What to look for in chicks in deplorable conditions

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kmb221

kmb221

Songster
11 Years
Jul 18, 2008
131
1
121
Shippensburg, PA
Rescued 5 chicks today in deplorable living conditions. No food, water, sunlight. Put them in separate pen from my own hens. Hosed them off, gave food and water. They were starved. What do I look for as in possible problems? They were born in March. Two are Rhode Island reds, believe 2 are black jersey Giants and the other yet determined.
 
odd droppings, unwillingness to walk, check for parasites, anything pain related, you can give them some cooked egg for extra protein. good luck! and what kind of monster keeps chicks in those conditions!?
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Just provide them with quality feed, fresh water and fresh air for a while while you observe them. If they have a heavy parasite load they'll need to be wormed, but if they don't, the wormer itself can add additional stress they don't need. If they were confined, chances are less they have internal parasites. Lots of times food, water and fresh air works miracles.
 
They seem to be doing well this morning. They sure have been drinking the water and eating the feed I gave them. Their feathers are rather dull and a little frazzled looking, but I'm sure the lack of nutrition and sunlight have played a part in this.

Believe me, when I saw where these chickens were being kept, I was appalled. Anyway, they are safe now and will be taken care of properly.
 
I rescued some ex-battery hens that needed a kind, gentle home.
They were in rough shape much the same as yours but my 4 girls were in direct sunlight with no food or water, no coop-- in a makeshift corral.
They had feather loss, had been de-beaked, had worms and lice.
We doctored them up and loved them and they were the sweetest girls!
Be careful using the term "rescued" on here, as I learned yesterday.
A couple of members gave me grief about it - basically ridiculed me.
Not everyone in this forum is kind as I have sadly learned.
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I wish you the best with your rescues and bless you for giving them a chance at a good life.
 
Thank you, kmb221 & CluckerCottage! We need more kind people like you two in the world!!!
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I agree don't deworm until they get some weight gained. But, I would treat for coccidia as it has entire life cycle in the bird.

  1. I would sprinkle food with a good pinch of chick sized granite grit, too, as they need that to process food. After a few days of good food you could put them on grass. But, I would make sure they had grit available and were over initial rush to gorge from being starved.
    So very glad you rescued them from a home that did not understand how to care for them.
 
The sad thing is, they knew full well how to care for them, they just didn't want to. They would have starved them to death if i would not have taken them. They bought them because they were "cute".
 
Yes, many people buy cute little fuzzy chicks because they are cute, but when they get older, they don't want the responsibility.
Same as when people get their children Easter bunnies. Our local shelter had so many rabbits surrendered this year, it was awful.

Anyway, if the girls have a heavy load of worms, they will not thrive. The worms take nutrients away from the bird; they are basically eating 90% of the chickens daily food intake.
Worms can be seen in their poops, as was the case with my girls. We treated them with Wazine for roundworms then used Ivermectin pour-on (5 drops per hen) for other worms and lice.
Egg withdrawal period is 14 days. Re-treat the chickens again in 2 weeks.
note: this method will not treat active gapeworm.
 

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