Meyer Hatchery - 4 of 15 chicks dead

[gimmie birdies]

try and mix water and yolk and dip chick beak in it and make sure you see them drink it gulp gulp gulp 4 sips every couple of hrs or so, I do this with new chicks even if they are not weak the first week is always kinda iffy if you don't take care.

 

[MsChickenMomma]

How are your chicks doing today? Hope you haven't lost any more

 

[jbs]

How are your chicks doing today? Hope you haven't lost any more

Thanks for asking, my last 9 chicks are doing fine. My last female maran was sneezing and having trouble swallowing one night, so I thought she was a goner for sure. I waterboarded her with watered down egg yolk, which seemed to make things worse. I think she had just inhaled or swallowed something wrong because she was fine within an hour or so. They're all eating like crazy and racing around, so hopefully no more dead chicks.

 

[Debs55]

I'm glad to hear they are doing ok. Do you plan on ordering replacements?

 

[spotsplus]

A few years ago I ordered 25 Sebright chicks for mid February. They all arrived DOA. I will never order that early again. April is earliest. I felt awful and still do.

 

[Coralietg]

I just wanted to post my experience. I ordered 26 chicks from McMurray. They shipped out on Saturday, and we didn't get them until Tuesday morning. 9 were dead in the box, 3 died soon after, then pretty much one died an hour until we were down to 2 chicks. 2!! 28 came in the box, and 2 survived. I was beyond devastated. Nothing I did helped, just one by one they would lie on their side, then shortly after convulse and die. McMurray offered to reship the chicks, and my partner talked me into it.

The new chicks shipped on a Saturday, and I got the call Monday morning. I raced to the post office, and was shocked to find a box full of 30 peeping chicks. Not one had passed. They had been split in the container, standards on one side, bantams on the other (my first box they were all together). Putting them into the brooder, I gave every single one a drop of Nutri-Drench. We've had them a week now, and "only" 4 have passed. One was the mystery exotic chick, it was tiny. Three were Bantams.

I wonder if the first box sat too long in the cold at a mailing facility? It's nerve wracking waiting for chickies in the mail.

 

[sphillips]

I'm new (sort of) to chicken raising. I live in southern New Mexico, so I guess compared to some of you, the weather here is mild. Our nights can get down to the teens, and I posted in another topic about thinking I'm ready to raise some chicks now. Our local Tractor Supply has chicks now, but have been considering ordering some instead. If I order chicks, is it best to wait another month or two until the weather warms a bit?

 

[NotableNancy]

If the Tractor Supply has them I would get them there. That way they are ordering in quantity and they should stay warm better and maybe arrive healthier.
Just my 2 cents!

 

[MsChickenMomma]

I would've got some chickens from Tractor Supply this year, but my TSC always has straight run, and I can't have any more roosters. I have two and my oldest rooster hates my younger one. I also really wanted to get some Golden Campines, which TSC never has.

 

[gimmie birdies]

you are not supposed to water board them!! that sounds terrible, I would give them egg you by making them dip their beak in yolk.