Sick hatchery chicks?

[Silkiesarefluffydinos]

Hello! I want sure if I should post it in the disease forum or here, so I'm posting this here. We recently ordered 15(the minimum) Assortment color Polish chicks from Purely Poultry hatchery. They arrived Wednesday morning and we got a call the moment the got off the truck(huge thank you to our country post office for calling us at 6 A.M to pick up chicks).they were home and under a light within 20 minutes of leaving the truck. They hatchery said they didn't excpect everyone to make it so included 3 extra chicks. However, 3 were dead on arrival with more than half of them appearing sick, and on closer ispection, a few with Nuerological issues.About an hour later, I went on to check on everybody to find one struggling. She couldn't stand or even lay down properly, and would frequently go into a fit of spasms. The closest I can compare it to is a broken neck, which she very well may have had, due to either stargazing or her head laying limp. I separated her into a bowl with a warm rice sock so she coulnt more around too much. Later I found one who had just seemed tired at first, but was unable to move her legs or wings. She was somewhat alert but mostly seemed very tired, not exactly lethargic. I thought Mareks, but 3 day old chicks who've been vaccinated? It's possible, but I'm not sure. The 1st chick died late last night, and the 2nd died sometimes between 6pm-9pm, while we were gone. that night I noticed another chicken who had been struggling with balance issues(one I think hashe neurological issues) looked worse. My mom said she would be fine and there was nothing wrong, so I left her alone. She had been drink and eating just fine on her own that day. This morning however, she couldn't move her legs very well, and the side she was unbalanced on was making her topple over. She is fully alert, just unable to stand. I'm making sure she still gets food and water, but have her separated and have to hand feed/water her. Is there anything we can do to save the rest of the chicks? Some of them appear a little bit sick and others seem healthy. We are Not pleased by our first experience ordering chicks. And we had ordered some silkies from them prior to the polish, so I'm really hoping the silks turn out much better. Is there anything I can do to help the sick chick? What could be happening to our chicks? Out of the initial 18 they sent us, 3 dead on arrival, 3 died within 24 hours or arrival, one is having problems and more are minorly sick. We have sent an email to the company. We are currently down to 11 chicks, including the sick one.

 

[Silkiesarefluffydinos]

So, another chuck has began displaying the same symptoms... she isn't fully alert as the other sick chick, but unable to move on her own. So far out of 18 sent, 3 dead on arrival, 3 died within 24 hours of arrival, two currently sick and seperated.

 

[danceswithronin]

I'm sorry you're having such a rough time with your first hatchery experience, I've ordered chicks from Meyer Hatchery twice (5 in the first order and 4 in the second) with no issues - all chicks arrived active and healthy.

Have you contacted the hatchery yet? Most have at least a 48 hour live arrival guarantee or something similar.

If you want to replace any of your lost chicks from somewhere else after getting a refund from Purely Poultry (if they give you one), Meyer only has a 3 chick minimum from April through the summer I believe, so you won't have to buy quite so many to meet the minimum order. They have several varieties of Polish available, and you can mix and match them as you please.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Hi there.

Welcome to the hell of shipping stress.

Thing is... I hatch a lot of chicks and without that experience I might be thinking the same as you.

Let me start by saying Purely Poultry doesn't have the highest quality birds... But they do have a LOT of breeds available.

Hatcheries send out chicks on their first day of hatch after they fluff up... so the yolk can support them for about 3 days. However, there are a lot of things you cannot tell at that point. Internal issues may not pop up until a chick has finished absorbing it's yolk and starts trying to process the feed.

From my pet chicken... I received one fully dead shipment of 25 and one shipment full of star gazers with only 2/25 surviving! Part of the issue was the handling by USPS as there was a whole lot of poo on the inside top of the box... indicating chicks had been upside down during shipping for a period of time.

I ordered Lavender Silkies from Purely last year... many didn't fit the SOP, some were clean legged or having only 4 toes... About HALF the shipment survived.

Since I started crushing my feed a little extra.. survival rate has gone up. What you are experiencing is par for the course. Feed stores experience the same thing. They just usually absorb the failures before we get them.

They aren't sick they are failing to thrive. Marek's does not display symptoms before 3 weeks old period and also cannot be passed to the egg... incubator chicks are clean from Marek's before they reach our homes.

If you are able to get Poultry nutri drench (at tractor supply or a feed store) and add to water... or even a homemade electrolyte solution (at minimum) if you don't have the packet. The Nutri Drench has vitamins, minerals, and importantly amino acids... by far the preferred product for shipped chick! A direct drop to the beak of anyone looking weak.

Also be extra sure to check for pasty butt as it is deadly fast... sometimes you can start to see wings drooping before it's too late. It can be easy to miss in larger groups.

Hang in there!

ETA: I get my best (not perfect) results from Meyer's and private NPIP breeders. But breeder chicks are straight run. Also, trampling and jostling can cause leg issues and death during shipment.

 

[danceswithronin]

I received one fully dead shipment of 25 and one shipment full of star gazers with only 2/25 surviving!

Jesus, what a nightmare. If that'd happened to me I don't know if I'd ever order from a hatchery again.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Jesus, what a nightmare. If that'd happened to me I don't know if I'd ever order from a hatchery again.

It was a terrible experience, especially never having lost any birds before. Yet some people get 100% live birds from MPC! My route is truly terrible... no such thing as express even if the sender pays for it.

Sometimes if you want certain breeds, you gotta do what you gotta do. Bantams seem to have a harder time in shipping. My most recent batch had just 13/23 survivors... You learn to focus on the living (once fear of losing them has passed)!

 

[Silkiesarefluffydinos]

Yes, we have contacted the hatchery and are waiting for a reply. We ordered from Purlet poultry because they had the breeds we needed, but next time I would prefer to order from Mc murray. The remining 'healthy' chicks seem to be okay, but keeping very close watch. We are currently feeding them medicated feed(it seems to have prevented pasty butt in past hatched chicks) and Sav-A-Chik Electrolyte water, which is what we've done with all chicks we've gotten from a feed store/breeder/hatched. we have Silkies and frizzle chicks due to ship April 24th, so I really hope they arrive in better shape! Would it be important to note that aside from the chickwith weird spasms(it was similar to a seizure.) , the only chicks that have fallen I'll wit the same symptoms are the black and white ones. We appear to have Buffs/buff laced, Golden laced, and black and white chicks who I'm unsure of the color. The dead on arrival were one buff and two black/white. We lost one golden laced within 24 hours and The 3 that have fallen Ill are all black/white.

 

[Silkiesarefluffydinos]

I found a stargaze yesterday. It died withing a few hours of being discovered. the one that seemed to be improving is now getting worse. The Area Around Her vent is wet, red and a little swollen.I've been feeding her by hand(mixing feed and electrolyte water, then putting the mixture against her beak to encourage her to eat, but she doesn't eat much at a time. She's Less alert than yesterday. Is there anything I can do to help her? Her vent is clean, only wet and swollen

 

[Folly's place]

I'm so sorry! I've had great luck with shipped chicks in the past, but not this month. It was very cold last week, and the chicks shipped April 10th who arrived early on the 12th have had issues. Eight out of 35 died within three days, awful! The remaining birds seem to be doing well for now. All standards, no bantams, and still not a good story.
A heat pack in the box would have helped a lot, IMO.
Mary