8 days chicks, limping and hunchbacked

[JillGab]

Hello,
Two of my chicks became sick on day 5. They both started limping, had closed eyes, and were hunchbacked. I obtained Poly-vi-sol and have been administering 0.5ml total per day, 2-3 times a day for the past 3 days. However I have not noticed any significant improvement yet.
The chicks spend most of their time sitting under the heating plate, and occasionally come out to drink water, but they are not eating much.
They are still with the other 20 chicks.
What do you think caused this?
Should I separate them from the group?
Is there anything else I can do besides using Poly-vi-sol?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you.

 

[azygous]

First, your location would be most helpful.

Have these chicks been on local soil?
What are you feeding them?
How large is your brooder (dimensions)?
What is your heat source?
How warm is it in the brooder on the floor under the heat?
How warm is the room you have the brooder in?

Get some Poultry Nutri-drench. It's formulated for chickens. You can try feeding them crumbled tofu or finely minced hard boiled egg. Put sugar in the water to elevate their glucose and as an incentive to drink more. Make it easy on yourself and let all the chicks eat the special foods and the sugar water.

 

[JillGab]

First, your location would be most helpful.

Have these chicks been on local soil?
What are you feeding them?
How large is your brooder (dimensions)?
What is your heat source?
How warm is it in the brooder on the floor under the heat?
How warm is the room you have the brooder in?

Get some Poultry Nutri-drench. It's formulated for chickens. You can try feeding them crumbled tofu or finely minced hard boiled egg. Put sugar in the water to elevate their glucose and as an incentive to drink more. Make it easy on yourself and let all the chicks eat the special foods and the sugar water.

Thank you for your response.
I am located in Vancouver, BC, Canada.

The chicks have not been on local soil yet and have been kept inside the house the whole time.

I am currently feeding them Otter Co-op organic starter mash 19% (made by Canadian organic feeds) and one scrambled egg mixed with ground organic oats per day for everyone.

The dimensions of my brooder are 4 feet by 5 feet, and I am using a dog playpen cage with dog pee pads and paper towels on top until the 6th day. After that, I changed it to triple wood shavings with paper towels on top.

My heat source is a heating plate measuring 40cm x 60cm, which is suitable for 50-55 chicks, and a heated pad with paper towel on top.

I don't have an exact temperature reading, but I set the heating plate one side slightly higher, so chicks can choose the best temperature.

The room temperature is set to 22°C for the heat pump during the day and 18°C at night.

I ordered Poultry Nutri-drench, but it will take a week to arrive.

While I have been feeding all the chicks scrambled eggs, would feeding them finely minced hard boiled egg be better?

I’ve got some chick electrolytes.
Can I add them to the water for all the chicks? How long can I put it in their water?

I'm sorry for all the questions.
Thank you for taking the time to help me!

 

[azygous]

Questions are very welcome. And thank you for the thorough answers.

It appears your setup and feeding is just fine. Heat should be adequate for all chicks. So it boils down to these little laggards. Yes, finely minced hard boiled egg is easier for tiny chicks to handle than larger morsels. And if you use a flat dish, they will be able to peck the food bits from instinct to look for food on the floor. Chicks learn to eat by exploring the floor of the brooder to hunt for food. Crumbled tofu is also easy to eat, and chicks like the texture. When you get the nutri-drench, sprinkle it over the egg and tofu, and also put a squirt in their water.

Check their vents for pasting over. It's one of the most common reasons for a chick to act sick. You might also stuff some flakes of solid coconut oil into these sick ones in case they are constipated. It happens when pasty butt occurs.

Hopefully, all that's going on is failure-to-thrive and with extra food and the Nutri-drench for a week, they will catch up.