Hi everyone, I'm just a bit concerned because two of my chicks (they range around 2-3 weeks now I think) have started to behave differently. I got them about a week ago, they all have some wing feathers now, and they are visibly growing. I've only been feeding them chick starter (I forgot to ask if it was medicated at the store, the guy just measured me a 5kg bag when I asked for chick starter, so I'm assuming it's whatever is standard?) and plain, fresh water. I have been keeping them in the bath tub with a light, towels underneath a 2-3 inch layer of wood shavings from the stock feed store and they have a cardboard box upside down with a hole cut for them to hide in if they want to and I've been picking out their poop multiple times a day to keep it clean, I also have washed their feet with warm water and a face washer when they have stepped in poo which they actually seem to enjoy, they don't cry about it. They are fast and allert when I'm cleaning or try to catch one, when I go into the bathroom I continously talk to them to tell them that I'm coming and always move slowly towards them, they try to run away if I try to catch them unless they are sleeping (they sleep slightly spread out from eachother next to the light but not underneath, the room temp in my house is sitting at 23oC, the house is a little humid, the chicks definitely seem warm enough, although they have the option to move the whole bath length away from the light if they feel too warm) and they move around comfortably around, eat heaps, rarely make a lot of noise, I think one in particular is the noisy one but sometimes they will just start crying randomly but not often, usually after their naps in the middle of the night/early morning when I'm in bed and I'll go in to check them and they seem to calm down if I stand at the door and bok bok bok back at them, maybe they just like to know I'm still there? .. So I thought that they were doing great (one had what looked like wet feathers around it's bum for about 3 days after I got them and another one which I have no concern about did have poo stuck like cement on it's but when we got home from picking them up, but I washed their bum and that cleared up straight away. I washed the one that had wet looking feathers bum a few times and it ended up fluffed out like the others) my convern now that I want advice for incase they are getting sick I need to act quickly is two of them, one in particular is concerning me because they both kinda tilting their head back slightly and breathing heavily, their body is visibly moving and they open and close their beak a little, especially when they are sleep but one of them is also making a noise when it breathes, I picked it up and it was making this noise every time it beath, I'm unsure how to describe the noise, it's not like a coughing/rattling noise it's more like a low pitched cluck. They all look ok physically now, their eyes, nose, bums are all clean and they are all eating like pigs and drinking, I'm home all day so watching them closely. Also the two that seem a bit off are the two largest ones, the one that's making the noise has actually grown the most since I got them, but also it is the only one that smells wierd
it has smell wierd since I got them, my daughter reckons it smells like canned corn if that makes any sence, I reckon it smells like a new babies spew or something very strange, all the others smell like nothing (they all came from the same place and from the same brooder (the lady was on a beautiful property outside of town and had all kinds of animals and they all looked very healthy and happy, I also viewed the chicks perants they looked great and were free-range, I don't know if the chicks were vaccinated) it's always been clean and fluffy and lively? Their poop looks like little light brown sausages. I think that they have all been sleeping more than usual the past 24 hours. I was wondering if any of this makes sence and if I have a problem or if this is normal? I also would like to give them a clump of grass/dirt from the yard so that I can offer them some fresh garlic to Try and boost their immune systems, but I've been worried to make them sick as there is too much scary information about dirt making them sick
any advice greatly appreciated thank you. Oh also they are bantam wynedottes.
