Newbie chicken owner

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TerryTT

TerryTT

In the Brooder
5 Years
Sep 4, 2014
14
0
22
Hey all!

I'm a brand new chicken owner. I have 4 silkies (2 splash, 1 white, 1 black) who are two months old that I bought from local farms.

I also just received an order from McMurray farms of 23 chicks. I ordered 20 and they added a few extras. After two days in the post I picked them up and drove them across the border (I live in Canada) Three hours after getting them home, one passed away and I think another may not make it. All the others seem to be happy and active.

My McMurray order included:

23 chicks all bantams:

2 - buff silkie
3 - blue silkie
1 - black silkie
1 - white silkie

2 - black frizzle
2 - red frizzle
2 - white frizzle

2 - BTW Japanese

3 - black white crested polish

2 - mille fleur

3 - extra chicks that I have no idea what they are
 
Welcome to BYC! Please make yourself at home and we are here to help.

I'm sorry about your loss!
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Do you know what's wrong? Do they have pasty butt? What is it acting like?
You can post here to ask how to help heal her
https://www.backyardchickens.com/f/10/emergencies-diseases-injuries-and-cures

Try and get her to drink water with ACV or sugar. Wash her bottom if she has pasty butt. Also, make sure she is very warm and not being bullied.

Sounds like you have lots of great breeds! Enjoy them and good luck with the little one!
 
Sorry about your loss. Hopefully the other one will pull through. I orderd 9 from Meyerhatchery.com and all are doing well. 7 weeks old now. Moved them into their new coop about 5 days ago. Still tryin to teach them to go into the coop at dark by theirself. Work in progress but the are getting better every day. Congrats on your new flock. They are such a pleasure to sit and watch every afternoon. We hand feed them everyday to get them close to us. Meal worms, bread and whatever else. My wife is gluten intolerant and bought some corn tortillas, but she didnt read the label. It had gluten in it so now it is chicken feed, LOL. They love it.
 
The one that passed away and the one that I think I'm about to lose, both look good. I examined all of the bird when I transferred them to the new pen from the carton and they all seemed to be in excellent health. I made sure they all drank when put in the pen so they seemed to be interested for a short time in drinking.

The two I'm having/had issues with both did the exact same thing; they went under the heat lamp and flopped over to their sides, stretching out and breathing heavy. The first one died before I even realized something was wrong it was so quick. This second one is taking longer, but I suspect he's going to follow the first one. The other birds are so busy exploring, drinking and eating it doesn't appear anyone is getting bullied, but then again, they may have been in the shipping box over the past couple of days.

If it wasn't for the fact my other four two month old birds that I got from local breeders are chubby, happy birds I'd think it was something I did wrong. :/
 
Welcome to BYC. Glad you decided to join our flock. I'm sorry about the loss of your chicks. That frequently happens with mail order chicks. That's why they put extras in the box. I've ordered from Murray McMurray on several occasions, and never received a shipment from them in which I didn't lose 1 or 2 chicks in shipping. The same thing happened in several orders with Cackle Hatchery and Ideal Poultry. Please feel free to ask any questions you may have. We are here to help in any way we can. Good luck with the remainder of your chicks.
 
Survival of the fittest is what it boils down to. Some are just not as healthy as others and loosing one or two is not uncommon. I didn't loose any but it does happen. Show them the water and food, check for pastey butt and the rest is a waiting game. We watched ours worrying about everything. The are tough little animals and the others that are running around will be fine. The weaklings are normally found in the first few days. It just happens. Soory for your loss and pray for the sick little guy. Hope the best for ya. Oh, get some of the electrolites and put it in their water. It will help them the first few days.
 
Hello :frow and Welcome To BYC! Sorry about your losses, good luck with the rest of the chicks, sounds like you'll have a nice assorted flock.
 
Thank you everyone. I'll have tons of questions I'm sure of that as the days go on, I'm sure of that. :) The chickens are currently in my house, I hired someone to come over next week and build them a nice coop. I'm sure my 4 older birds will be excited to get outside.

Like y'all had mentioned, I read on here that people normally lose a couple chicks when they mail order so I did order more than I wanted - just in case. I figured by the time I lose a couple and then re-home the roos (once I realize which ones are roos) I should have the perfect size flock. I was hoping for roughly 9-10 hens.
 
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Some chicks are lost to the stress of shipping - they may have ended up at the bottom of the pile, when their box was shifted. Gro gel is a good product to have on hand. Some shippers put some in the box when shipping to help the chicks along.
 

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