I'll try to give you all as much info as possible... sorry if it turns out to be a book!
I have a silver sebright that is, as far as I know, around 8 wks old (though it's pretty much fully feathered, with facial skin just starting to turn reddish). I got her ("Sorcia")at a recent chicken swap, from Just A Country Girl who got it from Spotsplus, whom I believe gets her chicks from a hatchery. I have had her for a little over 2 wks. and she has been in with my other 4 chicks, all about the same age and gotten from 3 other BYC-ers at swaps around the same time. Sorcia was REALLY sleepy for the first two days I had her, but once she had eaten a bunch and drank a bunch of water and had a couple good nights of sleep, she seemed entirely normal. This is my first experience with chickens, though I've had nearly every other kind of animal.
It has been raining for about 3-4 wks here, and I'm in the middle of building the coop that the girls will hopefully move to in the next week. In the meantime, they are living in a brooder box in our kitchen. For the first few weeks, I had a made-for-cats heating pad under a towel in the bottom of the box since I didn't have a heat lamp on hand and the temp was consistently around 75. I changed the towel at least once every day, and twice during the super rainy days when they weren't outside as much. They have had free access to non-medicated "NatureSmart" organic chick starter/grower and plenty of water, and have had access to grit since they were being taken outside every day and they were eating a lot of grass. They also have had roosts in the box, and use them frequently, to sleep on at night and to see what's going on in the kitchen during the day.
A few days ago the sun came out and I changed a few things:
1. I removed the heating pad and added pine shavings on top of the towel
2. I started taking the girls outside with me nearly all day while coop-building (10/11am-5/6pm) where they had access to dirt, bugs, grass, and plenty of water.
3. I started adding treats to their diet once or twice every day, mostly consisting of fruit like strawberries and raspberries.
Two days ago I noticed the sebright was really sleepy again, even falling asleep mid-step on occasion while outside. She was totally fine otherwise, running around and play-fighting with the other girls, eating just fine, drinking fine, getting excited about treats and showing the others that such things were edible, etc. The next day I could tell that her left eye was slightly swollen and I suspected that part of the falling asleep was just closing that eye. Today, she's been really sleepy all day, and both eyes are swollen and very watery. She can barely keep them open for more than a few seconds, and then only if there's something really exciting going on. She's still eating, though not voraciously, and drinking, and did get excited about and eat a raspberry after I tortured her with vitimins.
Here's what I think I may have done wrong:
1. They didn't have access to their food when they were outside, except when I would call them over and give them a handful, though they had free access all night and morning.
2. I was disillusioned that the shavings were cleaner than they actually were, and didn't change them out for the first 3-4 days, though I did pull out most of the clumped poo.
3. The shaving are slightly old, but they've been kept in a large tupperware bin with the lid on.
Here's what I've done since then:
1. I changed out both the towel and the shavings, and will continue to do so at least every 2 days.
2. I added a bunch of big ventilation holes in the sides of the box.
3. After reading as many threads as I could find on here that sounded related, I bought some Poly-Vi-Sol and Vit. E and gave them all ~2 drops of each this morning (thanks Threehorses for all the awesome advice on this board!)
4. I put the sebright in her own box in a separate room.
She has no other visible signs of illness or injury (no mites or lice, feathers soft and in good condition, legs and feet look fine, no runnyness from the mouth or nose, no odd/bad smells), though she does seem very skinny compared to the other girls. Everyone else seems absolutely fine and are showing no symptoms. I will take her to a vet if that's really the only option, but that's an absolute last resort right now unfortunately.
Aside from the obvious "what do you think is going on and what should I do?", I'd also like to know how many drops of poly-vi-sol and vit. E each 6-8 wks old chick should get each day.
Thank you so much for your time and any advice you can offer!
~Khrysti~
I have a silver sebright that is, as far as I know, around 8 wks old (though it's pretty much fully feathered, with facial skin just starting to turn reddish). I got her ("Sorcia")at a recent chicken swap, from Just A Country Girl who got it from Spotsplus, whom I believe gets her chicks from a hatchery. I have had her for a little over 2 wks. and she has been in with my other 4 chicks, all about the same age and gotten from 3 other BYC-ers at swaps around the same time. Sorcia was REALLY sleepy for the first two days I had her, but once she had eaten a bunch and drank a bunch of water and had a couple good nights of sleep, she seemed entirely normal. This is my first experience with chickens, though I've had nearly every other kind of animal.
It has been raining for about 3-4 wks here, and I'm in the middle of building the coop that the girls will hopefully move to in the next week. In the meantime, they are living in a brooder box in our kitchen. For the first few weeks, I had a made-for-cats heating pad under a towel in the bottom of the box since I didn't have a heat lamp on hand and the temp was consistently around 75. I changed the towel at least once every day, and twice during the super rainy days when they weren't outside as much. They have had free access to non-medicated "NatureSmart" organic chick starter/grower and plenty of water, and have had access to grit since they were being taken outside every day and they were eating a lot of grass. They also have had roosts in the box, and use them frequently, to sleep on at night and to see what's going on in the kitchen during the day.
A few days ago the sun came out and I changed a few things:
1. I removed the heating pad and added pine shavings on top of the towel
2. I started taking the girls outside with me nearly all day while coop-building (10/11am-5/6pm) where they had access to dirt, bugs, grass, and plenty of water.
3. I started adding treats to their diet once or twice every day, mostly consisting of fruit like strawberries and raspberries.
Two days ago I noticed the sebright was really sleepy again, even falling asleep mid-step on occasion while outside. She was totally fine otherwise, running around and play-fighting with the other girls, eating just fine, drinking fine, getting excited about treats and showing the others that such things were edible, etc. The next day I could tell that her left eye was slightly swollen and I suspected that part of the falling asleep was just closing that eye. Today, she's been really sleepy all day, and both eyes are swollen and very watery. She can barely keep them open for more than a few seconds, and then only if there's something really exciting going on. She's still eating, though not voraciously, and drinking, and did get excited about and eat a raspberry after I tortured her with vitimins.
Here's what I think I may have done wrong:
1. They didn't have access to their food when they were outside, except when I would call them over and give them a handful, though they had free access all night and morning.
2. I was disillusioned that the shavings were cleaner than they actually were, and didn't change them out for the first 3-4 days, though I did pull out most of the clumped poo.
3. The shaving are slightly old, but they've been kept in a large tupperware bin with the lid on.
Here's what I've done since then:
1. I changed out both the towel and the shavings, and will continue to do so at least every 2 days.
2. I added a bunch of big ventilation holes in the sides of the box.
3. After reading as many threads as I could find on here that sounded related, I bought some Poly-Vi-Sol and Vit. E and gave them all ~2 drops of each this morning (thanks Threehorses for all the awesome advice on this board!)
4. I put the sebright in her own box in a separate room.
She has no other visible signs of illness or injury (no mites or lice, feathers soft and in good condition, legs and feet look fine, no runnyness from the mouth or nose, no odd/bad smells), though she does seem very skinny compared to the other girls. Everyone else seems absolutely fine and are showing no symptoms. I will take her to a vet if that's really the only option, but that's an absolute last resort right now unfortunately.
Aside from the obvious "what do you think is going on and what should I do?", I'd also like to know how many drops of poly-vi-sol and vit. E each 6-8 wks old chick should get each day.
Thank you so much for your time and any advice you can offer!
~Khrysti~
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