Posted: Tue Jul 11, 2006 9:44 pm Post subject: New chick how do I feed?
Nobig surprise, One of the eggs has hatched and I have a beautiful little chick on my hands. As I wrote before I have never had any luck with a new baby, please if you can tell me what to do I would greatly appreciate it.
So far the baby hatched out from 11 am till 1:30 pm. It was pipping loudly all though the process and is responding every time I call to it.
I put antiseptic on the naval cord with a cotton bud- I didn't have betadine.
I also reduced the humidity and temp slightly in the makeshift brooder. I placed it on a bed of tissues- I have it at ~36C yet.
I brought Bubbles in to watch the whole thing, I am hoping she will take over. My luck she will not. We are in the back bedroom and she doesn't like it, listens to everything going on and sits on my sholder most of the time. When I leave she sits high on a dired flower arrangement.- It is all natives, just dusty.
I brought in a nest box but there is a lot of negativity with that.
At 3:15 I managed to get three drops of glucose and water/neonate gruel into the baby. Why the mix? One book said give it Spark or glucose and the other said Neonate. For goodness sake!
5pm, tried to give it a couple more drops. no feeding response, so I gave up. The crop was a tiny bit distended with air (I am sure this was from the previous neonate).
Now I am going to have dinner and leave Bubbles in here alone. The baby is comfortable but I really need to know when to feed and what time i can let it go to sleep.. all of that.. Please can any one help?K.
Okay, my hand rearing knowledge is limited in comparison to some but we have reared Kakariki from the egg with some success.
Chicks are not normally fed during the first 24 hour period. They should still have food in the crop from the egg. You have cleaned the navel so that is good. As for feeding we feed at 2 hourly intervals for the first week or so. The Glucose is fine in the early stages. We feed both that and Neocare hand rearing formula via an eye dropper. Make sure the food will pass easily through the dropper. Last feed is just before bed (11pm in this house) and first feed is when you get up. Every 2 hours (approx) or when the crop has completely emptied is the best rule of thumb.
Make sure you boil the water before mixing food. Food temp. should be warm otherwise chicks may reject it. Brooder temperture can be reduced back to around 32 degrees after first 24 hours and likewise humidity can also be reduced slightly.
Everything should be fine. Hang in there. Small chicks are hard to feed but with practise you will do fine. Dont worry too much about how much the chick takes in the first place. If required simply incease the amount of feed times.
thanks again, I just fed about four or five drops of the gruel again. So I guess I am not over doing it. I burped him as well- yes I have sexed him (not) . He was happy to be touched, he seems to like pushing with his feet ( the behaviouralist is showing). He is in the bottom of the brooder and seems to be comfortable. The other egg is nearby and if I am not hearing my own ear noise I believe I hear the first sign of picking. I will check in two hours and then again just before I go to bed.
I need to find a night light.. Bubbles has found a safe haven in the dired flowers. I haven't given up on her yet- I am waiting for the chick to demand loudly, I don't think she can not respond without trouble.
I hope I won't wear out my .
I have very sad news, I do not seem to have any luck at all. Yesterday after having really good success raising the baby - everything was going so well, the lamp fell about 3 inches (it was a desk lamp on an arm) and heated the baby too much and it died. I had no idea It could move, maybe Bubbles landed on the arm- I have know idea. I will write the detail of raising the little one so that maybe someone can refer to this and not make my mistakes.. murphy's law.
I am not made of tough stuff you good people.
Dont despair. These type of accidents happen to the rest of us as well. Take positives from the experience. The chick would not have even hatched had it not been for your determination to get the job done. It is a learning curve for ALL of us and your experience may just help someone in a similar situation later on.
Dont give up on ever trying again. We have raised around 30 Kakariki now and also had our fair share of losses along the way. With each new chick comes more surprises and that is all part of the learning process.
I would recommend to anyone that breeds birds to seriously look at obtaining (or building) an incubator/brooder. They can be sourced very cheaply these days and you never know when they may just turn a heartache into a very memorable experience.
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