bringing chicks home

[kellydw]

i just bought 6 chicks last night and this morning only 1 is alive. i cant get her to eat. what should i do? is there a soft mix i can give her? she seems too weak for the crumbles and the crumbles seem awfully large. i am using the medicated chick starter crumbles but as i said she's not eating. any suggestions?

 

[Fred's Hens]

Sorry for your loss. Have you determined if temperature was the culprit? Too hot? Too cold?

I assumed you dipped their beaks in the water when you got them home. Assuming you got them at a feed store, ie TSC?

 

[elmo]

You can always hard boil and egg, peel it, then mash it up and offer some on a dish. "Peck" at it with your finger to teach the chick this is food, the way a hen would do.

Chicks wouldn't die from lack of food in 12 hours, though. You've got to figure out what killed the other chicks, or the remaining chick is likely to die, too. What kind of bedding do you have in the brooder?

 

[AlienChick]

So sorry for your loss.

Yeah, I think more info is needed. It might be a matter of too hot or too cold. Or they may have been sick (or failure to thrive) when you bought them...

If you're new to chicks, you may want to quickly grab a copy of the Raising Chickens for Dummies book that's been so popular here on the forum. It's sold here at BYC as well as Amazon at a discounted (50% off) price. Also read all you can on this forum; lots of people posts issues they have and get some great answers.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/04...mp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0470465441

HTH

 

[pdsavage]

How big is the brooder and what size heat light are you using?

 

[Ridgerunner]

I don't know how old they are. They could be out of that 3 to 4 day range where they live off the egg yolk. I would suspect something other than lack of food though, maybe no water or maybe too hot or too cold. A draft blowing on them can chill them and kill them too. For the first week they need to be kept between 90 and 95 degrees Fahrenheit, then drop that temperature by 5 degrees a week.

Something you can do to try to give it some energy is to mix some sugar with water and give it some of that. Use a medicine dropper and put a drop at a time just in the tip of its beak. Do not tilt the head back and try to put water down its throat, You'll drown it that way. Just put a drop inside the tip of the beak and it should drink it. The idea is to get some liquid in it and the energy from the sugar might make it strong enough to feel like eating.

Good luck!

 

[Amy Chickie]

I'm sorry for your loss