WaveyCreekChickens
Crowing
My first time raising baby chicks. I got 4 Wyandottes, 1 Orpington (both mixed genders) and 2 Norwegian Jaerhon females.
And the two Jaerhons have died in the first two days.
I am panicking now, and don’t know if they are warm enough, too warm or too cold.
I am using a Mama heating cave and the brooder is a section of the chicken coop.
I picked the chicks up on May 6, the temperature outside was over 70* F. I had a hot water bottle snugged up to their box in the car. The chicks didn’t huddle.
This is their brooder (half of it, to keep the space smaller to begin with).
You can’t see the water station, but on the first day they had a nipple drinker with water.
I showed them each where the water was, by touching their beak to the nipple.
Then I realized the air flows in through the chickens’ pop door, so I added a clear plastic sheet to the fence side to stop any drafts.
The Mama heating cave is a bent piece of wire fence with the heating pad over top. Then I had the towel cover it and straw on top. The thermometer read between 77* and 104* F at different times and in different spots within the cave. When it seemed too hot I lifted it up a bit, and when it seemed to cold, I pushed it in the bedding more.
The chicks came out in spurts, to eat, drink and explore and run back under.
On their first morning here, one of the Norwegian Jaerhon pullets was dead.
I thought it was either too cold or it didn’t drink enough. But the other chicks all looked fine. I added a dip drinker with poulvite to the set up. All the chicks drank from both drinkers that morning.
That day I noticed the wire felt very hot. I got a pillow case and wrapped the wire and heating pad in it. But, because the pillow case hung down (because of the curve), I used duct tape to make it tight around the wire. That was a mistake, as the duct tape got warm and sticky. I found with dismay that a chick was stuck to it (but seemed ok after I helped free it).
I took the duct tape off.
That same day the second Norwegian Jaerhon seemed slower than the other chicks. It was also the one that got stuck by tape.
Several chicks had poop stuck to their butts in the morning, which I cleaned off with warm water.
By the afternoon the little Norwegian pullet didn’t come out of the cave. I pulled her out and she was warm, but weak. I gave her a couple drops of Nutridrench and some poulvite. She swallowed it, and then made weird seizure movements. She died not long after that
The weather has been warm with temps outside not lower than 53*F, and highs in the 70*s.
If you have any idea what I am doing wrong, please help!
I don’t want to lose another chick!
Another question is, is it normal that they peck a lot at the bedding and apparently eat it?
Picture from the first day.
And the two Jaerhons have died in the first two days.
I am panicking now, and don’t know if they are warm enough, too warm or too cold.
I am using a Mama heating cave and the brooder is a section of the chicken coop.
I picked the chicks up on May 6, the temperature outside was over 70* F. I had a hot water bottle snugged up to their box in the car. The chicks didn’t huddle.
This is their brooder (half of it, to keep the space smaller to begin with).
You can’t see the water station, but on the first day they had a nipple drinker with water.
I showed them each where the water was, by touching their beak to the nipple.
Then I realized the air flows in through the chickens’ pop door, so I added a clear plastic sheet to the fence side to stop any drafts.
The Mama heating cave is a bent piece of wire fence with the heating pad over top. Then I had the towel cover it and straw on top. The thermometer read between 77* and 104* F at different times and in different spots within the cave. When it seemed too hot I lifted it up a bit, and when it seemed to cold, I pushed it in the bedding more.
The chicks came out in spurts, to eat, drink and explore and run back under.
On their first morning here, one of the Norwegian Jaerhon pullets was dead.
I thought it was either too cold or it didn’t drink enough. But the other chicks all looked fine. I added a dip drinker with poulvite to the set up. All the chicks drank from both drinkers that morning.
That day I noticed the wire felt very hot. I got a pillow case and wrapped the wire and heating pad in it. But, because the pillow case hung down (because of the curve), I used duct tape to make it tight around the wire. That was a mistake, as the duct tape got warm and sticky. I found with dismay that a chick was stuck to it (but seemed ok after I helped free it).
I took the duct tape off.
That same day the second Norwegian Jaerhon seemed slower than the other chicks. It was also the one that got stuck by tape.
Several chicks had poop stuck to their butts in the morning, which I cleaned off with warm water.
By the afternoon the little Norwegian pullet didn’t come out of the cave. I pulled her out and she was warm, but weak. I gave her a couple drops of Nutridrench and some poulvite. She swallowed it, and then made weird seizure movements. She died not long after that
The weather has been warm with temps outside not lower than 53*F, and highs in the 70*s.
If you have any idea what I am doing wrong, please help!
I don’t want to lose another chick!
Another question is, is it normal that they peck a lot at the bedding and apparently eat it?
Picture from the first day.
