Hi All! I just joined this forum upon a recommendation by a fellow banana grower over at bananas.org. I just received 25 baby chicks from McMurray Hatchery three days ago, and I'm sorry to say that three have died already. I purchased the ornamental layer collection, and the first one that died was a top hat, followed by two black silkies. I think that dehydration was the problem for the three, but the last silkie couldn't lift her head or move in the last few hours of her life. All the chicks seem to be eating and drinking well now. I'm adding vitamins (quick chik) to their water, which I change about three times a day. They are on Alpine wood shavings, which is odorless.
Now another black silkie chick is having problems. Yesterday, she bowed her head so low that it went underneath her, and she bolted backward and tumbled several times. I was horrified. I did some research here and found the Vitamin E and Selenium treatment for Vitamin E deficiency. I reduced the dosage since the recommendation was for an adult. It was really hard getting her to open her mouth for the Vitamin E, but she did get some down followed by Vitamin water. I watched her frequently last night, and while all the other chicks were down, she remained upright and did the tumbling thing, waking all the other chicks up and disturbing them. I didn't want to separate her because I only have the one heat lamp, and she seemed to do better with company. I held her for a little while so that she could sleep while I held her upright, but I could feel her body trembling the whole time so I don't think she got any sleep, and she did protest vocally to being separated from the rest.
I read here on this forum how it is common in silkies, but I was surprised that it happened to a baby chick. The recommendation is 400 mcg's of Vitamin E twice a day for an adult, and it looks like the treatment goes on for about three weeks. I think she got about 200 mcg's, but it is hard to say what actually made it down her throat. Can someone tell me if they've experienced this with a baby chick before and what I should do to help this little chick. Any advice on dosage would be much appreciated too.
Today, she is eating and drinking and running around with the rest, but she doesn't seem to want to lay down to sleep when the others do.
Thanks in advance for your help.
The black silkie with the tumbling problem is in the upper far left corner.
The first day, I used this starter kit guard for them. Then my husband bought a huge tub, which they showed that you can use in Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens, but I believe that this held too much heat in, and it wasn't big enough for the chicks to get away for the heat, which is maybe why the two black silkies died from dehydration. I feel so distraught about that.
Now they are in a giant cardboard box and have enough room to get away from the heat so dehyration hopefully won't be a problem anymore.
Any comments would be greatly appreciated.
Clare
Edited to remove broken links of pictures.
Now another black silkie chick is having problems. Yesterday, she bowed her head so low that it went underneath her, and she bolted backward and tumbled several times. I was horrified. I did some research here and found the Vitamin E and Selenium treatment for Vitamin E deficiency. I reduced the dosage since the recommendation was for an adult. It was really hard getting her to open her mouth for the Vitamin E, but she did get some down followed by Vitamin water. I watched her frequently last night, and while all the other chicks were down, she remained upright and did the tumbling thing, waking all the other chicks up and disturbing them. I didn't want to separate her because I only have the one heat lamp, and she seemed to do better with company. I held her for a little while so that she could sleep while I held her upright, but I could feel her body trembling the whole time so I don't think she got any sleep, and she did protest vocally to being separated from the rest.
I read here on this forum how it is common in silkies, but I was surprised that it happened to a baby chick. The recommendation is 400 mcg's of Vitamin E twice a day for an adult, and it looks like the treatment goes on for about three weeks. I think she got about 200 mcg's, but it is hard to say what actually made it down her throat. Can someone tell me if they've experienced this with a baby chick before and what I should do to help this little chick. Any advice on dosage would be much appreciated too.
Today, she is eating and drinking and running around with the rest, but she doesn't seem to want to lay down to sleep when the others do.
Thanks in advance for your help.
The black silkie with the tumbling problem is in the upper far left corner.
The first day, I used this starter kit guard for them. Then my husband bought a huge tub, which they showed that you can use in Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens, but I believe that this held too much heat in, and it wasn't big enough for the chicks to get away for the heat, which is maybe why the two black silkies died from dehydration. I feel so distraught about that.
Now they are in a giant cardboard box and have enough room to get away from the heat so dehyration hopefully won't be a problem anymore.
Any comments would be greatly appreciated.
Clare
Edited to remove broken links of pictures.
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