Distress Chirp in baby chick

[cute chickens]

I have 2 baby chicks, less than a week old - only ones to survive a bad hatch. One is chirping constantly...the distress chirp. She is so tired she falls asleep standing up. I did some research and found she had pasty butt (which I'd never heard of) so I've treated her for that and she has done a poo. She will quieten down if I pick her up and snuggle her, she falls asleep. But the other one starts the distress chirp because its alone. Will the first one be ok now I've treated for pasty butt? Would she be chirping because she'd tired, and hasn't been sleeping because of a tummy ache??? Should I just leave her for an hour or so and see if she stops? Help, I don't know what to do.

 

[song of joy]

Sometimes they chirp loudly when they're too cold or hot. Double check your brooder temperature. At chick level, it should be 90 degrees F under the heat source and 80 to 85 degrees in the cooler part of the brooder.

You may also want to put 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar (the kind with the "mother" in it) in a gallon of water and use this as the water source for them, as it helps with pasty butt. But also continue to wipe it away so the chick can poo.

 

[fried green eggs]

Hi &

! Double check the temperature in the brooder to make sure it is comfortable for the chicks. Are they eating and drinking? Did you dip their beak into the water so, they know how to drink? You can add a small amount of ACV (apple cider vinegar) to their water and it will help with pasty butt and its good for them. You could sprinkle a little of their chick feed on paper towel so they can find it easily. If you have a small stuffed animal or beanie baby - you could put it in with the chicks so, they can snuggle up with it to rest. Sometimes chicks are just loud for a bit, when they had a hard time hatching. Congrats on the new babies!!!

 

[cute chickens]

Thanks for the replies. She's stopped chirping, but is hunched in the corner and has very runny poos (like water). She is just standing looking sad, with her eyes closed. I don't know why she won't lie down to sleep. I did give her some water with sugar in it, maybe she's had to much water? This chick did hatch a day and a half early, and the one that hatched at the same time already died. Could there be something wrong with it because it hatched so early? (The power went out twice during incubation, once during lockdown).
The temp is fine and the other chick is good too (this one hatched on the correct day and is well and truly keeping me on my toes! It thinks its a bird and wants to fly out of the brooder).
If the sick one does die, will the healthy one be ok by itself? I'm concerned it will be lonely. We have ducks due to hatch on Friday, but I'm not holding much hope with the way this chicken hatch has gone. This is the worst hatch ever! (I've learnt so much tho...I think everything that could go wrong has gone wrong). Feeling very down atm

 

[cute chickens]

Ok its been a few hours now. Shes doing heaps better. I haven't seen her eat or drink by herself, so I've been hand feeding her some chick starter pellets soaked in water. She eats them no problem. Poos are still runny, but atleast she is pooing (I think I may have had the sugar ratio too high in the sugar water I gave her earlier). Now the chirping has started again...but I know she is not too hot or cold, she has had some food and some water, and is not blocked up anymore, so I'm assuming shes ok, just noisy? Unless she is still hungry...

 

[song of joy]

I hope she's going to be OK. But if she doesn't make it, plan on getting a couple more chicks to keep the other one company. Chickens are very social animals; a solitary chicken would not do well alone.

 

[cute chickens]

Next day. She's still not eating or drinking that I can see. Has no interest in the starter feed when I put it in the brooder (the other one goes at it like it hasn't eaten in weeks) so I'm continuing to hand feed and water. She pecks occasionally at a piece of food, but can't actually keep it in her mouth. Shes stopped the chirping now (yay), has more energy and has gone from 25g to 26g in a day (which I was so excited about until I weighed the other one and it had gone from 40g to 45g in the same time frame). So how do you know how much to feed?

 

[azygous]

Have you bought some Poultry Nutri-drench? It's a high-powered vitamin formula for sick chickens. I sprinkle some over crumbled tofu when I can't get a weak chick to eat on their own.

I've also had good luck keeping the weak chick with the healthy chicks as they seem to encourage the weak one to follow their example and eat. I let all of them eat the tofu with Nutri-drench. In about a week, you should see the weak chick eating chick crumbles on its own and begin to grow, although it'll be size challenged for a couple of months.