The wife bought Silkie Bantams...how do I keep these things alive?

[Ruler of the Roost]

Not being warm enough the first week slows down their metabolism down causing poor digestion, lack of nutrients and dehydration. Hopefully you can get them stabilized before losing anymore!

noted

 

[BigBlueHen53]

No I do not

Sorry, I was trying to "tag" Debbie into this conversation, you do that by putting the @ symbol in front of somebody's name with no space between the symbol and their name. I was trying to ask if she knew of any bantam experts but she didn't answer. No worries though, some other folks have come to your aid. Hope you get the answers you need!

 

[Ruler of the Roost]

Sorry, I was trying to "tag" Debbie into this conversation, you do that by putting the @ symbol in front of somebody's name with no space between the symbol and their name. I was trying to ask if she knew of any bantam experts but she didn't answer. No worries though, some other folks have come to your aid. Hope you get the answers you need!

Thank you

 

[Ruler of the Roost]

And we're down to three, and one of those is already not doing well... I'm guessing whatever happened in the first day or two...the damage is just done. Only other thing I can think of is that one of them were sick...

 

[McChooky]

And we're down to three, and one of those is already not doing well... I'm guessing whatever happened in the first day or two...the damage is just done. Only other thing I can think of is that one of them were sick...

These are things I do with my chicks: I make sure the temp on the floor is 95-100 F minimum the 1st week, reduce 5 degrees every week, Dip their butts in warm water and towel dry after removing any dry poop (pasty butt) feed 20% starter feed ground small enough to eat.I don't pick them up or handle them, I never let them run out of chick starter or room temp clean water and don't ever cut the heat or lights off .I lay paper towels over top of pine shavings a week to make sure they don't eat it.I use temperature gauges to monitor temp on the floor.I'm sorry for your loss!

 

[Ruler of the Roost]

These are things I do with my chicks: I make sure the temp on the floor is 95-100 F minimum the 1st week, reduce 5 degrees every week, Dip their butts in warm water and towel dry after removing any dry poop (pasty butt) feed 20% starter feed ground small enough to eat.I don't pick them up or handle them, I never let them run out of chick starter or room temp clean water and don't ever cut the heat or lights off .I lay paper towels over top of pine shavings a week to make sure they don't eat it.I use temperature gauges to monitor temp on the floor.I'm sorry for your loss!

Thank you so much for the detailed reply!!!

 

[GirlsHuntToo]

And we’re back. Another non-silkie bantam is now dying. It’s breathing but not much else. And another silkie bantam is starting to show signs of lethargy. This roller coaster is getting exhausting… we also tried to move our six pullets and cockerels outside. One of the cockerels died outside within a day, we brought them back in and another passed overnight. Wtf is going on!?!?

I would also get proper chick feeders just in case they are getting something in the bedding, like poop, in their food and ingesting it.

 

[Ruler of the Roost]

I would also get proper chick feeders just in case they are getting something in the bedding, like poop, in their food and ingesting it.

Say no more.

 

[Ruler of the Roost]

Well, we’re down to one silkie. I found out that the hatchery that rural king buys from sends the chicks without food, water, or heat from Ohio. I’m in fl.. today’s batch is late cause they got caught in a snow storm. I’m looking into local breeders

 

[FrostRanger]

Well, we’re down to one silkie. I found out that the hatchery that rural king buys from sends the chicks without food, water, or heat from Ohio. I’m in fl.. today’s batch is late cause they got caught in a snow storm. I’m looking into local breeders

That's normal. Chicks can go without food and water their first 3 days of life and it'd do more harm than good to ship them with food and water. The water would spill and chill them and once you start giving them food and water you have to keep it supplied. Hatcheries also provide heat at their discretion, large numbers of chicks can keep each other warm pretty well and in some cases providing a heat pack can make them too hot which is just as dangerous as being too cold