Heartbroken

[Lawschoolchickenmom]

I hatched four, beautiful calico silkies overnight, 1 day ago. They were stable in the incubator and I had to go to school tonight because I’m in law school. I made sure everything was set up for my teen daughters in case of an emergency. Well AT&T is running fiber optic through the neighborhood for a brand new house that went up a week ago. They knock on the door and they say, “We have to cut the electricity for 15 minutes.” To which my kids say, “No, we have brand new chicks and you aren’t the electric company.” They walked off and DID IT ANYWAYS! I scramble and call Withlacoochie Electric to ask why I just spent 400 dollars on electric. There is no storm, there is no crisis happening and our electric is off. I tell them AT&T did it and they tell me that’s not possible that unless they are up the pole, they can’t cut our electric because we have overhead electric. I said they are up the pole because they cut the electric and I have brand new baby chicks in the incubator without electricity. They tell me to hold on a minute and they come back on the line and say they are sending the police to our house because it was done without a permit and without a warning. My precious daughter scramble to insulate the incubator, but also leave a hole for breathing. The electricity was off for 39 minutes. The heat dropped dramatically, and as my girls tried to get the brooder warmed up to switch the chicks over for this unforeseen problem—we lose two. By the time the electricity came back on it was 83° in the incubator and they basically gave my chicks hypothermia. Now I have these two beautiful blonde silkies left but they are weak. My daughters put the two blondes in their bras to warm them quickly and I honestly think it saved their lives. They are still fluffing up but still sticky in places. My question is how often can I give electrolytes to these two? I am almost positive that they used all of their yolk energy on stabilizing and they act very weak and stumble around and sleep a lot. They are officially 30 hours and 29 hours old. I just don’t want to overheat or give them hypothermia and I can tell they need energy now. I’m sorry for the book, I just can’t lose another chick. I’m used to incubating Rhode Island reds and Jersey Giants. I have never done a clutch of silkies. I can say it has been the most nerve-racking hatch of my entire life and I’ve been doing this since I was 19. Bantams in general are so touchy and they can be very finicky and hard. I just need help stabilizing them so they make it through the night. I am so sorry for the novel.

 

[rlschroeder]

I hatched four, beautiful calico silkies overnight, 1 day ago. They were stable in the incubator and I had to go to school tonight because I’m in law school. I made sure everything was set up for my teen daughters in case of an emergency. Well AT&T is running fiber optic through the neighborhood for a brand new house that went up a week ago. They knock on the door and they say, “We have to cut the electricity for 15 minutes.” To which my kids say, “No, we have brand new chicks and you aren’t the electric company.” They walked off and DID IT ANYWAYS! I scramble and call Withlacoochie Electric to ask why I just spent 400 dollars on electric. There is no storm, there is no crisis happening and our electric is off. I tell them AT&T did it and they tell me that’s not possible that unless they are up the pole, they can’t cut our electric because we have overhead electric. I said they are up the pole because they cut the electric and I have brand new baby chicks in the incubator without electricity. They tell me to hold on a minute and they come back on the line and say they are sending the police to our house because it was done without a permit and without a warning. My precious daughter scramble to insulate the incubator, but also leave a hole for breathing. The electricity was off for 39 minutes. The heat dropped dramatically, and as my girls tried to get the brooder warmed up to switch the chicks over for this unforeseen problem—we lose two. By the time the electricity came back on it was 83° in the incubator and they basically gave my chicks hypothermia. Now I have these two beautiful blonde silkies left but they are weak. My daughters put the two blondes in their bras to warm them quickly and I honestly think it saved their lives. They are still fluffing up but still sticky in places. My question is how often can I give electrolytes to these two? I am almost positive that they used all of their yolk energy on stabilizing and they act very weak and stumble around and sleep a lot. They are officially 30 hours and 29 hours old. I just don’t want to overheat or give them hypothermia and I can tell they need energy now. I’m sorry for the book, I just can’t lose another chick. I’m used to incubating Rhode Island reds and Jersey Giants. I have never done a clutch of silkies. I can say it has been the most nerve-racking hatch of my entire life and I’ve been doing this since I was 19. Bantams in general are so touchy and they can be very finicky and hard. I just need help stabilizing them so they make it through the night. I am so sorry for the novel.

Wow, so sorry this is happening. Very strange - and unfortunate. I’ve never hatched chicks from an incubator but have raised day old ones from the hatchery. Are they under a heat plate or lamp now? I believe you can give the electrolytes up to 5 days. I’d also make a mash out of their feed with warm water and help them eat. Or even give them bits of the yolk from a hard boiled egg.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Oh man, how awful! I don't hatch yet but I watch a lot of people who do, I can only imagine how devastated you must be. Bless your girls for thinking of their body heat, that was brilliant. Let me tag some of our experienced hatchers to help you out. And good luck!

@kattabelly
@Debbie292d
@gullinkambe

 

[Debbie292d]

So sorry for what happened!

I'm not sure if they came out of the incubator too soon, or why they'd be sticky.

They should be at 95F. I'd just try to leave them alone and let their bodies recover. They may snap right out of it once they warm back up. You could give them warm electrolytes, but only for 1/2 day. They need fresh water after that.

Adding warm water to their crumbles is a good idea.

Will the phone company pay you for what you lost?

 

[Debbie292d]

My hubby is an electrician who once worked for a phone company. He said that at the very least, knowing you had baby chicks, they could have brought over a generator. Too late now of course, but he agreed with me that sure sounds cruel what they did.