With the amount of people posting in frustration about sick chicks I am starting this thread to hopfully end some of the problems. A few years ago I lost 8 out of 12 chicks over a period of 4 weeks. I was at my wits end trying to figure out what was going on because I'd never come up against that situation in all the years I've been raising chicks. These were chicks I bought from a well known feed store that has always had quality birds. I started researching different areas and here is my discovery. Sometimes these chicks have picked up a bacteria from the INCUBATOR or initial brooder, which is more common. I eventually came up with the idea of a mixture of Pedialite, 1 teaspoon of tetracycline, and 1 teaspoon of honey and gave it to them as their water.
At the time I had one chick that was on death's doorstep, laying on its side, eyes rolled back barely breathing even when I picked it up, just limp. I had little hope, but put drops of my solution from a suringe into/onto its beak. I came back later expecting to remove and dispose of a little corpse and it was up running around! Needless to say, I now use this pedialite mixture for chick water at the first sign of trouble.
I don't want to imply that this is a cure all, but it seems to work for me. I haven't lost another chick to illness since I've been using this mixture.
At the time I had one chick that was on death's doorstep, laying on its side, eyes rolled back barely breathing even when I picked it up, just limp. I had little hope, but put drops of my solution from a suringe into/onto its beak. I came back later expecting to remove and dispose of a little corpse and it was up running around! Needless to say, I now use this pedialite mixture for chick water at the first sign of trouble.
I don't want to imply that this is a cure all, but it seems to work for me. I haven't lost another chick to illness since I've been using this mixture.
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i was just going to make a post asking for help. Its too late to go pick up pedialite or anything but i do have honey. What can i do? There are 8 other chicks in the brooder.
