EMERGENCY!! Chicks keep dieing, I need help!

[Aphrael]

Make sure she stays warm and the others don't pick on her and see if maybe you can coax her to drink a little of the sugar water. I hope she perks up for you like the others seem to have.

 

[Talihofarms]

Remember to monitor the temperature in their living area.
A cheap wally world digital temp will save you tons of problems.
Electrolytes will do wonders on shipped chicks.
The pattern in which the chicks sleep will help you regarding their comfort level.
Also add some colored marbles to their drinking dish so they will find their water easier.




just my .02

 

[yinepu]

OK, so I have 19 running around and doing great. theres one thats not doing so hot, but I dont know what to do. I did put sugar in the water though.

have you tried using an eyedropper or syringe to give him a little of the sugar water mixture?

poly-vi-sol without iron, (the children/baby vitamin) is something to keep on hand for weak chicks. It can be mixed into their water.. or for very weak chicks a few drops on the tip of their beak on even in their beak will sometimes give them enough of a boost to get them back on track.

 

[nisabees]

Didn't realise you could get chicks shipped. That itself is not good. They should not have to go through so much stress so young. You need to Tap there food and water bowls until they realise your mum showing them the food, which really needs to be done 24hrs after they've hatched. When I do this with my chicks they soon pick up where there food and water is and also build the relationship with me, and run to my hands when they see them. Never knew about sugar in there drink, so that's something to remember. It's hard to know why and what they need, when you don't know what they have been through before they reached you. That saddens me that chicks are put through that. That's like boxing up a new born baby and shipping it to its new home. Just wouldn't happen and shouldn't be aloud to happen to them poor chicks. That's why you have lost so many!!

 

[missnu01]

There are plenty of people that get chicks shipped and have no issues...while some people do have horror stories with the post office.

 

[flgardengirl]

You need to put a thermometer on the ground under the light so you can see what the temperature is. Put one heat light at one end of the brooder and leave the other end without a heat lamp. That way they can move toward of away from the lamp if they need to be warmer or cooler. Make sure they have water and food. Use pine shavings covered by paper towels at first. Change the paper towels every day or if they get wet. After a week you can move the paper towels and just use the pine shavings. Make sure there are no drafts in the room.

 

[yinepu]

Didn't realise you could get chicks shipped. That itself is not good. They should not have to go through so much stress so young. You need to Tap there food and water bowls until they realise your mum showing them the food, which really needs to be done 24hrs after they've hatched. When I do this with my chicks they soon pick up where there food and water is and also build the relationship with me, and run to my hands when they see them. Never knew about sugar in there drink, so that's something to remember. It's hard to know why and what they need, when you don't know what they have been through before they reached you. That saddens me that chicks are put through that. That's like boxing up a new born baby and shipping it to its new home. Just wouldn't happen and shouldn't be aloud to happen to them poor chicks. That's why you have lost so many!!

I get chicks shipped in every year.. it's a rare occasion that I receive a dead chick or have any die after I receive them. The ones that I have had that died were "failure to thrive" chicks that would have died regardless of if my broody hen had hatched them out or if they had come across the country. The chicks have enough yolk reserve to last three days (unless they are quail or muscovy) and do just fine unless they are lost in the mail or suffer extreme weather. And even at that many hatcheries know how to pack them for a safe journey even in bad weather. As for losses due to the postal service or extreme weather in transit.. I have had 0 losses. And we order hundreds of chicks every year.

Hatcheries ship thousands of chicks every week and if they had massive losses all the time the price of each chick would be so expensive that only the very rich could afford them. As it is, because of those same hatcheries many of us can have breeds we would not be able to have otherwise.

Many chicks die after the customer receives them because of human error.. too cold of a brooder.. too hot.. drafts.. pet dogs or cats.. the list goes on. In other words.. stuff happens. Some can be prevented, but often times the new owner has no idea anything is wrong until the chicks start to die. Other things like power outages can cause chicks to die from the cold.

And I'm sure that if shipping chicks was too harmful that the ASPCA along with the USDA and postal service would have put an end to it long ago.

 

[DUCKGIRL89]

sorry i have not replied. 18 older ones made it. we got 50 new ones today.

 

[crittercrazyTN]

also watch for bloody stool in the litter, we have had problems with coccidiosous(not sure about the spelling) its pretty easy to fix with amprolium unless you are going organic then im not sure what to do . we hatch between 3000-4000 per year and use it on all chicks till 5 or 6 weeks then only if we are having trouble after that. far as shipping goes we have ordered chicks for broodstock from both central hatcheries in nebraska and cackle in missouri and have had excellent luck , last 2 yrs we had 300 rir chicks and 250 or so assorted chick shipped and only had 2 doa and 3died within 48hrs as good as our own hatches good luck with tour neww chicks

 

[mderby48]

A lot of people have said to put sugar in the water but how much? I have new chicks coming in a couple weeks so I'm trying to gather as much info as possible.