4 week old chicks got too cold

[sewcrazy]

We had a dozen 4 weeks olds in a dog crate on the covered porch. They had a heat lamp on them with a tarp over it at night. It has been warm here. last night a storm front blew in, earlier then was forecasted and the temp dropped 40 degrees. The tarp blew off and the outdoor rated heat lamp exploded. So I woke this morning to 4 dead chicks and 8 very cold very wet chicks. The 4 dead ones were markedly smaller than the rest.

My son and I spent an hour drying chicks and most are now doing well. 2 are still iffy, but are starting to perk up. We have them inside under in our new chick box under a heat lamp. What else can we do for them?

 

[Blooie]

We had a dozen 4 weeks olds in a dog crate on the covered porch. They had a heat lamp on them with a tarp over it at night. It has been warm here. last night a storm front blew in, earlier then was forecasted and the temp dropped 40 degrees. The tarp blew off and the outdoor rated heat lamp exploded. So I woke this morning to 4 dead chicks and 8 very cold very wet chicks. The 4 dead ones were markedly smaller than the rest.

My son and I spent an hour drying chicks and most are now doing well. 2 are still iffy, but are starting to perk up. We have them inside under in our new chick box under a heat lamp. What else can we do for them?

If you have access to some probiotics to put in their water that might help. There's a product called Sav-a-chick. In a pinch if that's not handy, you can put a little sugar in their water and dip each chick's beak in to make sure that they get some into them. That's what I did when mine got chilled in addition to being stressed from delayed shipping, and I saved all but one of them.

In light of the dramatic temperature fluctuation you might also want to double your diligence against pasty butt, (and yes, it does happen in older chicks and chickens) and treat each chick as you notice it. I wish you all the luck in the world with them! Keep us posted.

 

[sewcrazy]

The surviving 8 are doing fine now. I reduced the heat lamp, still keeping it on as its a damp chilly even in the house today. Been feeding them egg yolks and yogurt this morning.