My Chicks died, how could I have prevented it?

[ShawnaScott]

There were only 4 chicks in the brooder, all bantam. Now that the brooder is covered with a towel, it is much warmer and they move around more. They were not huddled under the lamp last night, though they were sleeping in a group.

 

[tcmstalcup]

I agree that pasty butt is often a sign of other illness and you just let your soft heart get you a ready-made disaster. Buy the healthiest chicks available and put a little ACV in their water.

 

[Stewarts]

Since I hatched out 23 chicks of my own, I have given them plain yogurt right from the off and put a equal amounts of a cider vinegar and molasses mixture (1 tsp) in about 2 gallons of water for them. They love the yogurt and it has the bacterium they need in their systems. When they started filling the yogurt bowl with shavings, I switched to making a starter mash by adding water to it and mixing several tbsp of yogurt into it. I've never had a sick chick! I give them a treat of mashed boiled eggs every now and again too. Today I will put the yogurt on bread and let them eat it from my hand, that way they won't waste the yogurt.

Stephanie

 

[MacGyverHtsChic]

Shawna, I was thinking that maybe the store where you purchased was not keeping them warm enough since so many (a quarter of their stock) had pasty bum. If you are not sure of them being warm enough at home I would get a thermometer and place it at ground level where your chicks are kept. Off the top of my head, I think they need 90 degrees the first week and 5 degrees less each week after that. But see what makes your lil' guys comfy. hope this helps

 

[Pathfinders]

I agree. If that many of the chicks at the store had pasted vents, likely they weren't being kept warm enough. And if chilled for too long, then they'd go downhill past the point of no return.

As hard as it is to want to "save" such chicks, it's heartbreaking, because once they've been chilled like that, no amount of heat and feed and water will save them. It's heartbreaking, because they'll just keep dying.

As the others have said, best to just pick the perkiest, healthiest chicks you can find and bring those home. And if the feed store is open to it, perhaps you can help them adjust their setup so that the chicks they get in the future won't be so harmed. I found our local TSC was very open to learning how to keep their chicks healthy, after all, they don't want to lose money!

Now they routinely give out my name/number when someone calls them with questions about chickens. I just laugh, I'm known as the chicken lady in the area...

 

[ShawnaScott]

I agree. If that many of the chicks at the store had pasted vents, likely they weren't being kept warm enough. And if chilled for too long, then they'd go downhill past the point of no return.

As hard as it is to want to "save" such chicks, it's heartbreaking, because once they've been chilled like that, no amount of heat and feed and water will save them. It's heartbreaking, because they'll just keep dying.

As the others have said, best to just pick the perkiest, healthiest chicks you can find and bring those home. And if the feed store is open to it, perhaps you can help them adjust their setup so that the chicks they get in the future won't be so harmed. I found our local TSC was very open to learning how to keep their chicks healthy, after all, they don't want to lose money!

Now they routinely give out my name/number when someone calls them with questions about chickens. I just laugh, I'm known as the chicken lady in the area...

I tried so hard to tell them, very politely, that maybe their chicks were too cold, and that they should probably wipe the poo off their butts, so that no more chicks would die, and the man informed me (again) that you don't have to wipe it off their butts. Which is contrary to everything I have read or heard. They are not very nice at RK, when I went in today I saw a bin of 3 to 4 week old chicks (had most of their feathers) and 4 in particular were getting pecked to death! One's vent is entirely raw and bloody and featherless, and the other's don't have any wing feathers left at all, and one's wing tip is very raw/bloody.

I bought them. I offered to buy all of the wounded ones (some weren't so bad, just a spot or two, but getting pecked by the others, and were going to be bad soon), but they didn't want to give me a discount, and I wasn't about to waste $30 on chicks that were most likely going to die anyway. I don't think I will ever shop at RK again.

 

[ShawnaScott]

Also thank you all for the helpful tips! I really did mean to go back and buy the healtiest ones, but rescueing just in my blood I guess.

 

[Pathfinders]

That must be so frustrating, to have them ignore you like that. Makes you just want to give them a shake. These are living creatures we're talking about here!

 

[ashcons]

You could try writing a letter to the manager explaining the conditions you've seen at the store and the death of the chicks you purchased as reasons you will no longer be an RK customer. Losing revenue and receiving a written communication explaining why at a higher level on the food chain sometimes kicks changes into gear at the lower level of the food chain in retail stores.

 

[ShawnaScott]

You could try writing a letter to the manager explaining the conditions you've seen at the store and the death of the chicks you purchased as reasons you will no longer be an RK customer. Losing revenue and receiving a written communication explaining why at a higher level on the food chain sometimes kicks changes into gear at the lower level of the food chain in retail stores.

The manager I talked to, the one that ignored me, is the head store manager!

The big boss. If I could only find out from corporate who was higher up.....