- Feb 23, 2013
- 22
- 0
- 22
I am a super first-time chicken owner. I have a young Cockatiel that I have owned for four years so I have a little bit of bird ownership experience but nothing like chickens. I have four chicks-- a Cochin, Americauna, Barred Rock and a Buff Orpington. As it turned out later, they are all slightly different ages.
I have a two-week old Buff Orpington chick who, just today, has started to show signs of fatigue, lethargy, dizziness and not eating. I suspect, since she's the youngest of the group of four that I have, she may have been bullied away from the food--only because she has been the weakest of the group from the start and I've seen her eat less than the others for a while. I give them all food and water in excess, change the water several times a day and check on them a lot.
I read that she might be dehydrated and nutrient-deficient to the point where she's too weak to feed herself, so I started gently feeding her hard-boiled egg pieces and honey-water (a half a cup of water to a 1/4 of a tsp of honey or so) and I made her starter feed into a mash with hard boiled egg, honey and a vitamin supplement "for birds" that I had purchased for my Cockatiel when she was laying too many eggs. I put only a dash of it into the mash as an emergency measure because I want her to get what she needs asap.
The vitamin supplement does have Iron in it but I think the amount is small enough for birds to handle, being that it is specially formulated. The brand is Zoo Med, Avian Plus, Vitamin and Mineral Supplement for Birds. The stated Guaranteed Analysis for Iron is 3500PPM/3500kg in a 113.4g bottle. Is this safe enough for my chicks if they need it?
I will be forever in this forum's debt if anyone can help me get my Buffy back into a happy state.
I have a two-week old Buff Orpington chick who, just today, has started to show signs of fatigue, lethargy, dizziness and not eating. I suspect, since she's the youngest of the group of four that I have, she may have been bullied away from the food--only because she has been the weakest of the group from the start and I've seen her eat less than the others for a while. I give them all food and water in excess, change the water several times a day and check on them a lot.
I read that she might be dehydrated and nutrient-deficient to the point where she's too weak to feed herself, so I started gently feeding her hard-boiled egg pieces and honey-water (a half a cup of water to a 1/4 of a tsp of honey or so) and I made her starter feed into a mash with hard boiled egg, honey and a vitamin supplement "for birds" that I had purchased for my Cockatiel when she was laying too many eggs. I put only a dash of it into the mash as an emergency measure because I want her to get what she needs asap.
The vitamin supplement does have Iron in it but I think the amount is small enough for birds to handle, being that it is specially formulated. The brand is Zoo Med, Avian Plus, Vitamin and Mineral Supplement for Birds. The stated Guaranteed Analysis for Iron is 3500PPM/3500kg in a 113.4g bottle. Is this safe enough for my chicks if they need it?
I will be forever in this forum's debt if anyone can help me get my Buffy back into a happy state.
