Red Cochin Bantam chicks dead after brief dunk in water

[lukem5]

Summary: Summary 1-2 week old chicks dunked in cool (70f) water for ~10 seconds and died shortly after due to water in lungs and cold (I think)








Unfortunately my once healthy and happy 2 red cochin chicks, pretty young about 3" tall, are now dead from either shock or drowning im not sure.

they got all muddy so I decided to give them a warm bath, I made sure the water temperature was no more than body temp and i added an extremely tiny amount of unscented, plain laundry soap to assist in cleaning.

anyway I had them in the shallow pan of lukewarm water with soap to get the mud off, but off to the side there was a small 1 quart Tupperware container filled with cool water (but not too cold - we live in tropics where its 75 degrees average year round) below the shallow dish- my intention was to rinse them off in there however half way through their bird bath i decided it might be too much of a shock to rinse them with cool water and instead should rinse them with lukewarm water.

I turned my back for one second and one of the chicks jumped into the cool water bath below, it dunked UNDERWATER bobbed back up it and started swimming rather slowly it seemed, not a frantic struggle, it seemed ok. So i thought hey its fine so i quickly dunked the other one in to rinse it off, he dunked in the same way underwater then bobbed back up and started a "slow swim" bobbing up and down if that makes sense they kept their head above water 90% of the time they were in the cool water rinse bath for total of no more than 12 seconds (looking back i never should have thrown them in there and let them dunk underwater even if just for 3 seconds - this is what killed them i think) then i took them both out and onto the heating pad.

Suddenly they were unresponsive - my first guess was they got water in their lungs from the dunk.
So I used a trick they use on small dogs when choking to get material out of the windpipe, you grab the hind legs, gently lift them upside down and very gently swing them, from their two hind legs, upside down, side to side to try and dislodge any material.

However i dont think this worked for small chicks with water in their lungs - it had to be sucked out or something

so I did this for about 20 seconds, and nothing came out, chicks still unresponsive. I put them on the heating pad because they were cold at this point

so started trying to blow air into their nostrils - but I believe this did nothing, I tried in vain for 3-5 minutes doing this.

Then I opened their mouths and blew air in - now their lungs inflated, i very gently did this to both of them ensuring not to "pop" their lungs or force air into them too hard.. but still inflate them.

So I did this in vain for 20 minutes and nothing.

I guess they died because they got water in the lungs, too cold and not enough oxygen.

after i started blowing air into the lungs, i noticed some food came out of one of them which was surely blocking the windpipe., didn't notice any food/fluid out of the other.


They were submersed under the water for no more than 3 seconds and in the cool water bath for no more than 12 seconds.

now I know why chick waterers have to be so shallow because chicks drown so easily.

Im sure i could have saved them if I had just opened their mouths and blown air in to clear out their lungs. Pretty sure cause of death was lack of oxygen.

I'm really sad these were my first 3 red cochin bantam chicks -2 days ago one of them got taken away by other birds ( I had them out in the garden.. turned my back 5 minutes and some kinda of predator bird takes it).


Anyway learn from my mistake - dont bathe chicks even if they are covered in mud im sure it wont KILL them
Although i've bathed baby chicks successfully several times in the past, sometimes things can go wrong and then you've just killed your baby chicks

 

[canalcolt]

Unfortunately my once healthy and happy 2 red cochin chicks, pretty young about 3" tall, are now dead from either shock or drowning im not sure.

they got all muddy so I decided to give them a warm bath, I made sure the water temperature was no more than body temp and i added an extremely tiny amount of unscented, plain laundry soap to assist in cleaning.

anyway I had them in the shallow pan of lukewarm water with soap to get the mud off, but off to the side there was a small 1 quart Tupperware container filled with cool water (but not too cold - we live in tropics where its 75 degrees average year round) below the shallow dish- my intention was to rinse them off in there however half way through their bird bath i decided it might be too much of a shock to rinse them with cool water and instead should rinse them with lukewarm water.

I turned my back for one second and one of the chicks jumped into the cool water bath below, it dunked UNDERWATER bobbed back up it and started swimming rather slowly it seemed, not a frantic struggle, it seemed ok. So i thought hey its fine so i quickly dunked the other one in to rinse it off, he dunked in the same way underwater then bobbed back up and started a "slow swim" bobbing up and down if that makes sense they kept their head above water 90% of the time they were in the cool water rinse bath for total of no more than 12 seconds (looking back i never should have thrown them in there and let them dunk underwater even if just for 3 seconds - this is what killed them i think) then i took them both out and onto the heating pad.

Suddenly they were unresponsive - my first guess was they got water in their lungs from the dunk.
So I used a trick they use on small dogs when choking to get material out of the windpipe, you grab the hind legs, gently lift them upside down and very gently swing them, from their two hind legs, upside down, side to side to try and dislodge any material.

However i dont think this worked for small chicks with water in their lungs - it had to be sucked out or something

so I did this for about 20 seconds, and nothing came out, chicks still unresponsive. I put them on the heating pad because they were cold at this point

so started trying to blow air into their nostrils - but I believe this did nothing, I tried in vain for 3-5 minutes doing this.

Then I opened their mouths and blew air in - now their lungs inflated, i very gently did this to both of them ensuring not to "pop" their lungs or force air into them too hard.. but still inflate them.

So I did this in vain for 20 minutes and nothing.

I guess they died because they got water in the lungs, too cold and not enough oxygen.

after i started blowing air into the lungs, i noticed some food came out of one of them which was surely blocking the windpipe., didn't notice any food/fluid out of the other.


They were submersed under the water for no more than 3 seconds and in the cool water bath for no more than 12 seconds.

now I know why chick waterers have to be so shallow because chicks drown so easily.

Im sure i could have saved them if I had just opened their mouths and blown air in to clear out their lungs. Pretty sure cause of death was lack of oxygen.

I'm really sad these were my first 3 red cochin bantam chicks -2 days ago one of them got taken away by other birds ( I had them out in the garden.. turned my back 5 minutes and some kinda of predator bird takes it).


Anyway learn from my mistake - dont bathe chicks even if they are covered in mud im sure it wont KILL them
Although i've bathed baby chicks successfully several times in the past, sometimes things can go wrong and then you've just killed your baby chicks

How old are they? I think they should be in an enclosure with heat lamp and chick approved watered and feeder . Especially if they r a few days and even weeks old.

 

[lukem5]

How old are they? I think they should be in an enclosure with heat lamp and chick approved watered and feeder . Especially if they r a few days and even weeks old.

They were in an enclosure with waterer and heatlamp. I was giving them a bath in this situation though.


Not sure how old but very young like i said 3" tall Id say less than 2 weeks. You didnt read the post (I dont blame u its a wall of text)

 

[canalcolt]

They were in an enclosure with waterer and heatlamp. I was giving them a bath in this situation though.


Not sure how old but very young like i said 3" tall Id say less than 2 weeks. You didnt read the post (I dont blame u its a wall of text)

I was wondering how they would get muddy. I don't let my chicks in the grass/outside until they r a few months old.
I only need to wash my chicks if they have poop stuck to their butt.. but I do not submerge them.. only wash their butt.

 

[Mosey2003]

Much better to just hold them under a running faucet, with their heads between your fingers and above the tap so that water can't get near their face. Then blot with paper towel and blowdry. Chickens don't swim well, at any age. Sorry you lost them

 

[lukem5]

Much better to just hold them under a running faucet, with their heads between your fingers and above the tap so that water can't get near their face. Then blot with paper towel and blowdry. Chickens don't swim well, at any age. Sorry you lost them

Yes - never submerse their heads in water.. IF they ever do happen to submerse themselves, i think they are doomed unless you perform some kind of CPR.

I think I could have saved them had I known how to open their mouths and gently inflate their lungs. I wish I thought of it earlier.. they must have drowned
I posted this long winded message in the hopes that it saves someones elses pets from death due to drowning which im sure is a common cause of accidental death