Chicks arrived alive, now 3 are in chick heaven!?

[LivingRootsFarm]

I am sorry for your lose, but don't beat yourself up. I got my chicks for the first time in April after researching everything about chickens for a looonnnggg time. So I am not an expert by any means. First I am suprised that you were able to just order 4 chicks. I ordered mine from McMurray Hatchery and only lost two out of 31 chicks. Which they and like many other hatcheries require a 25 chick minimum so the chicks stay warm during shipping. I think that it could have been a shipping problem for sure. I would try getting your replacements for either a local feed store or a farm swap so they won't get stressed from shipping. Good Luck!

 

[LivingRootsFarm]

Oh also just an idea for anyone...Since I have a plant nursery I washed out and cleaned a big 100 gallon tree container and used that as my brooder. I bought one of those kits from the hatchery and it was about worthless. The chicks were flying out of it in a matter of days. And then I rigged the lamp on a holder made from PVC so I could lower the light at night and higher during the day which helped regulate the tempeture better.

 

[gale65]

Quote:
AtomicChicken:

Still puzzling over this. I am not a vet, but one thing bothers me. The "poultry and livestock multivitamins/electrolytes". If fed to poultry in water it must be highly diluted.
Four oz. of powder in a 55 gallon drum is recommended for adult chickens. I would think it would be much less than that, say less than one oz. per 55 gallon drum for chicks.
Check the dosage. One ounce is pretty small, and a 55 gallon drum is pretty big. I don't think it would be possible to mix up say a 1 gallon batch of the stuff without using chemist scales.

All of the ones that died ate, drank, pooped regularly, even up to the hour of death.

Sorry to say but it sounds like poisoning of some type. These are just thoughts as to possibilities, but maybe something to be aware of when you get the next group.​

The poultry multivitamins/electrolytes I have are one packet to a gallon of water and one packet measured about 1 teaspoon. So it's possible to have a type that can be mixed in a small quantity.

 

[FiascoFarmer]

Definitely sounds like shipping stress!

Good.luck with the next batch! Let us know what happens!

 

[AtomicChicken]

I just wanted to give an update and ask you to identify a breed.

So my wife went to the farm where the guy has like a 1000 chickens. I'm sure some of you guys have near as many as pets. But we got 4 hens again that are two weeks old. Two Australorps and two that we don't know what they are....my wife says something Italian. Maybe you can identify in the picture?

But things are going scratchingly well. I cleaned the cage again the same way I did before the first bactch. Just plain hot water and dish soap and rinsed it well. Then changed the water and dumped the feed in the garbage and replenished. Put down new shavings and paper towels. They arrived around 2 PM and then after going through the routine of showing them where the food is, and dipping beaks in the water, they settled in for a four hour nap. I thought "Oh NO!" not again. But during their nap they all decided to dirty the paper towel with their excrement and around 6 - 6:30 PM they all decided it was time to wake and start drinking and eating.

Since then they take about 2 hour naps and then scratch, flap their wings, eat and poop regularly. The only difference in their environment from the last batch is the temperature is set to a maximum of 86 in the brightest spot and goes down to 77 degrees (room temperature) in the corners. So I think I didn't cook the first batch. I think they were just too weak. I'm sure a vet would have known that and started the electrolytes much quicker than us newbies.

Their behavior is much better with very little pecking except when one is trying to get the food from the other. They also move from spot to spot to sleep so I know they are regulating the temperature. Now its time to start on their coop! Hopefully I don't need to do two of those.

Thanks for all your comments.

Can anyone tell me what breed are blonde gals?

 

[AtomicChicken]

Regarding the electrolyte/vitamins. Yes, I followed the directions on the back of the package. Not even an 1/8th of a teaspoon was mixed in the water. The manufacturer is Durvet. I only introduced the electrolytes after the runt was becoming sluggish.

With this batch they just have plain tap water, refreshed three times in the last 24 hours.

 

[nickie]

They look like my speckled Sussex, but I'm new at this too. Go to the breed directory on byc and look at the pic OS babies and juveniles. My Sussex has tan fluff with dark markings on her back and head, also her feathers are coming in deep brown, reddish and speckled (duh)

just a guess.

 

[Wimberleytexaschick]

Congrats on your new chicks. I noticed that you said your first set shipped as day old chicks on Monday, but you did not get them until Saturday? If so, that is too long on the shipping- the stress, lack of food water was probably the cause for their loss. Definitely try for a refund from the seller. I always pay the extra for Express shipping, and usually get the chicks 24-36 hours after shipping, makes a huge difference in survival rates. Good luck with the new ones, sounds like you did/are doing everything right.

 

[AtomicChicken]

They shipped on Monday because I received a call saying they didn't have a barred rock I had ordered, so I substituted the second australorp. We got the call on Thursday morning from post office. They were shipped express from Ohio. Only reason I know this is I asked the place where they were coming from so I could estimate time of shipping. I expected with the closeness they would be here on Wednesday. But if memory serves me, there was some kind of weather disturbance in that area this last week. So perhaps they got delayed.

 

[Duramaxgirl]

Quote:
I would put them on the vitamin water 24/7 till 5 weeks... just my opinion. Chicks are babys and need the extra boost, especially shipped ones it can make all the differance in the world. Did you have paper towels down for your shipped chicks? Or did you just put them straight onto shavings?
They look happy and healthy in your photo!