Chicks peeping constantly- then die

[SunshineSilkies]

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First of all...

After the pip, I have had them take up to 24 hrs to hatch...DO NOT open up the bator. You will lost temp & humidity that will effect you whole hatch!

Back to the original post...I alway put chick starter in the blender for silkies and small bantams...

 

[Pathfinders]

I am surprised by some of the comments here. I raise Dutch, among the smallest of bantams, and have never had to grind up chick starter for them. Mind you, I don't let broodies raise my birds, they are hatched in an incubator and then brooded in a commercial brooder with heat, but have never had any die of a lack of nutrition due to not being able/willing to eat.

Will follow this thread with interest, this is new to me. Best of luck to the OP!

 

[littlerattie]

pathfinders~ I hope you never have to, either! Funny, how we can raise some critters for years (hundreds and hundreds of 'em~ critters not years) and then whammo... two or three of them get some bizarre illness!
We have raised hundreds of chickens and never had the crookneck appear. Then this batch of chicks? TWO! Not one, but two of em. Go figure!
About 4 years ago when I had 6 children and was talking to a couple of women about all the ER trips and stitchens their kids had. I was surprised at how many trips they took! I was fairly smug when I said "out of my 6, I have had no stitches trips". WELL... I should have kept my mouth shut! 'Cause the NEXT DAY I found myself holding my 3 year old child still on the gurney while he got 20+ stitches in his FACE! And about 3 months later another trip in for 5 on my 7 yo heel....
Life. I love it! There is never any blah in our life! Between kids and critters....
Goood luck and may the feed eaters gods be with you!
Jayne

 

[threehorses]

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Don't open the incubator. Close it and give those babies 12 hours at least to hatch.

 

[Pathfinders]

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You can be sure I knocked wood after I wrote it!

 

[sojeo]

This thread may be of some use, particularly post #6.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=2590633

I don't know why my chicks were not eating the crumbles at their regular size. They were picking the larger crumbles up and then dropping them. The smaller ones were being swallowed, but the larger pieces were too hard to manage. Who knows, but grinding them up sure made a difference. They just hoovered them up after that, so I continued to do it with all my new chicks. I was kinda wondering, surely the manufacturers would make it smaller if everyone had this problem. I just figured I had picky chicks, either way, had to figure out something to get them to eat more.

One other thing that I do is make sure that everyone knows where the water is. My 2 smallest chicks didn't notice the water after I had changed to a small bowl for them in their brooder. I ended up putting the marbles back in so that they could find it. Someone else on here recently added that they had put down a layer of sand in their coop. The chickens didn't want to walk on it and needed to have something on it, like pebbles or a few shavings so that they could better see where they were walking (something like that, you get my drifft.)

 

[threehorses]

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Smaller crumbles tend to lose their vitamins faster because of the air-to-surface ratio, and are more dusty (bad for respiratory systems). If you grind them, that's different as they're not sitting in a bag in warehouses and feed stores.

Mine, I always just dampened the first crumbles as they don't scoot around so much, are easier to pick up, etc. At least the first meal of the day for all. It really helps. I just add a little water, stir, and let them become "fluffy" but not at all wet. After they get a couple of meals in them, they have more fuel to eat more properly and don't require the dampening any more.

On the water, and everything really, I like your way of thinking. The babies really do have to be watched. They don't have a mother hen to point things out to them. So it's our job.

 

[sojeo]

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That makes sense about not making them smaller, they'd be dust by the time we got them to our chicks! I agree, a mash works just as well and probably more palatable. I also made sure to peck with my fingers, just as a hen would do to show them what to eat.

As to watching them, I can't help myself. I spent 3 weeks staring at each of them in the shell, then once the little miracles hatched, I couldn't keep my eyes off of them. When people talk about chick tv, I totally know where they are coming from. Even now that most of them are older, I find myself in the coop several times a day or hanging out with them on the lawn.

Thanks for the compliment threehorses, it means a lot coming from someone as knowledgeable and giving as yourself.

 

[threehorses]

Sojeo, I'm so glad to hear that you 'get' the miracle that is life in the egg. I confess - I did the same thing with my hatches. It's absolutely amazing to see the progression knowing that the little speck I'm watching is going to steal my heart when it finally hatches. It's like a little wonderful universe all within one shell. It's just beautiful!

I also would scrabble with my fingers in the food to help the babies out. Sometimes they are more interested in my fingernails, but hey!

Thank you for your kind words.

 

[littlerattie]

I have found that if you sometimes make the kind of sweet sounding "chick-chick-chick" the mother hen says it makes them even more "interested" in the finger pecking.

Jayne