InspectorB
In the Brooder
- Jun 2, 2021
- 5
- 17
- 39
Greetings all 
I'm a first-time chick owner as of Thursday last week, and I have had hardly any sleep since!!! I have a lot of questions and a rather long explanation ... I'll try to get to the point ... We received 7 Jubilee Orpingtons and 11 Light Sussex chicks from Chicken Scratch Poultry ... two Orpingtons died in the mail, and since then we've lost another and 4 Light Sussex. I had them under a Brinsea heater ... I suspect they got chilled in the mail and weren't able to recover. I gave them starter grower and electrolytes/probiotics for the first two days, and tried to feed raw egg yolk from a dropper to the weak ones, but no luck.
Day 2, 7th chick died, and I thought maybe some wood chips along the back of the box under the Brinsea might help insulate the weaker ones better. Until then we had only paper towel bedding, and they were all eating only starter grower.
Day 3 All of a sudden one chick (Pecker, for now) started aggressively pecking the others' eyelashes and drawing blood, so I set up a separate brooder with a heat lamp for that one ... it stayed there overnight.
Day 4 in the morning Pecker was sluggish and not eating. I figured "he" was lonely, so I put a divider into the original brooder so they could be together but not pecking. The heat lamp covers both sides. Pecker was not improving, however, and that's when I noticed his very swollen crop. I immediately cleaned all the wood chips out, started massaging the little crop, feeding coconut oil and electrolytes. Pecker was very lethargic all day, and I began to suspect that others also had impacted crops (agh!) So I switched them to a wet chick feed mash with scrambled eggs, oil and yogurt. I also sprinkled a small amount of sand on the floor. That night I put them all (including Pecker ... figured he couldn't see eyelashes at night) under the Brinsea and turned off the heat lamp so they would sleep, because I wanted to monitor their crops in the am.
Day 5 Sure enough, several had large crops in the morning and one or two were hard, so I kept them all on soft feed and cleaned up the sand ... I didn't want anybody to have too much? Pecker pooped out some lumpy chips and cheered up considerably ... I massaged the others crops at least twice yesterday, and the ones with hard crops I hand fed oil and electrolytes. They seemed to be acting normal and eating, except for Pecker who was still sluggish and one other who doesn't seem to have a full crop and is also very small and not eating much.
Day 6 I put them all under the Brinsea again last night so it was dark and they would sleep. This morning I still have two or three hard crops! Agh! They haven't had hard food in almost two days. Pecker is small, but seems to be gaining strength and eating a little. I'm worried though because he drinks a TON and eats only a little, and he keeps burping. The other little one who isn't eating much is also burping? Neither of them seem to have impacted crops.
So here are my questions:
1) what is wrong with the burping chicks? They aren't eating well and are much smaller than the others. Pecker is pooping normally ... not sure about the other.
2) I've put them under the Brinsea at night so they'll sleep and give their crops a rest, but they seem to like the heat lamp. Should I just stick with that? I can't use only the Brinsea because Pecker still wants to tear off everybody's eyelashes and has to be separate.
3) Should I give a little more grit?
4) tomorrow is day 7, but I don't want to raise the heat lamp because Pecker and the other weak chick are lying under it almost all the time. They get up and eat a bit, but go right back to snuggling under it. The other chicks run around like normal. Should I leave it where it is for a few more days?
Any other thoughts?
Thank you so much!
I'm a first-time chick owner as of Thursday last week, and I have had hardly any sleep since!!! I have a lot of questions and a rather long explanation ... I'll try to get to the point ... We received 7 Jubilee Orpingtons and 11 Light Sussex chicks from Chicken Scratch Poultry ... two Orpingtons died in the mail, and since then we've lost another and 4 Light Sussex. I had them under a Brinsea heater ... I suspect they got chilled in the mail and weren't able to recover. I gave them starter grower and electrolytes/probiotics for the first two days, and tried to feed raw egg yolk from a dropper to the weak ones, but no luck.
Day 2, 7th chick died, and I thought maybe some wood chips along the back of the box under the Brinsea might help insulate the weaker ones better. Until then we had only paper towel bedding, and they were all eating only starter grower.
Day 3 All of a sudden one chick (Pecker, for now) started aggressively pecking the others' eyelashes and drawing blood, so I set up a separate brooder with a heat lamp for that one ... it stayed there overnight.
Day 4 in the morning Pecker was sluggish and not eating. I figured "he" was lonely, so I put a divider into the original brooder so they could be together but not pecking. The heat lamp covers both sides. Pecker was not improving, however, and that's when I noticed his very swollen crop. I immediately cleaned all the wood chips out, started massaging the little crop, feeding coconut oil and electrolytes. Pecker was very lethargic all day, and I began to suspect that others also had impacted crops (agh!) So I switched them to a wet chick feed mash with scrambled eggs, oil and yogurt. I also sprinkled a small amount of sand on the floor. That night I put them all (including Pecker ... figured he couldn't see eyelashes at night) under the Brinsea and turned off the heat lamp so they would sleep, because I wanted to monitor their crops in the am.
Day 5 Sure enough, several had large crops in the morning and one or two were hard, so I kept them all on soft feed and cleaned up the sand ... I didn't want anybody to have too much? Pecker pooped out some lumpy chips and cheered up considerably ... I massaged the others crops at least twice yesterday, and the ones with hard crops I hand fed oil and electrolytes. They seemed to be acting normal and eating, except for Pecker who was still sluggish and one other who doesn't seem to have a full crop and is also very small and not eating much.
Day 6 I put them all under the Brinsea again last night so it was dark and they would sleep. This morning I still have two or three hard crops! Agh! They haven't had hard food in almost two days. Pecker is small, but seems to be gaining strength and eating a little. I'm worried though because he drinks a TON and eats only a little, and he keeps burping. The other little one who isn't eating much is also burping? Neither of them seem to have impacted crops.
So here are my questions:
1) what is wrong with the burping chicks? They aren't eating well and are much smaller than the others. Pecker is pooping normally ... not sure about the other.
2) I've put them under the Brinsea at night so they'll sleep and give their crops a rest, but they seem to like the heat lamp. Should I just stick with that? I can't use only the Brinsea because Pecker still wants to tear off everybody's eyelashes and has to be separate.
3) Should I give a little more grit?
4) tomorrow is day 7, but I don't want to raise the heat lamp because Pecker and the other weak chick are lying under it almost all the time. They get up and eat a bit, but go right back to snuggling under it. The other chicks run around like normal. Should I leave it where it is for a few more days?
Any other thoughts?
Thank you so much!
