- Jul 11, 2011
- 209
- 4
- 91
We have several groups of chicks and haven't had any problems until tonight... They are all separated by age/size until they are old enough to co-mingle and move into the bigger coop.
This group had 7 chicks in it- 4 silkies and 3 dorking. All roughly the same age although 2 of the silkies are significantly smaller than the others. They are all approximately 8-9weeks old. I've been keeping them in my brooder (large size) at night to protect them from the elements and they've been going out in a chain-link, covered kennel during the day to get more air/space/etc as well as to have grass/dirt to scratch in. I had stopped using the heat lamp during the day for a long time now, and haven't used it at night for at least a week or two, and they seem to be doing fine. They all get along wonderfully well and were all just thriving. The very smallest silkie apparently has some sort of brain damage and does a funny little head-bob after she has shaken her head, but other than that they are all doing great! We were out of town overnight and didn't get back until lunch time today, so they all had to stay in the brooder until we got home. Got home and put them out into the kennel, it was a little breezy/overcast, but they've been out in worse before without any problems. Around 3 or 4 my girls went out with me and we were going to play but it had started to get ever so slightly misty, so we moved the chicks into my barn in a horse stall so they could still have room to roam but would be protected from the wind/rain that was supposed to be on its way. Everyone looked fine when we moved them. They had food and water in the stall, and they have been in the stall like this on yucky days before with no problem. I went out at 8:30 to put them back in the brooder for the night, and I noticed that one of the two biggest silkies looked like she was sleeping- I picked her up and she didn't really struggle at all. I put her in the brooder and put the heat lamp over her, but she just continued to be floppy with her eyes closed. I gave her some karo syrup in water and she did flick her head around each time I gave it to her but then went back to being floppy. She appeared to have 3 or 4 seizures before just dying in my hand, within 15 minutes of me finding her like that. There was no evidence of any physical damage, she was completely dry, and there was no diarrhea or history of it. Everyone else is strong, active, eating like maniacs and drinking well, even the littlest silkie who is half her size. The temps today were in the 50s, so my thought was that she got chilled, but really can't completely convince myself since she was pretty much fully feathered out and pretty darn fluffy, plus they weren't huddled together like they do when they get cold... And she didn't even get wet in the mist before moving them since they were underneath a piece of roofing tin. I just can't imagine what would completely wipe out an otherwise healthy and strong chick that old, within such a short period of time! Of course now I'm kicking myself because I could have gone out to the barn to put them up an hour earlier but didn't, since I knew they were in a place out of the weather... but I don't know if I would have found the same thing and just waited longer for her to die. Any suggestions??? I'd just hate for anyone else to go down like this, they haven't been exposed to any new chickens/chicks since the dorkings were added in the first part of April, and they're as healthy as can be. Can't wait till my girls realize that "mama silkie" is missing tomorrow... :/
This group had 7 chicks in it- 4 silkies and 3 dorking. All roughly the same age although 2 of the silkies are significantly smaller than the others. They are all approximately 8-9weeks old. I've been keeping them in my brooder (large size) at night to protect them from the elements and they've been going out in a chain-link, covered kennel during the day to get more air/space/etc as well as to have grass/dirt to scratch in. I had stopped using the heat lamp during the day for a long time now, and haven't used it at night for at least a week or two, and they seem to be doing fine. They all get along wonderfully well and were all just thriving. The very smallest silkie apparently has some sort of brain damage and does a funny little head-bob after she has shaken her head, but other than that they are all doing great! We were out of town overnight and didn't get back until lunch time today, so they all had to stay in the brooder until we got home. Got home and put them out into the kennel, it was a little breezy/overcast, but they've been out in worse before without any problems. Around 3 or 4 my girls went out with me and we were going to play but it had started to get ever so slightly misty, so we moved the chicks into my barn in a horse stall so they could still have room to roam but would be protected from the wind/rain that was supposed to be on its way. Everyone looked fine when we moved them. They had food and water in the stall, and they have been in the stall like this on yucky days before with no problem. I went out at 8:30 to put them back in the brooder for the night, and I noticed that one of the two biggest silkies looked like she was sleeping- I picked her up and she didn't really struggle at all. I put her in the brooder and put the heat lamp over her, but she just continued to be floppy with her eyes closed. I gave her some karo syrup in water and she did flick her head around each time I gave it to her but then went back to being floppy. She appeared to have 3 or 4 seizures before just dying in my hand, within 15 minutes of me finding her like that. There was no evidence of any physical damage, she was completely dry, and there was no diarrhea or history of it. Everyone else is strong, active, eating like maniacs and drinking well, even the littlest silkie who is half her size. The temps today were in the 50s, so my thought was that she got chilled, but really can't completely convince myself since she was pretty much fully feathered out and pretty darn fluffy, plus they weren't huddled together like they do when they get cold... And she didn't even get wet in the mist before moving them since they were underneath a piece of roofing tin. I just can't imagine what would completely wipe out an otherwise healthy and strong chick that old, within such a short period of time! Of course now I'm kicking myself because I could have gone out to the barn to put them up an hour earlier but didn't, since I knew they were in a place out of the weather... but I don't know if I would have found the same thing and just waited longer for her to die. Any suggestions??? I'd just hate for anyone else to go down like this, they haven't been exposed to any new chickens/chicks since the dorkings were added in the first part of April, and they're as healthy as can be. Can't wait till my girls realize that "mama silkie" is missing tomorrow... :/
Agonal just describes the body movements right before death, usually sort of spastic/ stretching that sort of thing, as the muscles of the body fight against oxygen deprivation, probably partially due to the brain lacking oxygen too. There's probably a better way to describe it! lol
