Unfortunately, all my research and preparation has still not yielded very good results.
We were shipped 28 chicks on April 30. We are now down to 19 living.
The first 6 died within the first 36 hours. 3 of those were Dominique bantams. I attribute these deaths on shipping stress or just not quite being healthy right from the start. After this period, we had a few good days.
Then one night I noticed 2 more of the doms with huge crops. I separated them overnight without food and they did not go down very much. That same day, one of the buff orp bantams that had been getting weaker and weaker passed away. I attempted the various remedies for impacted crop or sour crop depending on how they were feeling. I ended up doing crop surgery on one, but it did not survive. I found shavings packed in its crop. The other one died as well. This now had us with 5 out of the 7 dominques dead. We had theorized they were not as healthy of batch as the other breeds we got and this seemed to confirm it. I have 2 left. One is a bit smaller, but both seem to be holding their own.
Near this same time, I put in a trough style feeder and when I came back after a few hours, a silkie was limping. I assume it got hurt in the feeder somehow. I can find no injury or swelling. I had it with the two doms one day, but it was very lonely as in their sick condition, they were not any company. So, I put it back in with the others. It was happier, but it was getting run all over and it was too far to the food and water.
I was also dealing with a few pasty butt issues with some of the smaller buff orp bantams, so I moved three of them into a smaller box with the injured silkie. It's been easier to catch them to check frequently for pasty butt and the silkie seems content with the company now. I've been making sure they are all eating and drinking as much as they want and giving the silkie drench and poly-vi-sol. It stands some on its leg now and can hobble around, so it seems like maybe it was just a sprain and with rest, it will hopefully recover. I'll keep the four separated for a bit longer and hopefully reintroduce them back at the same time.
The main brooder holds 15 now. They are really discovering their wings. This morning I was watching and one jumped off a roosting bar and was only a few inches short of clearing the top of the box. I laid the bar over, so it was shorter. We have a larger, taller, brooder, but I was hoping not to set it up until we were ready to move them into the garage. I can put the lid on this one, but haven't figure out how to do the light with it, so I might just be taping up more cardboard on the sides to add some extra height. Not quite sure yet...
Here is a video of the main brooder taking Saturday night when they were 11 days old.
We were shipped 28 chicks on April 30. We are now down to 19 living.
The first 6 died within the first 36 hours. 3 of those were Dominique bantams. I attribute these deaths on shipping stress or just not quite being healthy right from the start. After this period, we had a few good days.
Then one night I noticed 2 more of the doms with huge crops. I separated them overnight without food and they did not go down very much. That same day, one of the buff orp bantams that had been getting weaker and weaker passed away. I attempted the various remedies for impacted crop or sour crop depending on how they were feeling. I ended up doing crop surgery on one, but it did not survive. I found shavings packed in its crop. The other one died as well. This now had us with 5 out of the 7 dominques dead. We had theorized they were not as healthy of batch as the other breeds we got and this seemed to confirm it. I have 2 left. One is a bit smaller, but both seem to be holding their own.
Near this same time, I put in a trough style feeder and when I came back after a few hours, a silkie was limping. I assume it got hurt in the feeder somehow. I can find no injury or swelling. I had it with the two doms one day, but it was very lonely as in their sick condition, they were not any company. So, I put it back in with the others. It was happier, but it was getting run all over and it was too far to the food and water.
I was also dealing with a few pasty butt issues with some of the smaller buff orp bantams, so I moved three of them into a smaller box with the injured silkie. It's been easier to catch them to check frequently for pasty butt and the silkie seems content with the company now. I've been making sure they are all eating and drinking as much as they want and giving the silkie drench and poly-vi-sol. It stands some on its leg now and can hobble around, so it seems like maybe it was just a sprain and with rest, it will hopefully recover. I'll keep the four separated for a bit longer and hopefully reintroduce them back at the same time.
The main brooder holds 15 now. They are really discovering their wings. This morning I was watching and one jumped off a roosting bar and was only a few inches short of clearing the top of the box. I laid the bar over, so it was shorter. We have a larger, taller, brooder, but I was hoping not to set it up until we were ready to move them into the garage. I can put the lid on this one, but haven't figure out how to do the light with it, so I might just be taping up more cardboard on the sides to add some extra height. Not quite sure yet...
Here is a video of the main brooder taking Saturday night when they were 11 days old.
