Chickencoop2015
Hatching
- May 3, 2015
- 4
- 1
- 7
Hello, my wife and I are first time chick owners. We built a coop and were prepared for pulleys but received chicks, so we kind of scrambled to make a suitable living situation for them. We had them in our detached greenhouse to get to the recommended 90 degrees. With careful monitoring (opening/closing windows and turning on portable radiator at night) we kept it between 80-90 for the past four days. Yesterday was a busy day and long story short, we neglected them for 8 hours and didn't notice the temperature got up to 100 degrees in their box. My wife discovered that four of the ten had perished. Both of us were grief-stricken by this. We immediately moved them to our garage where it is much cooler and they all perked up rather quickly except one. We closely monitored her and after about one hour, we decided to feed her water through an eyedropper. She has been given about 8ml of water. She has received equal amounts of the following: softened tap water (sodium), hose water (calcium, magnesium), and dasani (potassium). I added a pinch of sugar to their common water and noticed before going to bed that she had taken her first sips of water on her own since the overheating incident. When we went to bed, she still had not eaten with the rest of the chicks. All the others are eating, drinking, flapping their wings, and appear very healthy.
She is still, even in her sleep, breathing very laboriously (heaving) and I would find it hard to believe that she is not rehydrated and has restored her electrolytes by now. Knowing how much fluid a chick drinks in a day would be helpful. Perhaps she still needs more fluids or electrolytes, or maybe she has a respiratory illness that is unrelated to the overheating. She seems to follow the other chicks when they make a commotion, but is not eating with them and displays a strange nestling behavior, where she will nestle her beak into the other chicks' sides and close her eyes. We are worried about her and wonder if anyone can suggest why she is still breathing very heavy. We feel horrible having neglected the other four and don't want to lose another. Thank you.
She is still, even in her sleep, breathing very laboriously (heaving) and I would find it hard to believe that she is not rehydrated and has restored her electrolytes by now. Knowing how much fluid a chick drinks in a day would be helpful. Perhaps she still needs more fluids or electrolytes, or maybe she has a respiratory illness that is unrelated to the overheating. She seems to follow the other chicks when they make a commotion, but is not eating with them and displays a strange nestling behavior, where she will nestle her beak into the other chicks' sides and close her eyes. We are worried about her and wonder if anyone can suggest why she is still breathing very heavy. We feel horrible having neglected the other four and don't want to lose another. Thank you.