Help! 6 day old chick all of a sudden sick

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I've done a bit of research on coffee grounds bedding today. Most commercial coffee bedding is the chaff of the coffee beans, but many people have posted stuff on the internet about how they get dregs from Starbucks or save their own coffee grounds, dry it out and use it in their coops as bedding, and they swear no chickens ever got sick.

It's a given fact that coffee, mostly the caffeine in it, is toxic to chickens. All chickens. However, chickens encounter many plants and substances that are toxic and most do not become sick. Why would that be? The answer is that most chickens will not eat toxic substances, mostly because they taste bad. But this doesn't make coffee safe because there's always one chicken or chick somewhere that eats it regardless and then gets sick.

Chicks especially love to eat things they find on the ground. If their bedding is small particles, they are more likely to eat it. The chick in this thread ate its commercially produced coffee bedding. This chick had all the symptoms of constipation. Usually oil will break up the impaction, and the chick recovers in just a few hours. The chick in this thread did not respond to the oil and remained impacted, and it never recovered. But it's not clear that it suffered toxicity from the coffee. It doesn't matter. It did eat the bedding and it did constipate the chick. Therefore, I conclude that coffee bedding has particles much too small to be safely used in a chick brooder as would any type of bedding with particles too small that a chick mistakes them for food.
 
azygous said:
I've done a bit of research on coffee grounds bedding today. Most commercial coffee bedding is the chaff of the coffee beans, but many people have posted stuff on the internet about how they get dregs from Starbucks or save their own coffee grounds, dry it out and use it in their coops as bedding, and they swear no chickens ever got sick.

It's a given fact that coffee, mostly the caffeine in it, is toxic to chickens. All chickens. However, chickens encounter many plants and substances that are toxic and most do not become sick. Why would that be? The answer is that most chickens will not eat toxic substances, mostly because they taste bad. But this doesn't make coffee safe because there's always one chicken or chick somewhere that eats it regardless and then gets sick.

Chicks especially love to eat things they find on the ground. If their bedding is small particles, they are more likely to eat it. The chick in this thread ate its commercially produced coffee bedding. This chick had all the symptoms of constipation. Usually oil will break up the impaction, and the chick recovers in just a few hours. The chick in this thread did not respond to the oil and remained impacted, and it never recovered. But it's not clear that it suffered toxicity from the coffee. It doesn't matter. It did eat the bedding and it did constipate the chick. Therefore, I conclude that coffee bedding has particles much too small to be safely used in a chick brooder as would any type of bedding with particles too small that a chick mistakes them for food.
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Is sand ok? I have construction sand in there now. Also, is there anything I should do for the other 4 that were on the coffee grounds? Should I push oil just in case, or wait and see?
 
If the older chickens were to get sick from the coffee bedding they'd be showing signs of it. i doubt it's going to be an issue with them.

I use sand in my coops and runs. Have been for over ten years. I love it. My chickens love it. It's easy to maintain. I brood my chicks on sand in the run. I've been doing it for ten years. Chicks love the sand and they eat it.

Fortunately, sand is the right size for chick grit, so the first thing my new chicks do is eat sand and it nicely kits out their gizzards, and once the gizzards are well equipped, the chicks lose interest in eating the sand. They continue to consume it as the sand in their gizzards is pooped out, but not at the rate they did when just a few days old. The huge benefit of this early consumption of sand grit is that chicks have no digestive issues, and they can safely eat just about anything from the end of the first week forward.

Some sand isn't suitable for chicks such as play sand which is too fine and has too much silica in it. I use cheap construction sand straight from the gravel yard in town. It has a variety of sizes of grit in it so all ages of chickens can use it for grit.

The thing about sand, though, is it's miserable when wet. It can really stink. But my run is covered and enclosed, so it rarely gets wet. But folks in very wet climates may not be happy with it.
 
Harmoni said:
I was worried they would tear them up. One of the new chicks I got is about 2 weeks old.
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Mine were fine with the pads. I actually left one under the shavings in case they spilled water and changed it every few days. I also think it’s important to have things for the chicks to do. I had a few small branches to perch on, a mirror to look in, and some red dots on the wall to peck at. The busier they are with chick things the less they will be curious about non-chick things. Mine looooved roosting on the branches I put in there.
 

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