Might be too soon to tell.. Is one a roo?

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sara1226

sara1226

Songster
Apr 15, 2015
300
37
136
Northern Wisconsin
This is my first time with chicks. I sent for 5 bantam dominiques from a hatchery, and they sent six. They seemed very weak, and sadly we are down to two left. One is growing faster than the other. So fast In fact that it seemed to have a hard time using its legs until I made it a foot brace and gave them some vitamins.. Anyway... They were all saposed to me vaccinated and sexed (requested females). But when a hatchery throws in an extra, is THAT one sexed and vaccinated too?

I'm just curious if since one is larger, the wing stripes are different, and has less yellow on top of the head, could that mean that one is a male???

Anyone know or are these too small to tell?
700

M
 
0wen said:
Probably too early to tell - how old are they?  Also, out of curiosity, are these birds from Ideal Poultry?
Click to expand...


They are 3 weeks old as of yesterday. They are not from Ideal.

I had more than half of my flock die from Mareks disease so I did lengthy research on the disease and on the vaccines available. I chose to find a hatchery that used the best Mareks vaccine on the market, but that wasn't easy to find. The hatchery I finally found was 2 states away and the chicks took 2.5 days to get here. I also know that the sexing process is hard on them. But I didn't have much choice.. If they were all Roos I couldn't sell them, as they would be exposed to Mareks disease once on my property.

I also had ordered 10 silkies.. Only lost 2 of those.

Why so many Dominique losses?!? Was the sexing and shipping to hard on them? Was it a weak batch of birds?

I don't know but I hope my last 2 pull through they are very pretty.
 
Shipping can be rough on them. I (and many others) this year have had a lot of losses from Ideal Poultry birds - my reasoning for asking. Realistically, most commercial hatcheries & the USPS don't really care about the well being of these birds. Not preaching - I order from them also occasionally, just noting. As far as your birds in particular - it could be any number of things really - illness, nutrition, dehydration, so on and so forth. I would try some electrolytes or sugar water to see if it gives them a boost. The chick that's 'fluffed up' in the photo above doesn't look great...
 
0wen said:
Shipping can be rough on them.  I (and many others) this year have had a lot of losses from Ideal Poultry birds - my reasoning for asking.  Realistically, most commercial hatcheries & the USPS don't really care about the well being of these birds.  Not preaching - I order from them also occasionally, just noting.  As far as your birds in particular - it could be any number of things really - illness, nutrition, dehydration, so on and so forth.  I would try some electrolytes or sugar water to see if it gives them a boost.  The chick that's 'fluffed up' in the photo above doesn't look great...
Click to expand...


I know she doesn't look well. I call her Gimper because just a few days ago she couldn't even walk. Her toes were curling and she wasn't using her leg. That's the one who was growing faster than the rest. I'm new to this but I suspect because she was growing so fast she needed additional vitamins. I made a splint for her toes, and within 48 hours she started walking and now she is even running and jumping. I also rotated ACV, probiotics, electrolytes... and a broad spectrum poultry vitamin including riboflavin and B's but excluding iron. At times she is very spunky, and other times she is still sleeping and a bit hunched over. I think she is still on the mend.

Hoping she pulls through... Not sure what else I can try to help her.
Any additional suggestions??
 
That she's drinking on her own is good. Dehydration is terrible for chicks, and like you're doing you can load her up on electrolytes and vitamins via drink to help her out. Running around is a good sign as well. I just had a chick hatch from a saddle shaped air cell that needed help hatching because of a funky position. Like yours, she had to get splints to walk and such - she's up and running but still in that stage as if Im not sure she's going to make it - Actually surprised to see her alive when I tilt back the ecoglow in the brooder (always expecting a corpse). Chickens can be frustrating in that it's easy to them to fall sick and/or expire - being 3 weeks old adds some durability. Are they on medicated feed (or vaccinated for coccidiosis at hatchery)? Still in the brooder or are they outside?

Did the Silkies come from the same hatchery and in the same order?
 
0wen said:
That she's drinking on her own is good.  Dehydration is terrible for chicks, and like you're doing you can load her up on electrolytes and vitamins via drink to help her out.  Running around is a good sign as well.  I just had a chick hatch from a saddle shaped air cell that needed help hatching because of a funky position.  Like yours, she had to get splints to walk and such - she's up and running but still in that stage as if Im not sure she's going to make it - Actually surprised to see her alive when I tilt back the ecoglow in the brooder (always expecting a corpse).  Chickens can be frustrating in that it's easy to them to fall sick and/or expire - being 3 weeks old adds some durability.  Are they on medicated feed (or vaccinated for coccidiosis at hatchery)?  Still in the brooder or are they outside?

Did the Silkies come from the same hatchery and in the same order?
Click to expand...


I don't believe this!! I just checked on them because I didn't hear anything for awhile and her toes are curling again and she went back to limping! How frustrating! I don't know what happened. I took the toe brace off after it was on for two days and she was walking normal. I did back off on the vitamins.. Is that what caused it to happen again?

Can anyone please help me? I put the brace back on her toes to keep them straight again, but she's just trying to take it off.

1f614.png


Oh.. You asked about the silkies, they did all come together in the same shipment. Only lost two out of 12 of those, one of which had a twisted neck.
 
Anyone have any other suggestions? I just put a crushed tablet of vitamin B complex in the water. I read about polyvisol.. Would that be a better thing to try?

I'm never using that hatchery again. Started with 18.. Down to 12 and these 2 are questionable.
 

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