Hi,
Wanted to say hello first. I am new to the Forum and to Chickens, picked up our first ever chicks 3 weeks ago, 2 silkies and 1 GLW. The silkies are 7 weeks now the GLW was 3 weeks younger then these. Unfortunately the GLW died last night 'suddenly'
, however after a night on google I realised there might have been some hints that we should have picked up on before telling us that something is not right.
She was always chirping a lot since we got her, however acted normally otherwise (not huddled under the heatlamp or too far away from it, eating and drinking and running around). I read about Wyandottes being very 'vocal' and put it down to that. She would sometimes go into a corner and just doze off while the others were still running around, we put the down to her being a lot younger plus her different personality (the Silkies are very 'out there' most of the time running around like the proverbial headless chicken, she was always very gentle, relaxed and laid back). She a a period where her feathers looked very ruffled (around 2 weeks ago for about one week) however we thought that's just what it looks like when they go from little fluffballs to feathered chicks. Since the weekend we noticed that she had one eye closed most of the time, however when she did open it it looked clear and all right, thought she might have injured it or somebody pecked at it possibly as she was otherwise acting normally, running around, chasing the others for noodles drinking and eating etc. I checked her and there was nothing obviously wrong other than the eye, she had a clean vent, was not skinny or ruffled or anything, the feathers were coming good and the skin was clean. When I left yesterday morning for work they were all huddled in one corner still sleepy so I did not think much of it, my Hubby said when he left she was the only one still in her corner however. When I came home yesterday afternoon I found her still lying in the corner not reacting to anything so I picked her up and she was very weak and had problems holding her head up. I gave her some water and it seemed to have livened her up a bit, but then she died kind of like in my arms
, so sad, she was such a sweet girl. Had we not been so ignorant on how to read chicks behaviour we might have been able to save her...
Anyhow, long story short (too late for this now I assume), We double, triple checked on the Silkies and then checked again yesterday and this morning and they seem to be going fine, showing none of the symptoms described above. Would you suggest we treat them for something ??? (a bit hard if we don't know what was wrong with the little Wyandotte) just in case? or could it do more damage to put random chemicals into their little bodies. They are only around 7 weeks old now. I could not bare to loose another one...
If anybody has an idea of what might have killed her and how I can avoid the other two getting sick as well please let me know.
Thank you for your help.
Cheers Trish
In Memory of Maggie, the sweetest little chick i know so far
Wanted to say hello first. I am new to the Forum and to Chickens, picked up our first ever chicks 3 weeks ago, 2 silkies and 1 GLW. The silkies are 7 weeks now the GLW was 3 weeks younger then these. Unfortunately the GLW died last night 'suddenly'
She was always chirping a lot since we got her, however acted normally otherwise (not huddled under the heatlamp or too far away from it, eating and drinking and running around). I read about Wyandottes being very 'vocal' and put it down to that. She would sometimes go into a corner and just doze off while the others were still running around, we put the down to her being a lot younger plus her different personality (the Silkies are very 'out there' most of the time running around like the proverbial headless chicken, she was always very gentle, relaxed and laid back). She a a period where her feathers looked very ruffled (around 2 weeks ago for about one week) however we thought that's just what it looks like when they go from little fluffballs to feathered chicks. Since the weekend we noticed that she had one eye closed most of the time, however when she did open it it looked clear and all right, thought she might have injured it or somebody pecked at it possibly as she was otherwise acting normally, running around, chasing the others for noodles drinking and eating etc. I checked her and there was nothing obviously wrong other than the eye, she had a clean vent, was not skinny or ruffled or anything, the feathers were coming good and the skin was clean. When I left yesterday morning for work they were all huddled in one corner still sleepy so I did not think much of it, my Hubby said when he left she was the only one still in her corner however. When I came home yesterday afternoon I found her still lying in the corner not reacting to anything so I picked her up and she was very weak and had problems holding her head up. I gave her some water and it seemed to have livened her up a bit, but then she died kind of like in my arms
Anyhow, long story short (too late for this now I assume), We double, triple checked on the Silkies and then checked again yesterday and this morning and they seem to be going fine, showing none of the symptoms described above. Would you suggest we treat them for something ??? (a bit hard if we don't know what was wrong with the little Wyandotte) just in case? or could it do more damage to put random chemicals into their little bodies. They are only around 7 weeks old now. I could not bare to loose another one...
If anybody has an idea of what might have killed her and how I can avoid the other two getting sick as well please let me know.
Thank you for your help.
Cheers Trish
In Memory of Maggie, the sweetest little chick i know so far
