Chick arrived just skin and bones

[StardustChicken]

I don't know who messed up, be it the store or the post office but a box of 25 chicks arrived—half of them DOA. 12 chicks were put in the sick tank yesterday and this is the only one left. I'm guessing at least 4 days old when the post office dropped them off. She is very thin, you can easily feel her keel. Yesterday afternoon when I brought her home I gave her some electrolyte water (Hydro Hen) and got her to fill her crop halfway with an egg yolk & electrolyte water mixture.

Unfortunately, there was an electrical issue last night in the coop and the heat plate didn't have any power. Found the previously promising two chicks in the corner of the stock tank this morning, thought they were both dead. I picked them up and one gave a faint cheep & I quickly grabbed the heat lamp. Warmed her up and she perked up.

Made her drink and got her to eat some pure egg yolk. She did her first substantial poop: very dark, almost black (you can see it to the left of her in the pic).

Her current activity level:

Any tips for this boney baby?

 

[SnackMeat]

Yolk. So much yolk. You can soft boil it or if they are weak, do liquid in a syringe.

While crumble is good, just for calories density I would do yolk for longer than average (I tend to do three or so days) to give them as much nutrition as possible.


That and electrolytes. You can also play them some chicks chirping soundtracks and that can perk some chicks up and make them feel more at home.

I like using a seed mat and creating a little cave. They may not come out much for a couple of days so you'll have to keep checking on them to pull them out for feedings. Maybe feed every two or three hours though they should probably be fine through the night unless you get up to use the bathroom and want to give them some yolk.

 

[SnackMeat]

Also, just out of curiosity, what did the hatchery say? Did you see any extra long holds on your tracking? My guess is the hatchery ****ed up by doing a Thursday shipping and they got held through Sunday. They should really only be shipped Monday through Wednesday and sometimes even Wednesday is cutting it a little close (unless you're paying for overnight but even that can take a couple of days.)

 

[StardustChicken]

Also, just out of curiosity, what did the hatchery say? Did you see any extra long holds on your tracking? My guess is the hatchery ****ed up by doing a Thursday shipping and they got held through Sunday. They should really only be shipped Monday through Wednesday and sometimes even Wednesday is cutting it a little close (unless you're paying for overnight but even that can take a couple of days.)

I am not sure what happened, I don't have any of that information. I work at a feed store mostly as a cashier but the "sick chicks" are typically tossed to me. Yesterday a kind lady from the post office went out of her way to drop them off at the store, apparently the chicks had been sitting at the post office overnight. I asked the store managers on duty and neither one had any idea we had chicks waiting. Thanks to that post office lady at least a handful of chicks are still alive

 

[SnackMeat]

Ohhhhh! I see. You're a store account versus having someone shipped to their home.


That is weird. I wonder if this was an inventory mixup or something. I would be curious if your manager was expecting them or if the hatchery messed up and shipped them. But it definitely seems like they shipped them too late in the week (or possibly there was a hold up somewhere.)

I'm sure that mail lady wanted that box gone. They smell so bad with the dead bodies. Still nice of her, but yeah she wanted the corpses yeeted far from her probably just as much as to save any chicks.

 

[StardustChicken]

Ohhhhh! I see. You're a store account versus having someone shipped to their home.


That is weird. I wonder if this was an inventory mixup or something. I would be curious if your manager was expecting them or if the hatchery messed up and shipped them. But it definitely seems like they shipped them too late in the week (or possibly there was a hold up somewhere.)

I'm sure that mail lady wanted that box gone. They smell so bad with the dead bodies. Still nice of her, but yeah she wanted the corpses yeeted far from her probably just as much as to save any chicks.

The way it works at our store: we get 2 shipments of birds every week, totaling several hundred chicks that we sell out of by the weekend (very high-volume store). The hatcheries don't notify us when they ship, they just send whatever extras they have. We only know we've got birds when the post office calls us to pick them up. Not the best system. If someone drops the ball? Dead chicks :/

 

[StardustChicken]

Status report for today: moved her inside and playing chick videos for her until I can get her a buddy of the same age. Crop is filled halfway. She's done some more pooping since the start of this forum, little digestive tract is working

Edit: roommate has arrived with the buddy chick who is not use to being in such small numbers and is constantly screaming. On the bright side they've taught little gray how to eat crumbles on her own. Hopefully this other chick chills out soon

 

[StardustChicken]

Edit: roommate has arrived with the buddy chick who is not use to being in such small numbers and is constantly screaming. On the bright side they've taught little gray how to eat crumbles on her own. Hopefully this other chick chills out soon

The Culprit.
An Old English Game Bantam that is a day older than Poppy (the gray one). He is apparently obsessed with me. If I'm not beside the pen he will be screaming at headache inducing levels constantly. Whenever the door is open he'll jump into my lap and even chase my hands wanting me to hold him...a gigantic Baby. I already know he's a rooster because he'll tidbit while eating 50% of the time. He is...quite the strange chick. And loud.