Mail Order Chick Weak

[Petermariah]

I received my mail order chicks lastnight. I had 12 babies that were in transit for two days. Eleven of the were running around immediately drank and ate. No problems. One little girl is very weak and cold. She is under a heat lamp and brooder heater. She drank a little bit last night. She has not eaten. She feels skinny compared to the others and she feels cold. Her wings are droopy and she won’t even walk over to the water I have to place her in front of it. She drank a tiny amount of egg yolk and a few drops of nutridrench. I was hoping she would perk up overnight. But she is the same this morning. Should I put her in the incubator? And if so what temp? I think she is the Speckled Sussex but not too sure. The others are running around full of energy. Big noticeable difference.

 

[Kiki]

You mentioned she's under a heat lamp and a brooder plate... Are you positive she's not too hot?

 

[Kiki]

Pay close attention when offering drops of Nutri-Drench.
If you force one drop down the wrong spot of the throat you will kill her.

Have you given ND again this morning? It's the best hope for these type chicks.

 

[Eggcessive]

Shipping stress can be very hard on chicks. About the only thing you can do is give the NutriDrench and get her drinking fluids by dipping her beak into it. I also sprinkle chick crumbles on a clean paper towel around their feed and tap it to get them eating. Check for any pasty butt on the vent and clean it off. Unfortunately some chicks do not survive. Look out for any others looking weak, and make sure they are getting food and water.

 

[Petermariah]

I really think she is cold. She feels cold to the touch. She’s weak barely holds up her head and her wings droop down. She looks flat when next to one of the others. I have them in a pop up puppy playpen and I really can’t get the heat lamp close enough to make a difference. I’m afraid the heat plate is not enough for her. I put her in the incubator set at 95 with food and water and she had a bit more ND. I sure hope she pulls through. The other ones are little balls of energy.

 

[Petermariah]

After about 1.5 hours in the incubator slight improvement at least she seems to squirm a bit more and kicked her legs when I picked her up to try to give her some more ND mixed with water. She also seemed to actually lift her head to swallow this time which she did not do before. She is still not eat drinking or walking on her own. I am also soaking some food in ND water to soften it to try and see if she will try to eat a bit later. So far the only nutrition she has has has come from the eye dropper. I would like to see her do it on her own. When I sit her next to the food or water she just looks at it but makes no attempt to peck. Maybe some more time in the heat will help.