Hey guys,
We picked up our brand new baby australorps a week ago yesterday. They've done great! Eighteen of them and I've been so pleased with how well they're all growing and eating and drinking and being active. They have just looked so good.
I am using those absorbant pads for bedridden people in the bottom of their crate. They are out in an unheated garage that has been staying around 50 degrees. Heat lamp on and they do not act cold. When they sleep they are together but not piled up on one another. I also started changing their pad and refilling their feed and water twice a day about 3 or 4 days ago.
Today I changed them this morning around 11, then had to leave for the afternoon. When I got home about an hour ago I went out to change them and found that the pad was SOPPING wet. An edge of the pad had fallen over into the water and leeched all of it out. They had been standing on a sopping wet pad for hours possibly.
Changed it all out, used two as the underlying floor of the crate was also wet, dried it too as best I could. Refilled their feeder, their water. Made sure no edges can fall into it this time. All the chicks are moving around, as best I could tell most if not all of them ate some and drank some. They've settled down now to sleep. They look a little bedraggled. Like the feet of others got little bits of stuff on their backs. I'll check them again in a little while.
So, for you experienced chick-raisers, would you expect this to seriously affect them? Cold shock, or being damp, or at least their little feet being damp for a while?
Thanks.
