Help! my 3 week old chicks! please!

[lucyharper123]

my hens are free range as i live on a farm and i do have a cockrel, it is winter and my hens are still laying but a few weeks ago i found out that one of my hens was secretly sitting on two eggs! they hatched but then the mother took no interest in them, so i took them into my care and i had some bad luck as my bulb broke in my heat lamp ! and i cant get a hold of another one for a while so my chicks belle&rocky have been surviving with a hot water bottel and next to a radiator ! but now ive noticed they are making a crackley noise, look tired & unbalenced and this may sound stupid but one looks conctipated please tell me what to do they are like my newborn babys !

 

[SilkiesForEver]

my hens are free range as i live on a farm and i do have a cockrel, it is winter and my hens are still laying but a few weeks ago i found out that one of my hens was secretly sitting on two eggs! they hatched but then the mother took no interest in them, so i took them into my care and i had some bad luck as my bulb broke in my heat lamp ! and i cant get a hold of another one for a while so my chicks belle&rocky have been surviving with a hot water bottel and next to a radiator ! but now ive noticed they are making a crackley noise, look tired & unbalenced and this may sound stupid but one looks conctipated please tell me what to do they are like my newborn babys !

They sound chilled. This is what I would do, Get a box, put straw or wood chips in it, put water bottles on all sides of it, give them plenty of water, especially the constipated one. But leave the top of the box OPEN. You want to make sure they have air.

Now, for the constipated one. Can it poop? Is his/her "waste" stuck to its rear?

 

[lucyharper123]

it looks as if its stuck, but there are traces of poo on her fluff at the back end . thanks

 

[SilkiesForEver]

Ok, get a wash cloth, and get it wet with warm water, and rub the poo, get the area soaked and eventually the poo will come off.

 

[lucyharper123]

okay, thank you so much !

 

[SilkiesForEver]

How are they doing as far as strength?

 

[lucyharper123]

well they seem to be unbalanced but can stand, and one sticks its wings out all the time i don't know if this is for balance ? but they have this crackling noise coming from them and someone said to me it could be a respritary disease is there any medication i can give to them ?

 

[lucyharper123]

they were doing good but now ive realised they only seem costipated when i feed them which is chick crumbs and occasionally yolk, there bottoms go rock hard and i think this is whats causing them to be unbalanced.

 

[sumi]

Make sure they have plenty water to drink. If you don't have a heat lamp an ordinary bulb will work too. You'll have to put it closer to them though, so wrap some mesh or something around it, so they don't burn themselves.
And put a little vaseline or olive oil on their bums for the pasty butt. It'll stop the poo sticking.