss a beat, 'woke up', headed to the wall and started pecking at it like mad. She seemed so delighted to be 'finding' something to eat. I put droplets of water on the ends of straw and she drank those right up. After not more than an hour, she was hanging with her siblings and even eating a bit of regular food with them. She still seemed to prefer pecking her food off the wall for the next 24 hours, but today seems to be holding her own like a normal chick.
I thought I should share, just in case it's a strategy that might work for someone else at some point.
Soooo, (at about 2:00 am) I made up a wet paste of food and tried sticking it on the wall of the brooder. She didn't miss a beat, 'woke up', headed to the wall and started pecking at it like mad. She seemed so delighted to be 'finding' something to eat. I put droplets of water on the ends of straw and she drank those right up. After not more than an hour, she was hanging with her siblings and even eating a bit of regular food with them. She still seemed to prefer pecking her food off the wall for the next 24 hours, but today seems to be holding her own like a normal chick.
I thought I should share, just in case it's a strategy that might work for someone else at some point.
