Baby chicks need to be eating the correct foods in order for them to grow healthy and happy. So, if your baby bird is not eating as it should be you’d be right to be worried.
This article explores why your day-old chick is not eating
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Day old chick is not eating:
If one of your chicks is not like the rest, or doesn’t behave like the rest of the birds, then you’d understandably be very confused and concerned. This includes a day-old baby chick not eating.
Here are reasons why your day-old baby chick is not eating:
The bird is not hungry:
Your baby chick may not be eating because it is getting all the nutrients it needs from the yolk inside its body.
When a baby chick is about to hatch, it absorbs the remaining yolk in the egg into its abdomen and its abdomen closes up.
This yolk will sustain the bird for the first 24 or 48 hours of its lif,e so, if your baby chick is not eating then it may simply be being sustained by the yolk
What to do:
This is quite normal behavior, the chicks use up their yolks at slightly different rates. Your bird should start to eat once there is no yolk left to sustain it.
The bird is weak:
Another reason why your baby bird may not be eating is that it is too weak to eat.
A bird will usually have enough energy to move around a little while after hatching out of its egg, but, this isn’t the case for all birds.
Your bird may still be too weak to eat 24 hours after hatching, if this is the case you may need to intervene.
What to do:
This is a simple problem to solve, since the bird is too weak to eat you would need to give the bird sugar water to drink to boost its energy levels.
Mix up a sugar water solution and dip the bird’s beak into the solution to help it drink. The bird will swallow once it has some water in its mouth.
The ratio of sugar and water for this solution should be 1 teaspoon sugar, molasses, or honey to one-quart water.
You can also give the bird foods that are easy to drink such as raw egg yolk or some plain yoghurt. These will not only give the bird energy it will also give the bird nutrients in its early days of life.
Do not do this long term as this is not a nutritionally dense meal for the bird and the sugar can cause issues in your bird.
The bird is cold:
If the bird is too cold then its internal organs will not work as efficiently as they should and the bird will have no desire to eat.
Baby birds are usually kept warm by their mothers as they can’t keep themselves warm. So, you’d need to get the bird warm to get it to eat.
What to do:
Getting the bird’s temperature up will get the bird to want to eat. You can do this by placing the bird under a heat lamp, also, place the bird’s food close by so it doesn’t have to go far when looking to eat.
If you enjoyed this article then you may also be interested in other bird related articles. Here are some articles that you may be interested in: Baby Chickens Vibrating, Baby Chick Cries When Pooping, Quail Chick Not Growing, Quail Chick Leg Problems, Quail Chick Feet Problems, 5 Day Old Chick Not Eating, 2 Week Old Chick Not Eating, Lethargic Quail Chick, Baby Chick Not Moving Much