EMERGENCY HELP PLEASE!

[newshound]

Last ditch effort, can you hold them upside down and gently massage the crop to get them to spit up what's stuck? I never tried this, just a guess.

 

[asokatonu]

Hay,
Like any kind of baby, chicks are extremely picky when it comes to food, water, and livening conditions. I would not recommend trying to do what @newshound said because when holding them upside down they could breath In any fluid or objects that my come up from their crops, which could cause them to choke and then die. I would recommend you get them some grit. It does not have to be anything fancy just a little bit of fine ground sand would do. Sounds to me that their little crops are probably impacted so you could try giving them a little bit of oil and giving their crops a gentle massage. Try to get the food moving. Also make sure you don’t beat your self up to much over this. Yes, you probably should have done a bit more research before you went out and bought the chicks, but that can’t really be helped now. So just do your best to help them get better and if they don’t make it. I hope that you will be willing to try again now that you are a little more prepared. I am going to go ahead and call in some of the professionals because they know a lot more about this kind of thing then I do. @Eggcessive @Wyorp Rock @azygous

 

[hailey113004]

Thank you so much. I will definitely go ahead and do that, and I really do appreciate what you said. It’s hard not to beat myself up over this because I didn’t mean for this to happen. I was just wxcited and thought it would be a good idea. Again, thank you so much for helping me with this. Also I do have a question. When you mean sand do you literally just mean sand as in the stuff you find like at the beach or is that something else that’s special for chickens?? I just don’t want to do the wrong thing. @asokatonu

 

[asokatonu]

No problem! I completely understand. When I first got chickens my kids were hatching them at school for a biology class and they failed to let me know that I would soon be a mother of 5 new chicks. They literally just brought them home one day. I had no idea what to do and I had nothing ready. I ended up in a very similar situation as you are right now. I ended up losing 2 of my babies and I felt like a horrible person. Honestly we all make mistakes. Beating ourselves up over them won’t make them any better.

Now on to the grit. You going to want a fine sand, but not as fine as the stuff you would find on a beach. I find that sand that you would use on an icy road is best, but if you don’t have any of that around you could just get some dirt from outside. The concept is it needs to be gravely dirt with small bits and pieces. Sorry that this is not the best explanation I am actually on my way out. I’ll be back to check on you in a few hours. Good luck!

 

[hailey113004]

No problem! I complete understand when I first got chickens the kids were hatching them at school for a biology class and they failed to let me know that I would soon be a new hen mother of 5 new chicks. They literally just brought them home one day. I had no idea what to do and I had nothing ready. I ended up in a very similar situation as you are right now. I need up loosing 2 of my babies and I felt like a horrible person. Honestly we all make mistakes beating ourselves up over them won’t make them any better.
Now on to the grit. You going to want a fine sand, but not as fine as the stuff you would find on a beach. I find that sand that you would use on an ice road is best, but if you don’t have any of that around you could just get some dirt from outside. The concept is it needs to be gravely dirt with small bits and pieces. Sorry that this is not the best explanation I am actually on my way out. I’ll be back to check on you in a few hours. Good luck!

Thank you so much!! Also, I dont know if this matters but one of them pooped! So I think they are going to be okay, i’m just worried a little. I will still try the dirt or sand really quick and keep you posted. Thank you so much again I really appreciate it!

 

[asokatonu]

Poop is good. Thank you for the pic. It is important that they get as much nutrition as they can. So if they are not eating their food you could try boiling an egg and mashing it up really good. Then add a bit of water to make it into a moist mushy texture kind of like a thickish oatmeal. They might be more willing to eat that.

 

[hailey113004]

They are kind of eating now, and the gasping for air was stopping but it started up again. I’m not really sure what that means but i tried the oil and the grit. they are eating starter feed now and i’m having to drop water into their mouths.

 

[azygous]

My chicks got their first meal worms yesterday at age five days. They have been on sand since day two, so their gizzards were well kitted out with grit. Plenty of fresh water is also extremely important.

Grit first, then slowly, minimally introduce treats. Even with grit, tiny chicks can get into trouble if allowed to gorge themselves on too many treats. Remember, they are like new born infants. No one feeds steak to a week old human baby. Besides no teeth to help them digest the food, babies' digestive systems are still immature. Same with baby chicks.

Give each of your chicks a half teaspoon of coconut oil slightly chilled to make it solid and easier to put into their beaks. Just slip tiny bits into the pried open beak and close the beak so the chick can swallow. Get all of a half teaspoon into each chick.

The "gaping" of the beak signals a very uncomfortable crop or gizzard. You need to give them oil to lubricate the digestive tract to make it easier for the food that was high in cellulose to digest. Be sure they also drink water.

On brooder heat, only the spot right beneath the heat source needs to be between 80 to 85F during the first week unless the ambient temp is much cooler than 70F. My chicks are outside with a heating pad set on the highest setting to make it around 80-85F under it. The nights have been down to 30F. Days are 50s and 60s. Chicks are quite able to deal with cool temps as long as they have their heat source to warm up under when they need it. In fact, the cooler the ambient temps are, the quicker chicks become cold tolerant. Give them the heat they require but don't cook them.

 

[asokatonu]

I am going to continue to follow this thread, but I’ll leave all of the work to @azygous. She knows a lot more about this kind of thing then I do. Your doing a great job @hailey113004! Oh and thank you for coming to the rescue @azygous.

 

[hailey113004]

I just woke up this morning, when I checked on the two that were struggling, one wasn’t even gasping for air(or doing that thingy) anymore! The other one was still doing it but it wasn’t near as severe. I think I am making progress and I really appreaciate how supportive and helpful everyone of y’all have been. I had no clue there was a community so strong!! Thank you guys!