# 5 day old chicks- ones smaller the other.



## Becca199212 (May 10, 2007)

They usually differ in size slightly but one is so tiny compared to the other, it's literally half the size of it.

Should I do something or should I just leave it and see how it goes?


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## TAWhatley (Mar 6, 2001)

It is quite likely a paratyphoid chick. You need to keep a close watch and consider putting it on a course of Baytril. 

Terry


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## Becca199212 (May 10, 2007)

The parents have been on Baytrail for papatyphoid with the last cluch they had. I will give him some though and keep a close watch for what?


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## TAWhatley (Mar 6, 2001)

Becca199212 said:


> The parents have been on Baytrail for papatyphoid with the last cluch they had. I will give him some though and keep a close watch for what?


Well, I guess the Baytril didn't get the paratyphoid in the parents. Do we know for sure they had paratyphoid .. seems likely to me, but I don't know the history of the birds. 

When I say "keep a close watch" I just mean that you have to make sure that the youngster is getting enough to eat and is not just withering away.

Terry


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## Becca199212 (May 10, 2007)

I've just cheked and the crop feels empty, compared to the other babies which is just about full, it's vent seems pretty clogged up aswell.


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## maryjane (Jul 15, 2006)

I had this happen with a pair of squabs not too long ago, and they didn't have paratyphoid. I did end up taking the smaller one (who remained much smaller as her brother grew daily) and hand-feeding. Especially if the crop is empty, go ahead and at least you can supplement her with Kaytee mix. I hope she doesn't have paratyphoid and that she is able to thrive.


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## Becca199212 (May 10, 2007)

and put the bird back in the nest after I've fed him or not... would the parents still sit on him?


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## Feefo (Feb 8, 2002)

The parents will sit on any young chick you put under them, at this stage they identify their own by the location only.

I am wondering whether the course of Baytril was long enough.

Cynthia


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## stach_n_flash (Mar 15, 2006)

I had pigeons that laid on their eggs and had two pigeons hatch, 2 days apart. One was extreamly smaller than the other but it fought for its food and turned out ok in the end, although it was still a little smaller.

But yours is a different case I think as mine always had food in her. So I think you should tube feed the bird


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## Becca199212 (May 10, 2007)

I can't get hold of any Kaytee, will the MacMilk do, whais the easiest way to feed him?


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## warriec (Feb 2, 2007)

Simplest thing is to do is to swap babies so that the younger one gets enough food, i would put the bigger baby out of the nest bowl to the nest box so that the smaller one gets more food. Keep an eay out so that both baies get food.


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## carlos43 (Oct 16, 2007)

Becca: Generally the small one will catch up. The problem is what I call
the big baby-little baby syndrome, caused by strong incubation of the first
egg by the parents. The problem can be solved by you if you remove the
first egg as soon as it is laid...replace with a pot egg, if you like. Keep the
egg in the house in cotton batting until the second egg is laid. Then 
re-introduce the first. This way they will both be developed at the same 
rate and hatch at the same time. Result...same size babies. Carl.


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## RoundAbout (Apr 24, 2005)

I also had this happen once. The big baby looked like a monster and the little one was so puny I thought it would die. But both lived and turned out healthy. The parents fed both of them, though, equally. I hope your little one catches up.


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

carlos43 said:


> Becca: Generally the small one will catch up. The problem is what I call
> the big baby-little baby syndrome, caused by strong incubation of the first
> egg by the parents. The problem can be solved by you if you *remove the
> first egg as soon as it is laid...replace with a pot egg, if you like. Keep the
> ...


yep, that's what I always do. If you STILL get a huge amount of difference in the babies sizes, then there's probably a problem with the small one. I had one last year. Never knew what was wrong. I suspected Paratyphoid, but never treated for that. Just fed the baby a few time the first few days. She lived and is still here in my loft. She does seem to have a bit of a balance problem, but is healthy otherwise. She's mated to a little Satinette cock bird and lays eggs regularly. She's a real sweetie. Still small, but doing just fine.
I do this with all of my breeders, so you do have to mark the eggs so that you know who's egg is who's. Especially when you have 4 or 5 or 6 hens lay the same day.


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## Becca199212 (May 10, 2007)

Hmm I've never heard of that, won't the egg die if the parents aren't keeping it warm? 

I went out this morning to get the ingredients for the MacMilk and found most of them but I think I was missing Vitiman E and the fish body, no where had either. I went to 5 pharmacies asking for a 20ml syringe no one had any of those either, I was sure I work out how to do it using a bent spoon but I couldn't do that! 

I decided to try using a 5ml syringe and put lots of little squrits into the back of his throat. We only had the ones with a blunt end, the sort you get free with Nurofen packets on hand. He struggled so much against me trying to open his beak, when I eventually did and squited the milk he managed to pull away and close it but he must have got some because he sort of sucked what was ontop of his beak up then I put some mixture between my fingers and put his beak into it and he ate that aswell. Since its alot easier for me to do it that way and it seems to work for him I'll just carry on doing it like that.


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## Maggie-NC (Jun 22, 2005)

LOL JBecca, whatever works is fine as long as he doesn't aspirate any food and he probably won't. It just makes your hand nice and messy.  

Personally, for a baby we always use a small cc syringe. Matter of fact, we've just about stopped using the 20 cc syringes and use the 10 cc. It causes having to fill one more but we feel we have better control over the amount going in at one time especially for the tiny ones. For newborns we usually use a 3 cc syringe.


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## Feefo (Feb 8, 2002)

Hi Becca,

Perhaps I am not visualising how you feed right, but I think squirting to the back of the throat could be dangerous.

Have a look at the video at the bottom of the page at this link, it shows how to feed safely from a syringe:

http://www.kaytee.com/companion_animals/birds/hand_feeding/#video

Cynthia


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## Becca199212 (May 10, 2007)

No Cynthia, I was planning on doing that but I couldn't keep his beak open to do it, I'm pleased he wouldn't let me now. I'll try and get someone to record me doing it tomorrow, It's kind of hard to describe. 
Thankyou for the video, it was very usefull, when it says the food can be heated in the microwave is that right? 
So would a 10ml syringe work just as good and yes my hand, the carpet and the bird were all very messed up and stunk of baby food by the time I had finished, it came out of the carpet quite easy with a bit of shaving foam and a good scrub!


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## Becca199212 (May 10, 2007)

My sister suggested filling the finger from a glove with feed, it worked better than the way I was doing it plus it was alot less messy, I spilt it all down him but just kept filling the glove up till he was full, I recorded doing it this way instead- 
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=g8SZwfy12kY#GU5U2spHI_4
Here is a photo of the two fo them, you can see how much smaller he is compaired to the othr one-








The parents have stuffed it full of seed this morning, I can feel the whole seeds inside it's crop. They've stopped sitting on them aswell.


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