baby chicks not eating

[blooo]

hi everyone,

i just bought my three chicks today, so i am completely new at this. they are 4 weeks old and have some of their feathers. since i brought them home around 3 in the afternoon, they have not been eating.

i have them in a box with a few inches of chipped(?) corn cob, a chick feeder and waterer. they've drunk a bit of water, but don't seem to be eating. i'm using purina start & grow.

i also have a heat lamp, but it was pretty hot today and one of the chicks was panting, so i turned it off. it's cooled off a bit, so the lamp is on and it is 82 degrees. they have been sleeping most of the day.

is it normal for them not to eat for so long? anything i need to do? any advice would be greatly appreciated!

thanks!

 

[seminolewind]

Try to offer them some yogurt on your finger. Wipe some on their beak so they can taste it. You can try mash, mix some feed with some water, and see if that sparks the appetite.

 

[conny63malies]

i am pretty sure at four weks you can turn the temp down to 75F without any harm.

 

[blooo]

ok, tried the mash and they seem to like that. but they only want to eat it off my finger and each other's feathers!

i smeared some mash on the edges of the feeder, but they don't seem to see the feeder at all! anyone run into anything like this?

 

[Anne]

It might not be what they're used to. What did the feeder look like at the place you got them? I'm sure they'll find your feeder if they get hungry enough.

Silly chickens.

 

[blooo]

i think it is the tray. at the store, they were using a long tray with holes the chicks' heads. i got a round tray that works with a quart jar. i hope they're not so silly that they starve to death!

 

[patandchickens]

They may well be too hot to feel like eating. Make sure there are cooler areas they can get to, and perhaps raise or dial-down or lower the wattage on the lamp.

Have you tried scattering some feed (of the same type as where you got them from) on a dish on the floor, as a temporary measure to get them eating. Once they're eating that, you can put the feeder on the dish.

Good luck,

Pat

 

[Lobzi]

Try mashed cooked carrots.

 

[blooo]

wow, pat, you are so smart! i put some food on the dish, and then put the feeder on the same dish, and now they are eating mostly from the dish and intermittently from the feeder! thanks!