Rejected chick

[hitman]

Hi everyone! Hope every ones doing good with this covid going around.

I have a small chick who was just left to die by the hen. I took him out the nesting box. He was very cold and didn't look like he had been fed.

I sat up with him the whole night keeping him warm and feeding him. The little one is still here at the moment. He does seem very week but has been taking food.

My idea was to feed him until he was strong enough to go back in the nest box but the way its looking he's not ready for that and isn't able to pick him self up.

Has any one else had to do the role of the hen before?

Here's a little picture

He also does a little crackle when breathing. I just hope I'm not doing more harm than good by keeping him alive.
I hope he's not suffering

[blue48]

Oh poor little soul. I hope you manage to save him but he's so very tiny.

[tweetiepiesmom]

Oh my, he is very little! Sorry I don't know anything so I can't offer any advice but I hope the little guy does well.

[hitman]

I also tried to use a syringe to feed him with just by placing it at his beak but I think this might have caused a bit of a bubble to form in his crop?

Does anyone know if this is okay?

[clt80]

Bless you for saving this little chick. Hand feeding is extremely hard, in particular getting the right temperature so not too cold and not too hot it would burn.

I'm so glad this little one took the food, he/she deserves a chance. You're going to need to keep doing the feeding until they are able to be weaned onto solids and feed themselves which will be the 3-4week mark. Teaching them is a different thing and the help of other budgies will help but you can think about that at the time, main thing at moment is feeding and keeping chick warm and strong.

Remember to allow the crop to empty fully once a day.

Where is the chick living?

[hitman]

I had the chick in a nest box with a ceramic heat lamp to keep the temperature steady.

I had an alarm set for every hour to get up and check him but unfortunately the little one passed today. I tried my best to give him a chance 😭

[Marianne Marlow]

Oh I'm so sorry, you did your nest, it's a hard task.

Fly high little one.

[jellybean]

I'm so sorry hitman.

Hats off to you for trying to save the little guy.

[blue48]

That's really sad. You did all you could but it sounds like the poor little soul wasn't meant for this world. Well done for trying.

[clt80]

Oh I'm so sorry

It is always worth trying and you did a great job. Sometimes the odds are just stacked too high against us. Nature can be beautiful yet cruel.

Rest in peace little one xx