Just picked up chicks from feed store, disaster already!

Aetheria1923

Hatching
Apr 6, 2017
8
0
9
We just picked up 7 Austrolorpe and Barred Rocks, set them up in a large plastic tub with the mini feeder n water-er I've used in the past. Half an hour later I peek in and find drenched babies! I don't know how they did it! Water-er still upright. I thought I was going to lose them all! My son n I put them on our bare skin under our shirts, and took them out in turns to dry with a towel, breathe on them. Took a couple of hours of this but we went from birds that couldn't even stand, shivering and ice cold, to 7 weak but fluffy dry babies. Now, the next problem: I'm terrified to put the water-er back in with them! How long can they go without so I can sleep, go to work, etc.? Should I get a different kind of water-er? Thanks in advance!
 
Change the bedding for new, dry chips. Have the lamp going and do a peanut butter jar top for the water until you can get a new one. Best of luck!
 
Very possible they bumped the waterer and sloshed out some water onto themselves. Or one started playing with it and the others joined in.

I'd be more worried about them not having access to water, than about them getting wet. Definitely don't leave them without water!

You didn't include photos of what the set up looks like, but I assume it's the standard mason jar-type screw on water dispenser? I've seen some people rig up a suspended version of that, using... mesh onion bags I think? Oh, here it is: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/957712/how-to-hang-a-chick-water-bottle
 
what type of waterer do you have right now? If it is still standing, and if you checked to make sure it isn't leaking, I wonder if you have it set up all the way at the end of the brooder - if so, they might have gotten spooked and crowded together in the waterer... See if you can put it up a tiny bit, that should help, too.
 
Thanks everyone. It is indeed the inverted mason jar thing. Not leaking so they most likely did slosh themselves. Brilliant, the onion bag rig. I'm going to try that. Silly girls nearly gave me heart failure!
 
I think hanging it might still make a mess when they bump into it... I always put mine up on overturned terracotta flowerpot saucers at first and later on overturned flowerpots. We have all different sizes floating around and I keep adjusting so the waterer is just a tad higher than their back. I use those things instead of just putting it up on pavers a
or similar so that they can't just jump on the pedestal and still be able to step or fall in the water. It works really well...
 
If its not set level it can end up emptying itself. I usually don't fill them all the way anyway. It makes it easier to change the water, plus if something like that happens it's not a full quart that gets dumped everywhere.
 
Marbles in the moat help to keep the tiny day old chicks out of the water also. if it's not screwed together properly, there won't be a vacume in the jar, and it will then leak all of the water out. If they kick shavings in to fill the waterer, the shavings will then wick the water out into the rest of the bedding. Or if the waterer is not set level in the brooder, it will then leak all of the water out. If the waterer is set just a bit crooked, make sure the hole is on the down hill side. Chicks can't be left without water. That's a recipe for dead chicks.
 
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Sound advice. I used to do the same thing with baby quail as they will die in a circumstance such as this. Marbles work great, rocks even, as long as they can stand and drink without taking a bath. Good point on the leveling of the water jar. You speak the truth.
 

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