May be overreacting- wobbly Bantam chicks

[newchickychick]

We JUST got them out of their shipping box. So I may be overreacting. I am planning to try puppy pads because the others have always gone right to wood chips no problem but these guys seem just so wobbly. They’ve got vitamins and electrolytes in their water and are all drinking. Most have found the food too and are eating. Is it possibly just the wood chips? Or shipping stress? Or is it a really bad sign?

 

[Eggcessive]

Get them drinking and eating right away by dipping beaks. Wobbly does not sound good. Poultry NutriDrench 2-3 drops orally to stressed chicks may help Look for any stuck on poop on vents (pasty butt) and clean off daily. Shipping stress can be very hard on them. I have used paper towels changed often in the first week of life. Good luck.

 

[newchickychick]

Get them drinking and eating right away by dipping beaks. Wobbly does not sound good. Poultry NutriDrench 2-3 drops orally to stressed chicks may help Look for any stuck on poop on vents (pasty butt) and clean off daily. Shipping stress can be very hard on them. I have used paper towels changed often in the first week of life. Good luck.

No pasty butt and nutridrench is in water! They are all running around and seem to be getting steadier already. I put paper towels down. I gave one drop directly to a chick who seemed to almost have something stuck in its throat? But it was like that before we got it out of the box. I definitely do the beak dip with every new batch of chicks.

 

[newchickychick]

Rather, not something stuck but just seems to be open mouth breathing. Two of them are like that. Both have been given the water and direct drop of nutridrench. The others seem a lot less wobbly already (especially with paper towels down) but ugh. Two seem super weak and I’m not sure if there’s more I can be doing. We’ve only ever lost two chicks out of many and they were FTTs. So I’m definitely getting into worry mode.

 

[newchickychick]

Update: I know it's only an hour and some after we got them in the brooder, but already massive massive improvement. Ugh. I'm so relieved. They're ALL steady on their feet now. The one that was open mouth and looked almost like it had been 'spitting up' in its mouth, I did a gentle crop massage as its crop seemed full and it is now not open mouth breathing, is drinking fine on its own, and looks tired but no longer was looking like it was actively dying. It no longer seems to be regurgitating whatever was going on. That was scary. :[ I hope that was the right call...

They were all SO wobbly when we first put them in, like they were drunk. </3 But now they're all steady on their feet after making sure they all got a direct drop of nutridrench and a bit in their water. So, fingers crossed... I know shipping can be tough on any chicks, especially Bantams. But ugh. Hadn't had this before with shipped chicks so was definitely panicking. Gonna keep checking in every 15 minutes for a couple hours to be sure everyone's still good.

 

[thecatumbrella]

I know shipping can be tough on any chicks, especially Bantams. But ugh.

I shipped two different bantam groups this spring, and I don't know if I have the stomach to do it again. We do puppy pads with changeable paper towels on top for the first 3 days and it really helps them to get a solid footing over the shavings. Glad your littles are okay. It's so, so nerve-wracking when they're that tiny!

 

[newchickychick]

I shipped two different bantam groups this spring, and I don't know if I have the stomach to do it again. We do puppy pads with changeable paper towels on top for the first 3 days and it really helps them to get a solid footing over the shavings. Glad your littles are okay. It's so, so nerve-wracking when they're that tiny!

Oh man, I'm glad to know I didn't just royally mess up by just putting them into the brooder at least. This makes me feel so much better.

I felt like an absolute failure when I got them in there and it was so much chaos. We've had absolutely fabulous results with shipping from our other two batches, but they were standard chicks not bantams. We had 2 FTTs out of a total of 40 chicks, and I never had issues getting pasty butt off. We also had two little reds (turns out they're probably red shoulder Yokohamas!) that simply were not growing and I was thinking they wouldn't make it either, but managed to pull them through and now they're growing well finally. So having so many bad from the get go scared me to pieces and had me thinking I'd messed up with just picking them up out of the box or something.

They were all in two corners of the box too, so I wouldn't be surprised if some were standing on others at all during the shipping. :[ I do think after our next order (should get here tomorrow or Friday), I'll stick to buying from TSC and HOPEFULLY finding some local breeders. I know they've got to be shipped too, but having them had time to settle in and hopefully overcome any issues feels a lot better than opening a box to all that. Poor babies!

 

[newchickychick]

So far, still so good. I'm still nervous about the two Mille Fleur D'uccles. One of them was the one that was aspirating or whatever that was. </3 They're eating and drinking fine.

These chicks seem more interested than the others in trying to bite up the paper towels and any shreds of bedding or POOP they can find more than they are in the feeder, so running to get puppy pads to put them on to avoid any potential of them eating something they shouldn't. We've never had this happen with chicks before - none ever showed any interest in pecking at the large wood shavings. But lesson learned to keep puppy pads on hand.

Thanks y'all very much for the quick responses! I don't think we're out of the woods yet, from how stressful it clearly was for them, but I am most definitely going to be keeping a tight eye on them for the next 72 hours minimum. Who needs sleep, right?