Baked goods - the day after hatch day

[WLLady]

you can try a hot water bottle (since i remember you saying you don't have any heat lamps)...in a pinch just a water bottle filled with warm tap water, or throw a towel in the dryer for a few minutes and snug it up in a corner under their "fake hen" and see if cookie climbs in.....maybe just cold like kenya suggests

[Jaye]

I have a wet/dry heating pad under their Woolly Mama that I turn on low every few hours for a couple of hours. It has a two-hour auto shut off, so I turn it on before I leave in the morning, and it's good for two hours. In the evening when I get home and again just before bed I do the same. You'd be amazed how warm it stays and how long it stays warm under those wool strips. When I stick my hand in there for a minute, it does warm up. If there were more chicks, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't even need the heating pad. They both climb in and out all day, according to hubby. They sleep while they are under WM, no peeping until they wake up and venture out into the brooder. However, I will text hubby and have him turn on the heating pad again now, just in case it is a cold problem. Thanks, Kenya and WLLady.

[Happy]

How's Cookie this morning?

[Jaye]

Not good. She still doesn't eat or drink on her own. I have been feeding her sav-a-chick electrolyte/vitamin mixed in water by way of an eye dropper. I also tried really runny scotch oats and watered down mashed egg yolk. Very little gets ingested as far as I can tell because she refuses to open her beak most of the time, and it's too tiny for me to safely get it open. Also, she's too squirmy. Today she's even more unsteady on her feet and she seems to be doing a bit of "stargazing". She's cheeping very loudly when she's awake, and I think it's because she's starving, but doesn't know how to eat. I think she may have something neurological going on. Either that or maybe her brain just didn't develop properly. I don't really know what else to do for her. I've had the heating pad on pretty much all the time; every time it auto shuts off I reset it and it's on for another two hours.
Biscuit is doing fine, though. She's lively and curious. Every time she sees my finger with something on it, she comes charging over to try it out. Cookie runs over too but just stands there once she gets to the piece of oatmeal or egg. I don't think she knows she supposed to eat. :-(

[Happy]

I'm sorry she's still having issues
When Happy hatched he couldn't eat on his own. I soaked chick crumbles in warm water then put them thru a very fine strainer so that it was practically coloured water. He was so tiny it was all I could do. At first I just dribbled on his beak and he would suck it in and swallow. After a few days he pecked at the syringe and would put it in his beak. Surprisingly enough he ed solid even though it seemed he was getting nothing but liquid. I'd start on vitamin E asap. Make sure chick saver has selenium. If not I'd get some of that too. Sending good thoughts!

[Killerbunny]

Perhaps a little yoghourt? Good luck.

[windwalkingwolf]

Lightly swat houseflies, so they're still moving, drop them in and point them out. If moving bugs won't make the wheels turn, I don't know what will. Only problem with this is Biscuit may Hoover them so fast that Cookie might not have a chance. If you don't have a loaded crop of houseflies like I do (ugh), small pieces of bait worms might work. Any bug that will wiggle a bit.

[Jaye]

I so appreciate everyone's support! It's been stressful , figuring out what to do with these two.
It seems that we have turned a corner today with Cookie: she is now pecking and eating the starter/grower feed and is sometimes following Biscuits' lead when it comes to trying new things (like yogurt). I am still giving them Sav-A-Chick via eye dropper twice a day, but the big difference is that Cookie is now actively "asking" for more.

[windwalkingwolf]

[Happy]

Yay!!! Go Cookie go!