Day Old Success Rate Question

[packmomma]

I did show the chicks the water and dip their beaks but they didnt seem to get it still. Mine are all doing well. I dont have shavings in mine at all. In fact I grabbed them from the store before they even had a chance to go to shavings. Boy are mine growing. They have all their wing feathers in and looks like some are getting butt feathers. lol.

 

[walkswithdog]

Some chicks you show once. Some you have to show them a half dozen times and since it's the most important thing you ever will teach them you have to stay there and make sure for each individual bird is actually drinking. Then do the same with food. You are the only chance they're going to get, the only parent there. Some will learn from the others, some won't. If you leave it up to a newborn chicks' IQ and god, some of them die, in some groups depending on their shock level, most would die.

Warmth and water/electrolytes are the primary tasks when dealing with chicks. They can handle going without food but getting hydrated is life and death.

Rough handling in shipping or weak at birth puts a chick behind, so electrolytes and the use of karo light in small doses are warranted to save them.

The first time any of this happens you don't know how to respond or what's normal. Learning by experience sucks but you remember it a lot more clearly.

I have a medical cabinet for people and animals and even when I don't plan on chicks or emergencies that stuff is there when life throws curves.
Karo keeps forever and it's cheap. Powdered electrolytes also keep for a very long time. As does poly-vi-sol. Those things are simple direct and cause few problems and when you need them, immediately is better.

When it comes to newborn critters weak or injured, pay very close attention to hydration and electrolytes. Chicks, ducks and turkeys need you to teach what they do not come out of the shell knowing. If they're hurt, dehydrated, shocky, or weak then they have a vastly reduced capacity to learn and it falls on you. Every hour that goes by that a shocky chick goes untreated rapidly reduces the chances that it will live.

When there are 25 or 50 to teach it takes some concentration to make certain each gets as many teaching moments that it needs. I wish you better luck in the future.