Helping a Weak or Sick Chick!

Sometimes a baby chick from the store are weak or sick. There are things we can do to try to help them get better. It is always work, but so worth it.

This little lady is my sweet Bella. She is a precious little hen, and has been special since she was 2 days old. I didn’t pick her when I went to the farm store that day. The man who owns the store was holding her saying she was basically dead. She had been trampled by the others because she was too weak to stand up. He was about to toss her when he asked if I wanted to take her for free. He said she would be dead in about an hour, but I could try. I have a soft spot for injured or ‘special’ animals. I have two rescue bunnies, a blind cat, guineas without toes, have nursed baby blue birds, squirrels, and now a tiny little chick.

I am not sure if she had wry neck, or if she was just really injured from being trampled, but she stayed on that basket you see in the photo, with her little neck stretched out for about three days before I saw any real signs of life. I forced her to eat a little with a dropper, and I dropped some water on the tip of her beak. She stayed with me constantly. I discovered another trick after the first day. Bella need a friend with her. Since we had picked up several chicks that day, I moved Buffy, a buff orpington in with Bella to be her friend. As you can tell the first image was at my office. Slowly, she began to improve. I would scramble an egg every day to give her some extra protein. But, what appears to have made the biggest difference in her little life, was a combination of chick feed, in which I added a little warm water to create mash, and a dropper of Poly-Vi-Sol, and her new protector, Buffy. Now, I have since learned that the treatment for wry neck can be adding Vitamin E, which the Poly-Vi-Sol has. However, since I didn’t know for sure that this was what she had, I assume the vitamins either treated that, or strengthened her enough for her to begin eating on her own after a week.

Barred Rock Cochin and Buff Orpington Chick

When she began walking, she walked backwards, with her neck and head facing backwards. I worked with her through every step that comes naturally to most chicks. We kept our buff orpington, Buffy, with her so she had a companion, and a healthy friend to help teach her. We slowly worked, lightly massaging her neck daily until it was forward facing, at that point she could walk forward. I kept her on Poly-vi-sol mixture until she was at least 4 months old.

When we finally started introducing her to the others in our flock, we learned that raising her with Buffy was a good idea. Bella was slow learning to jump, fighting for food, getting on the roost at night, etc. Buffy became her protector. If the others wanted to pick on Bella, they had to go through Buffy first. They are almost two years old now, and still the best of friends!

Bella has overcome every obstacle and learning issue she has had. She lays a brown egg almost every day. She runs to see us when we enter the coop. She likes to be held, and loves to eat grapes! She is the most beautiful hen we have, and yes, I am biased. Was she a lot of work? Absolutely! She lived in the house for over 4 months. Then we had to train her to do things other chickens naturally knew how to do! It was a learning experience for all of us. Every milestone she reached was a celebration. It could have been heartbreaking because she could have died at any time during those first few weeks. But, she didn’t! Would I do it again? Absolutely. I will always try to help save a weak chick, and I have tried with another baby chick, and not had the same success. But I learned a valuable lesson about the ones that the farmer would have tossed. Not all of them are ready to die; Bella was ready to fight!