WholeLattaChickens40
Hatching
- Jan 17, 2018
- 6
- 3
- 6
My boyfriend volunteers for our fair and 50 chicks were not picked up. Instead of leaving them there to die, he brought them home. I fell in love immediately but we are having so many problems. Seven have died at this point and we've had them for 5 days.
We have them in our downstairs bathroom, in two separate boxes with heat lamps, water, feeders, etc. My boyfriend has a thermometer in there are says it's at the right temp. We have had the vent fan on, but since I've read the thread about problems with chicks, I started to crack the door for circulation. but it has to stay mostly closed because we have cats. We're feeding them medicated chick feed from Tractor Supply, and mixing it with finely grated hardboiled eggs. They get fed ALL THE TIME at least every 2-3hours. We are also giving them electrolyte water that comes in powder form and looks like lemon lime gatorade when mixed. Their bedding is getting changed every other day and they get fresh water every couple hours or sometimes more frequently.
So they all have matted feathers, and I think some of them have lost patches of feathers. Their bellies look swollen to me, but that might just be because their feathers aren't fluffy especially underneath so their bellies are more obvious. I have two right now that look like they are gagging. Just kind of doing that gag motion in the air over and over again. Their poop is brown but it is not firm, makes me think it is diarrhea (Image below).
The ones that have died would just stop eating and drinking and become lethargic. The last one that died I kind of noticed a bubbling in its mouth.
After research I am concerned about:
Humidity
Infection
Labored breathing
Possible water in lungs?
Should I bathe them?
I know there's a lack of bedding, we changed it and didn't have enough so my boyfriend's at the supply store
feathers look matted
Some fresh poop to be inspected.
I have already checked all of their bottoms for sticky butt and cleaned off the ones with poop that I noticed. I'm not sure what else to do and I don't know if I can emotionally take any more of them dying. Please help us!
We have them in our downstairs bathroom, in two separate boxes with heat lamps, water, feeders, etc. My boyfriend has a thermometer in there are says it's at the right temp. We have had the vent fan on, but since I've read the thread about problems with chicks, I started to crack the door for circulation. but it has to stay mostly closed because we have cats. We're feeding them medicated chick feed from Tractor Supply, and mixing it with finely grated hardboiled eggs. They get fed ALL THE TIME at least every 2-3hours. We are also giving them electrolyte water that comes in powder form and looks like lemon lime gatorade when mixed. Their bedding is getting changed every other day and they get fresh water every couple hours or sometimes more frequently.
So they all have matted feathers, and I think some of them have lost patches of feathers. Their bellies look swollen to me, but that might just be because their feathers aren't fluffy especially underneath so their bellies are more obvious. I have two right now that look like they are gagging. Just kind of doing that gag motion in the air over and over again. Their poop is brown but it is not firm, makes me think it is diarrhea (Image below).
The ones that have died would just stop eating and drinking and become lethargic. The last one that died I kind of noticed a bubbling in its mouth.
After research I am concerned about:
Humidity
Infection
Labored breathing
Possible water in lungs?
Should I bathe them?
I know there's a lack of bedding, we changed it and didn't have enough so my boyfriend's at the supply store
feathers look matted
I have already checked all of their bottoms for sticky butt and cleaned off the ones with poop that I noticed. I'm not sure what else to do and I don't know if I can emotionally take any more of them dying. Please help us!
