I received an order of chicks on Friday morning, they were hatched on Wednesday morning. They are an assortment of bantams. They arrived on time, nothing seemed wrong at all with the shipping. The post office called as soon as they arrived and took good care of them. Some were weak from the beginning and died within a few hours. Now, the rest are acting normal, running around the brooder, napping, eating, chirping, drinking, pooping...everything fine. And then suddenly, one will sit down for a nap and never get back up. They go down, become very sleepy and lethargic, and will not eat solid food anymore. (I can't find a problem with their crops, they seem fine). They will take water or liquid foods only if I hold them and dip their beaks in it, and then they will only keep drinking as long as I keep doing that. Their legs seem to get really weak and floppy, and in a few light colored leg ones, I have noticed the legs turn purple like the blood is not flowing right. The chicks will spend several hours laying around sleepy like this, slowly getting less and less responsive, and then will flip over, roll around gasping for a few minutes, and then die. They go stiff instantly, the rolling around looks a little like a seizure too. When they are in the early stages of this, they do not open their eyes much, if I pick them up and make them stand and eat, they will do so with closed eyes most of the time. They don't seem to have anything wrong with their eyes though.
I had two with pasty butts, but after cleaning them up once, it did not happen again. One of those two died, the other is still alive.
They are in a plastic box in my bathroom with a heat lamp on one end and the other end is open so they can get out from under the lamp if they want. It's 95 degrees in there and none seem cold or uncomfortable. They act like perfectly normal chicks until this starts--one will be running around playing, then suddenly close its eyes and sink down to the ground, and I know then that it is going to die. When I see one start to do that, I move it to a separate brooder because the others begin picking at it badly--I had one chick go down like this and the others ATE its toes while it was still alive!
They are being fed an organic non-medicated chick starter. We don't use medicated chick starter, we prefer not to medicate an animal unless they are sick and it is necessary. I am also supplementing that with scrambled eggs, homemade probiotic yogurt, and warm oatmeal.
What could be wrong with my birds? What else can I/should I do for them?
I had two with pasty butts, but after cleaning them up once, it did not happen again. One of those two died, the other is still alive.
They are in a plastic box in my bathroom with a heat lamp on one end and the other end is open so they can get out from under the lamp if they want. It's 95 degrees in there and none seem cold or uncomfortable. They act like perfectly normal chicks until this starts--one will be running around playing, then suddenly close its eyes and sink down to the ground, and I know then that it is going to die. When I see one start to do that, I move it to a separate brooder because the others begin picking at it badly--I had one chick go down like this and the others ATE its toes while it was still alive!
They are being fed an organic non-medicated chick starter. We don't use medicated chick starter, we prefer not to medicate an animal unless they are sick and it is necessary. I am also supplementing that with scrambled eggs, homemade probiotic yogurt, and warm oatmeal.
What could be wrong with my birds? What else can I/should I do for them?
