Poultry Talk Ontario (pto.ca)

I have a new chick that doesn’t seem to eat. It’s not lethargic or anything, yet. It peeps a lot and when I try to encourage it to eat, it sometimes pecks at the food, but doesn’t seem to be able to get it down. She had a piece in her mouth and scratched it out. Does anyone know what that is about, or what I can do?

I'm not a chick rearing expert so hopefully others will jump in here but I would try mixing some Honey water (or sugar water) and put one drop at a time onto her beak. She will suck it in and swallow it. If you have nutri drench or save-a-chick you could use that. The secret is to just place a drop at a time and don't force anything into her beak. Sometimes they just need a little extra boost.
Were they shipped chicks?

Can you grind up some of the feed so it is smaller? I have had to do that with turkeys sometimes.

@Blizblaz you could try some yoghourt with chopped hard boiled egg.

They were shipped to farm store from hatchery chicks. The rest are doing well so far, and she doesn’t look ill or anything. I’ll see if I can get her to swallow something softer. I had some small pieces, and she pecked at them, but wouldn’t go as far as swallowing it.

if shes only a day old she may not be hungry until a couple days after you get her...they have tummies full of yolk that last about 3 days post hatch. most important that they drink-i would try water or a little water with sugar or electrolytes to stimulate drinking. just a drop at a time.

She is doing better. She’s much smaller than the rest still, but maybe she was just younger than everyone else? Although I’ve had a couple of chicks before that act similar and never really turn it around. We’ll see what happens in a few weeks!

fingers crossed she continues to survive and thrive.