Hey guys,
Got a new batch of little bantam cochin babies on Wednesday morning (since my others turned out to be roos, and I've already got roos coming out my ears).
I was already nervous the morning of their arrival, because the post office usually calls me before they actually open to say "Your chicks are here". I waited until opening time and still no call. My tracking updated to say "Out for Delivery", at which point I totally panicked, thinking they'd been loaded onto a truck and would be there all day while the mail lady makes all her other deliveries (we usually don't get ours until late afternoon/early evening).
I rushed down to the post office and managed to be second in line. The other two times I've gone to pick up chicks I could hear them peeping as soon as I walked in the door. Dead silence. I got up to the counter and explained to the man that I was supposed to have chicks come in this morning, and that I was worried because the tracking said "Out for Delivery". He said he didn't hear anything in the back, but asked me my address several times and went to go check. He came out with my box of babies, asked for my ID, and then I rushed them home.
When I opened the box, one of the poor little things was stuck to the lid! The boxes have air holes punched in them, and then the tracking labels and whatnot are stuck on the box lid. Well, the label adhesive is touchable through the air holes, and a poor little baby was stuck to the lid by its head and its left wing. I unstuck it as carefully as I could and put it into the brooder. Put the rest of them in as well and gave them warm Nutridrench water and warm wet Nutridrench mash. They were all exhausted and headed straight for the warmer plate.
Now that they were taken care of for the meantime I called the hatchery and explained what had happened with the chick stuck to the box lid. The woman on the phone was shockingly calm about it all. No emotion whatsoever. I asked about them making a change in packaging so this doesn't happen again to any other poor baby, and she went on to say that they need the air holes for the well being of the birds. I told her that if there's a sticker stuck over the holes they're not doing anything anyway. At this point she seemed annoyed, and just said she'd mention it to her manager. I mean, I get it, she works at a hatchery, and chicks die all the time. It's part of the job, but to have no feelings about it at all? No, "Oh no, poor little thing.", no nothing, seems really cold to me. I called my mom shortly after to tell her and she audibly gasped when I told her about the chick.
A few hours passed by and 6 out of the 8 babies came out from the warmer plate to eat/drink/explore. I showed them how to use the nipple drinker and soon they were all eating and drinking and hopping about happily. I swear these babies are part popcorn.
Anyway, when the other two didn't come out I lifted the warmer, afraid of what I'd find. There were two poor little babies lying there, still breathing but very weak. I took them out, wrapped them in a heating pad and gave them some Nutridrench by dropper to the mouth. The weaker one drank a few drops, but never opened its eyes. The other one was really averse to drinking. It even struggled out of my hand (don't worry, I was sitting on my bed and it landed on my soft blankets). I was slightly encouraged because it still had enough energy to do that. I put them back under the warmer and then took a rest. For the next few hours, I came back every hour on the hour to give dropper feedings. By the afternoon the ornery chick was actually up and about, eating mash with the rest of the babies. I was really feeling encouraged. No improvement from the other one though.
Eventually all the babies went to bed, and I stayed up listening/watching until about 3 am. The sicker of the two babies had fallen out from under the warmer and was peeping loudly. I immediately got up and put it back under again. I went to sleep after this.
I woke up at about 7 the next morning. The babies were up and about, eating their breakfast and playing. The sicker of the two chicks had died in wee hours of the morning. I removed it and checked on the other sick one. Like before, it was huddled under the warmer. I took it out and put its beak to the waterer. It drank a few drops. I put it by the food, but it wouldn't eat. I did the Nutridrench in a dropper routine, and tried again to get it to eat. It wouldn't, and just went back under the warmer. It slept for a few hours. I took it out again to do the next feeding, and it was noticeably limper than before, and not as warm as it should have been. I fired up the heating pad again and put it in bed with me, dropper fed some Nutridrench and let it sleep. A few hours later it was still limp and depressed. I put it back under the warmer plate and haven't bothered it since. I'm 99.9% sure it's going to pass away.
What I want to know is, what happened? It was doing so well yesterday. Up and about, eating and everything. The eyes were still kinda squinty (not open and bright) but better than when it arrived.
Do "Failure to Thrive" chicks have anything specific wrong with them, or is it any number of undetectable internal birth defects? I know the shipping stress didn't help, but to go from acting basically totally normal to ready to die, I feel like it must have an internal problem of some sort.
Can anyone shed some light on this? I was so encouraged yesterday. I'm sad it's still going to end like it did for the other little one.
Got a new batch of little bantam cochin babies on Wednesday morning (since my others turned out to be roos, and I've already got roos coming out my ears).
I was already nervous the morning of their arrival, because the post office usually calls me before they actually open to say "Your chicks are here". I waited until opening time and still no call. My tracking updated to say "Out for Delivery", at which point I totally panicked, thinking they'd been loaded onto a truck and would be there all day while the mail lady makes all her other deliveries (we usually don't get ours until late afternoon/early evening).
I rushed down to the post office and managed to be second in line. The other two times I've gone to pick up chicks I could hear them peeping as soon as I walked in the door. Dead silence. I got up to the counter and explained to the man that I was supposed to have chicks come in this morning, and that I was worried because the tracking said "Out for Delivery". He said he didn't hear anything in the back, but asked me my address several times and went to go check. He came out with my box of babies, asked for my ID, and then I rushed them home.
When I opened the box, one of the poor little things was stuck to the lid! The boxes have air holes punched in them, and then the tracking labels and whatnot are stuck on the box lid. Well, the label adhesive is touchable through the air holes, and a poor little baby was stuck to the lid by its head and its left wing. I unstuck it as carefully as I could and put it into the brooder. Put the rest of them in as well and gave them warm Nutridrench water and warm wet Nutridrench mash. They were all exhausted and headed straight for the warmer plate.
Now that they were taken care of for the meantime I called the hatchery and explained what had happened with the chick stuck to the box lid. The woman on the phone was shockingly calm about it all. No emotion whatsoever. I asked about them making a change in packaging so this doesn't happen again to any other poor baby, and she went on to say that they need the air holes for the well being of the birds. I told her that if there's a sticker stuck over the holes they're not doing anything anyway. At this point she seemed annoyed, and just said she'd mention it to her manager. I mean, I get it, she works at a hatchery, and chicks die all the time. It's part of the job, but to have no feelings about it at all? No, "Oh no, poor little thing.", no nothing, seems really cold to me. I called my mom shortly after to tell her and she audibly gasped when I told her about the chick.
A few hours passed by and 6 out of the 8 babies came out from the warmer plate to eat/drink/explore. I showed them how to use the nipple drinker and soon they were all eating and drinking and hopping about happily. I swear these babies are part popcorn.
Anyway, when the other two didn't come out I lifted the warmer, afraid of what I'd find. There were two poor little babies lying there, still breathing but very weak. I took them out, wrapped them in a heating pad and gave them some Nutridrench by dropper to the mouth. The weaker one drank a few drops, but never opened its eyes. The other one was really averse to drinking. It even struggled out of my hand (don't worry, I was sitting on my bed and it landed on my soft blankets). I was slightly encouraged because it still had enough energy to do that. I put them back under the warmer and then took a rest. For the next few hours, I came back every hour on the hour to give dropper feedings. By the afternoon the ornery chick was actually up and about, eating mash with the rest of the babies. I was really feeling encouraged. No improvement from the other one though.
Eventually all the babies went to bed, and I stayed up listening/watching until about 3 am. The sicker of the two babies had fallen out from under the warmer and was peeping loudly. I immediately got up and put it back under again. I went to sleep after this.
I woke up at about 7 the next morning. The babies were up and about, eating their breakfast and playing. The sicker of the two chicks had died in wee hours of the morning. I removed it and checked on the other sick one. Like before, it was huddled under the warmer. I took it out and put its beak to the waterer. It drank a few drops. I put it by the food, but it wouldn't eat. I did the Nutridrench in a dropper routine, and tried again to get it to eat. It wouldn't, and just went back under the warmer. It slept for a few hours. I took it out again to do the next feeding, and it was noticeably limper than before, and not as warm as it should have been. I fired up the heating pad again and put it in bed with me, dropper fed some Nutridrench and let it sleep. A few hours later it was still limp and depressed. I put it back under the warmer plate and haven't bothered it since. I'm 99.9% sure it's going to pass away.
What I want to know is, what happened? It was doing so well yesterday. Up and about, eating and everything. The eyes were still kinda squinty (not open and bright) but better than when it arrived.
Do "Failure to Thrive" chicks have anything specific wrong with them, or is it any number of undetectable internal birth defects? I know the shipping stress didn't help, but to go from acting basically totally normal to ready to die, I feel like it must have an internal problem of some sort.
Can anyone shed some light on this? I was so encouraged yesterday. I'm sad it's still going to end like it did for the other little one.
Apparently I didn't check the little chick over enough at first and only saw the head "scalping". I didn't see the chest wound and the back of the neck. About 24 hours after, we discovered that she had flystrike and had to pick out all the little worms. That was extremely difficult for my daughter to experience, but she wanted to help the chick. I think that is what really killed the chick. She died right after we got all the larva off her. Poor little dear. But we tried to console ourselves by remembering that she had a wonderful little life playing outside with her little chick sisters.
