Hello everyone, hoping someone here can help--I have a minute black rosecomb baby the size of a very small mouse,doing my best to keep it alive after its mother booted it out of the nest. When I found it it was so cold I thought it was dead. Kept it in my hand for a couple of hours to revive it, reintroduced it to mother who went for it, so it's back with me in a shoe box under a lamp in a microfibre towel at night and in my shirt by day.

I've been feeding it every 3 hrs, but although it will drink it's been virtually impossible to get it to eat even a crumb paste. It's so small that a syringe is too big for its beak. I've been dripping crumb soup onto its beak in desperation and it's living in my shirt :). It's reasonably active given that it can't be getting much to eat, and at 5 days old it's nowhere near the size of its siblings. It hasn't got a pecking reflex to speak of, do you have any suggestions how I can help this little one survive?

There is a hand-rearing food made by CeDe for parrots etc., it is based on egg, you mix it with water, you can make it very sloppy.  The food must be warm when fed to the young otherwise it stays in their crop.   You must make sure the crop empties after feeding.  Feed every 2 hours to begin with, using a tiny syringe 1 ml., if you tap the top of the beak the chick may open its beak.  If you have trouble getting a syringe that size your local vet may have one.

Hope that this helps

Just adding that if you put food down and show it how to eat by pretending to peck at the food, it may copy you  :)   don't they imprint on what they see their mum doing?

hi dogsdinner, thanks for this. I've tried the beak tapping--sometimes it works, but then he shuts it just as quickly and the food stays at the side of his beak, or he shakes his head and the food flies out...:(

I did try the pecking at the dish trick, but he doesn't seem to get it--he is so small and weak he can't stand for long. I had him in with a runner duckling for a day, hoping he would see what was going on and copy, but the duckling likes to have several baths a day and then sits next to the chick, who was getting soaked and hypothermic.

I'll see if the vet has a 1mm syringe.

Found the following link:

http://www.birdcareco.com/English/Arts/Breed_arts/Chick/Problems.html

It looks to be a useful site, and there may be some information that might help. 

These animals are such a worry - best of luck with him.

i put mine on newspaper then drop crumbs from a height....this makes a noise that they recognise and like and encourages them to peck.

thanks dogsdinner and sam--I'm sad to say that the poor baby died earlier this morning in spite of everything--it may be that he wasn't quite "right" and that's why the hen kicked him out. All the same I had really hoped he would pull through after struggling for 5 days, but he just wouldn't eat on his own and never really had the strength to stand on his own without toppling over.

I'll have a good read of this website in case I find myself in this situation again...I don't know who it was that suggested that rosecombs were poor broodies, because I must have the world champions :), every single blessed one of them is doing its best to hatch their and others' eggs!
In the meantime my little runner duck orphan is doing splendidly and even taming down a little, so I suppose there is some bright news even in this sadness.

thanks again everyone

i put mine on newspaper then drop crumbs from a height

As luck would have it we have another abandoned chick this week, so I am glad to say this this one is eating and drinking well--and that dropping crumb as you suggested tuned the trick with the little one. Looking at its wing feathers newly hatched, it's a pullet :) (which makes a change since the ones I  have pulled out all the stops for invariably are the cockerels).

She's already spoilt to death by everyone who sees her--as she is living in my fleece she goes shopping, to work etc and is a great socialiser!