Chick unable to stand

sorry to here about your chicks if I were you i would contact your local vet to get his advice on your chicks and if he can't help then he should be able to put you in contact with a specialist vet who deals with poultry.Hope everything turns out okay for you.

Hi sorry been out so only just read this. I would advise you to seek a vet out immediately.

To cull a tiny chick all you have to do is crush its wind pipe over a sharp edge (something like a metal gate or metal fence rail - trying to neck them often leads to their head becoming detached.

Have they got splay leg? if so this is easy to cure (try googling it to see what is meant by splay or spraddle leg), if it matches then we can show you how to help them. What do you have on the floor of the brooder box? It should be something none slip to help them from sliding. To get them to feed you need to tap the chick crumb with your finger and thumb like they were a beak and show them how to eat. Also dip some of their beaks in the water to show them where it is.
 
There is an illness called Mareks but this usually strikes when they are slightly older but the vet will confirm whether it is or not.
 
I think Grannie Annie put a photo on here of Hobbit my little mottled buff sabelpoot who had splay leg and had to have treatment I will see if I can find it. 

Thank you all for your kind thoughts and advice. I will try the vets again tomorrow, someone was meant to phone me back today but didn't.

I don't know if my little mate will make it til tomorrow though, she's hardly opening her eyes so can't see to eat or drink. I've given her water from drops on my finger but she doesn't take much, and I have tried the spraddle leg procedure on her but it hasn't helped. She's still unable to stand up, it's like her feet don't work, even though I can stretch her legs fully they don't seem to take the weight, and her toes don't grip my fingers like other chicks do. She's pushing herself along on her hocks so they are getting quite red and raw, and were starting to bleed so chickie is snuggled up in a towel now, staying with me tonight. If she's no better in the morning I'll do the decent thing as Joy suggests, it sounds a lot less brutal.

The incubator trays have good grip (octagon 40 auto) then I moved the chicks onto wood shavings over newspaper after they had fluffed up and were really active, quite frankly becoming a nuisance to the newly hatching chicks and pipping eggs. Most of them are running about like loonies now! I did the thing where I sprinkle the crumbs about and they've all caught on, and I have had to dip some beaks in the water but again they got the hang of it straight away.

 I will try the tape round the legs on the other wonky one, hopefully it will pull the legs together and get it walking properly.

I have to admit I left the preparation for this hatch a lot up to nature, and I believe nature should take its course, but equally there are things I'd do differently in future. For example the filthy wet weather we had here was not great for the chooks and may have affected the quality of the eggs I had to hatch. But also I can select the hens I use in future, based on the success of the chicks, although none of them show any defects I suppose they can carry a gene and pass it to the chick.

It's safe to say my Marsh Daisy cockerel is a good father, I had 75% fertility and I haven't yet checked the ones that didn't hatch so he may be better than I give credit for.

Anyway I'm not too discouraged although it breaks my heart to let little ones go. It's all part of the learning I suppose.

Thanks to you all again, it's great to know there's people out there who can help!

Helen

 

Hi Again

I am still losing chicks, they are the smaller ones compared to the rest, they just don't seem to be keeping up and thriving. I have tried Joy's method of culling but without going into too much detail it didn't work, could you be a little more specific on technique? Am I not trying hard enough, I was not confident that I was doing it right so maybe I was too hesitant?

 That's exactly why I didn't want to do it but the poor little thing was barely alive anyway when I went to check them this morning. I didn't think it would take much to put it to sleep and decided to try, but I wish I hadn't. I can't face doing it again, it's too upsetting, so I am taking the last two weaker ones out of the group and I will try a bit of intensive care.

But again please if anyone knows a more passive way of putting a chick to sleep or where it doesn't depend on me getting it right I'd be very grateful. I know it has to be done but I'm just not up to it, I certainly couldn't cut it's head off as quick and efficient as it may be.

I don't know anyone nearby that would have been in this position themselves who I could ask for assistance, and I wouldn't ask someone else to try when I wasn't able to do it myself.

Has anyone managed to bring a chick back up to speed with the others? What is the best way to give it the nourishment it needs? I have managed to get water into most of these poorly chicks but not really food, is there something I can put in water to give them a boost of energy? I have several natural products like herban and life guard which I got for my ex batts, are these suitable for chicks?

Thanks for the help so far, I appreciate everyone has worrying times keeping chickens but this might be one experience I will never repeat.

It's probably too late now but one of my dutch bantam chicks, the first to hatch, just didn't seem to be keeping up with the rest and by day 4, it was falling asleep and being left behind   when the rest followed mum.
I saw it wasn't drinking much, so I made a wet chick mash and basically kept placing it in the mash for the rest of that day (we were in the garden) by the next day it had perked up quite a bit.  I kept up with a wet mash for a couple more days, there was also dry crumb and although this chick is still tiny compared to the other dutch bantam it's fit and healthy.