# 10 day old chick eyes still closed



## nwoodrow

I have never come across a chick whose eyes didnt open by 10 days old, the chick is not 10days and its eyes are still closed, can it take longer or is there something that i can do?


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## srtiels

If you can post some pix's it would help....


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## nwoodrow

i will get pictures taken today, right now mom and dad are in box and i like my fingers


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## srtiels

Is it an only chick or are there more in the nest. The only cause I have seen for eyes being slow to open are if it is stunted and/or dehydrated.


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## nwoodrow

it is an only chick i have a picture of it at 8 days old


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## srtiels

Here is a link to show the daily growth: http://justcockatiels.weebly.com/watch-me-grow.html

And also a pix you can copy/save/print for reference. Click on the pox, then click on it again to bring up the actual size.

It looks like yours is a little behind on growth. The pix is not a close up of the baby for me to see what is going on...


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## nwoodrow

i will weigh it today to see where it is weight wise but it seems healthy, my friend has a 3 week old cockatiel chick that is like 18 grams, here is a closer veiw of the chick at 8 days of age, also i know that ive read somewere online that eyes open around day 13 have you heard that before


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## nwoodrow

Okay here is an up-to-date photo of the chick, it has a full crop so it seems to be low in the weight range, though mommy and daddy do go in and feed regularily, should i try ti get it on supplemental feedings to see if it can go up in the weight range. it hatched somewere between 9pm on the 14th and 5 am on the 15th of feb


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## srtiels

OK....weights are going to vary from my chart. BUT deveopment at each age should be the same for each bird regardless of the weight. If development is not comparable to the chart them something is wrong. Either the parents are not feeding enough, OR not enough fluids and dehydrating the chick, which in turn makes it harder to digest and assimulate nutrients from the food.

Another cause could be not enough bedding (which looks like may be going on with you) which cause the chick to always be chilled and it is using up body reserves to help it's body generate heat...rather than using those reserves towards growth. there should be at least 3" of bedding below the eggs and chicks. The bedding helps to maintain heat below the chick AND it also will maintain some moisture that the parents bring into the nest. parents will lightly wet down the chicks until they are completely covered with pin feathers. This moisture helps to hydrate the chicks and also promotes good feather growth.

Also...your pix still does *not* help. OK when taking the pix, take it from 18-24" away from the chick. Lightly press the shutter buton until the camera focuses in real good and then press the shutter button. When you download the pix *crop *the pix, so that there is only an inch or two of area surrounding the bird. Cropping will blow up the pix so that you can se detail better.


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## srtiels

It looks hydrated. yes...you might want to supplement feed it a couple times a day. add alot more bedding under it so that it does not have to use up body reserves neededed for growth to keep itself warm when the parents aren't on it.


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## nwoodrow

okay thank you, well when i weighed the chick its crop seamed to be really soft so theres lots of water, as for bedding ive tried to add more mom and dad throw it out, any suggestions as to help with that, they completely moved any extra bedding to the opposite side of the nest box. hopefully this picture will be better.


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## nwoodrow

there are only 2 times in the day when both mom and dad are not in the nest box and when they are its for not even 10 minutes, there is always one or the other in there still, like the changing of the guard, lol, i will try to put more bedding in however it will have to wait for when they both are out again.


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## nwoodrow

sowy have one more question, everytime i look at the chick its got a full crop, and i hear the parents through out the day feeding it, when do i go in to give it a supplement feeding? i dont want to add to its already full crop.


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## srtiels

OK....if they are keeping food in the crop, just take a look at the crop a few times a day. Pick up the baby...and press the crop contents between your fingers. If the crop contents are the right consistency when you remove your fingertips the crop should immediately return to a nice and round shape. if the crop contents are lacking fluids when you remove your fingertips there will be indents where you pressed, and may take 5-15 seconds to return to plump and round. If the indents are seen then the parents are not giving enough fluids and you can assist feed just a small amount of very dilute formula a couple times a day to help soften the crop up.


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## nwoodrow

thank you for your help, i added more bedding around the baby, hopefully mom and dad wont push it out, they still do the on and off switch that some other parents have stopped doing, it looks like pin feathers are coming in on wings and head, if anything he or she may only be at the 7 day development range but i will keep an eye on it as to the crop when i weighed, and checked its crop it bounced right back, not sure y eyes are not open yet but i wont worry unless they dont open within the next couple of days.


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## srtiels

Great job on cropping the pix....it looks good and shows detail better. the little one look healthy in the pix and the skin tone does not look like any dehydration.


That good that the crop bounced back.

Hopefully with the extra bedding you may start to see more daily growth and changes.

As to the eyes...can you see any slits to the center of them? If so you can blot the eye area with some saline or distilled water. Gently try to pry them open *just a little*. sometimes a waxy film will be over the eye area and hinder them from opening.


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## nwoodrow

no there are no slits in the eyes that i can see, they seem fully closed, next time i pull it out i will give it a better and do as u suggest if needed


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## srtiels

Yes....on rare occasions I have had to wet the eyes and partially open them. In looking at your pix they are normal sized. If there was a problem where the slit was would look puckered, and the roundness of the eyes smaller.


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## nwoodrow

Well i checked baby today and there are slits starting to appear on the eyes, so they seem to be opening up, will let you know when they fully open


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