Help! Dying Chick!

[Then I Will]

Hi Revan,

I've ordered two sets of hatchery chicks and had a handful pass with these symptoms.
Be VERY CAREFUL when force-feeding anything. You actually need a tube on the end of the syringe to get it straight down into the crop. If you accidentally get any fluids down that trachea the chick will die of drowning/aspiration.

They are likely just very weak from shipment and the sugar water/electrolytes can give them some strength. In my case, a few never learned to eat or drink on their own and wouldn't even peck at food. Hopefully the sugar gives them the boost they need.

Don't be too disheartened if a couple die. Hatchery chicks go through a lot in mailing and sometimes they have internal deformities that you can't see. So don't kick yourself too hard as though their death was all your fault. They are fragile little creatures after all and you're doing the best you can for them!
good luck!

 

[Then I Will]

I hate cackle hatchery, they don't put grow gel just in case of the munchies. Murray Mcmurray is better

McMurray doesn't actually put any grogel in the box for them to eat. It's in a plastic pack under the straw for you to hydrate upon their arrival. Hatcheries count on the chicks surviving off the yolk for 3 days.

And... in my McMurray shipment I lost 12 out of 20 birds over the course of 4 days. I wasn't particularly happy with the condition the birds arrived in, but I understand that sometimes the mail trucks are more a fault and this is beyond the hatcheries control.

 

[Ming Ming]

well I requested that some grow jel be put out in the box of 17 and they did and only 3 died when i received it

 

[Chickassan]

Got another chick doing the same thing. My mother is giving it the same treatment with the sugar water. The rest otherwise all appear alert thus far.

Best of luck to your little brood, just keep an eye on them they really did have a heck of a trip.

 

[Ming Ming]

they were trampled

 

[Revan]

Lost one. ;_; Two others are still receiving extra care, but I am hopeful they'll be okay.

 

[sbhkma]

this rushes blood to his little head and put them in a daze so he won't resist food. My guess is he is fatigued

Ming Ming, you can put ALL your info into one post instead of one line in each of 5 posts ya know

 

[Chickassan]

I'm so sorry, this is why I don't do mail chicks anymore it's just too much. Still holding out hope for the rest of the little buggers.

Lost one. ;_; Two others are still receiving extra care, but I am hopeful they'll be okay.

 

[Revan]

I'm so sorry, this is why I don't do mail chicks anymore it's just too much. Still holding out hope for the rest of the little buggers.

Sadly, mail order is really my only option due to how far I'd have to travel to pick birds up personally. However, I am trying to go for hatcheries where minimal chick loss is reported by customers. Not a guarantee, I know, but I feel better with that in mind than ordering from a place where chicks are reported to have all sorts of problems.


Good news, the two others that were having troubles are doing better. I got them to drink and eat. They started chirping so loud until I put them back in with the others and then they curled up by the food dish. I know the first 24 hours are critical, but I think they'll be okay. I am checking on them every 30 minutes to make sure none of them are struggling. I think, out of the 15 I ordered, and 5 extras, losing one is acceptable. I wish it was zero, but it's better than half or all of them dying. *knocks on wood*

 

[Chickassan]

That's great news! I tried doing the mail order eggs this year and hoping for not a whole bunch of roosters. Worked out pretty good only one rooster and three out of four hatched. Way less heartbreaking to just get a dud egg.