Chickens vomiting and seeming paralyzed

Sorry, long post...

Went to bed last night with what seemed like 21 healthy chicks. Woke up at 530 and checked on them and one was dead. We removed her and then 2 others started acting weird. Took them out and gave them a little sugar water with a dropper. One died shortly after the other is still kicking, but still lethargic. We have a nipple waterer and I'm always worried they aren't getting the water out of it. I went and got a dish with water and put it in with the chicks. They flocked to it and drank like crazy. About 10 mins later we had several chickens vomiting and flopping around. Some looked as if they were paralyzed and couldn't move. We put them in another box with another lamp and we are hoping for the best. Some are now moving, but slowly. We ended up losing 4 at this moment. Hoping the others bounce back. Did we do something wrong? We are very new at this and I only know what I have read on how to care for them.

UPDATE: A couple of the chicks we thought were done for. They were limp and liveless. We put them in a box and put them on the porch until we could dispose of them. Minutes later these things were chirping like crazy. We brought them back in and put them under the lamp. We had a few others that were doing the same thing so we huddled them together and put them under the lamp. We left to get a different waterer and came back a couple hours ago. 4 of the chicks we put in a separate brooder seemed to have snapped out if it. They were walking around scratching and eating. 2 others did not. They were the smallest of the batch. One died and another is still fighting. We put the ones that were up and moving back with the other chicks. They were all doing fine until I put the new waterer in with them. They all drank out of it immediately. Now one of the ones we placed back with the other chicks is again doing the vomiting, flopping and acting paralyzed like. They look like someone snapped their necks when they do this. Their heads go all the back and touch their backs and they are just limp. I've never seen anything like it. Could maybe they be drinking to much to fast and drowning themselves? Just to add...we changed their bedding yesterday along with the container they were in. The lamp was raised as a result, but still at 90 degrees and we have it pointing to one side so they can get to a cool area if they need to.

It sounds like dehydration, and they can have neurological symptoms with that. Get some SaveAChick or other brand of vitamins and electrolytes, or add 1 tsp of sugar to a gallon of tepid water. Use for a couple of days. I'm not sold on nipple waterers, although they are very popular. I would worry that some wouldn't fight hard enough to use them. It's probably always a good practice to have a regular waterer available. When new chicks start dropping dead, it is usually from shipping stress which includes dehydration or from being cold. Hopefully, they will all start to thrive. Sorry for your loss.

We got the nipple waterer because one they used them in the store we got them from with what seemed like no problem. Two, the seemed so much more sanitary. I do believe they were dehydrated and when they drank the large amounts of water from the dish they sent their selves into shock. The larger of the chicks weren't affected, so they must have been getting water. Thanks for the input. I'm going to research more on the subject and see if that might have been the cause.

I realize that many feed stores have been using them, since the chicks are very messing getting pine shavings in their water. I was recently at one store where they had at least 150 chicks in a 6 ft long water tank brooder. Instead of the water being in the middle, it was all the way to one end. The feed was at the other end. It was so crowded, I wondered how some of the chicks ever got to each end to eat or drink.

Eggcessive said:

I realize that many feed stores have been using them, since the chicks are very messing getting pine shavings in their water. I was recently at one store where they had at least 150 chicks in a 6 ft long water tank brooder. Instead of the water being in the middle, it was all the way to one end. The feed was at the other end. It was so crowded, I wondered how some of the chicks ever got to each end to eat or drink. 

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We got the chicks at Rural King. There were ALOT of chicks that way.

That is the store I was in.

I went to Rural King again today to pick up Save-a-Chick. They got more chickens in and the poor things were so cramped. One bin of wyandottes barely had a foot of available space to move and I bet there were 200 of those chicks in there. Others had food, but not even an empty waterer...they didn't have a waterer!!! After seeing my chicks do what they did because of dehydration I was feeling sick and hoping the poor thing survive. They also had some that were just piling on top of each other. I'm assuming they were cold.