Chicks getting weak?

[elly12]

Hi everyone!
I think I need a bit of advice here please..
My parents bought be a couple of incubators over my birthday and Christmas for me. I hatched some Plymouth rocks and Pure Australorps from my home flock, who all grew strong and large. I later bought some fertile Australorp eggs to bring in new blood. They were set in, and I had a good hatch rate, however, they seem to be a bit weak. Out of the seven I hatched, I lost one who suddenly dropped weak at day two, and another one at day three. They have weak pale looking legs compared to my home flock, and the weak ones will sit in the corner, chirping and not with the group under the lamp. I was wondering if its some sort of deficiency in what I'm providing (medicated chick starter), some sort of illness, or a deficiency in the parent flock? Sorry for being long. Thanks in Advance.

 

[rebrascora]

Hi

I don't have any experience of incubator hatching (I have broody hens) but usually a chick chirping indicates pasty butt, so check to make sure they are not bunged up and soak and lubricate vents if need be. If not pasty butt, then I would try something like Save a chick to give them a boost as it may be poor nutrition in the breeding stock causing them to fail to thrive, especially since you had good success with your own hatching eggs.
If it is pasty butt, check that the brooder is not too warm as that can cause them to dehydrate and become backed up.

Good luck with the surviving ones

Barbara

 

[mh10]

it's usual , a few of them will die but hope you make them drink glucose and processed food as well as bcomplex liquid.

 

[3riverschick]

no no no! It is not usual for some to die. You just have to get the right helps to them at the right time! Now go to tractor supply and get a small bottle of poultry Nutri-Drench. Give each chick one drop only by mouth. repeat as needed every 8-10 hours until perky. Put it in their water ( forget the glucose) so the water looks like weak tea. Do this for all the chicks for the next 2 weeks to get them off to a strong start. There are a bunch of scientific reasons for this. I suspect the hen who laid these eggs needed a better diet and the nutrition within the eggs was not enough for the chicks. I suspect they were born with Malabsorption Syndrome which mean their G.I. tracts are immature for their age. Chicks are hatced with immature G.I. tracts which undergo trmendous development the 1st week of life. These chicks, I suspect, were born with G.I. tracts which were immature even for the state they should have been in at hatch. This will correct with time as they grow. But right now they need extra nutrition which doesn't need digesting. That's the Drench. They need energy to live and extra nutrition to jump start their immune system and for the rapid development of their immature G.I. tracts. Nutri-Drench does not need to be digested. It mainlines directly into the bloodstream by passing the malabsorption problem in their G.I. tract which is being caused by immaturity which is being caused by not enough nutrition in the developing egg. It's a complete circle, see? The Nutri-Drench breaks the circle and allows the chick to continue development. It doe this because, unlike other helps you give which need to be digested , the Drench does not need to be digested. It is the right help at the right time. It will also help prevent both pasty butt and the runs. http://www.nutridrench.com Now go save those babies.
Don't give these chicks all other kinds of helps right now, They will have trouble digesting them anyway. Just give them the chick feed and the Drench water for the next week until their G.I. tract can catch up in development. There will be time for all other kinds of "extras" later. Right now they just need time to catch up in their developmental timeline. One thing you can do is give them some Okios Triple Zero yogurt. It is a very pure yogurt for their G.I tract. This will help establish the proper floral ratios in their G,I tracts, make sure you change it out regularly so it doesn't go bad in the heat of the brooder. .
Best,
Karen

 

[mh10]

yes i tried to protect them and save them , but those weak ones grow and carry some bacteria and spread it to the entire group. I used to sell 300 roosters and about 10 kids die in first week , I don't spend time on those weak ones nowadays. thank you I will try this if I had only a few in number

 

[elly12]

Thanks everyone for the advice. I'll try my best to save them. It was my suspection that it was the parent flock, as I've never had any trouble like this in the past.
Hopefully they grow out to be strong birds.