Tips wanted after receiving shipped chicks

[TGinTX]

Hi - I had some chicks shipped to me for the first time late last year. They arrived in bad shape and I only saved about a third of the chicks. I was reading some different threads to determine what I might do to get better results when ordering chicks this year (I like to get them so they'll be close to laying eggs by spring).
I would like some feedback what to start at receipt of chicks or what to start maybe 3 days later or a week later, etc. Also I feel like some tips are overlapping & one or the other should be used but not both.

1. DO NOT use cold liquids - it needs to be room temp or better yet, near the temp of the brooder.
2. Ensure chicks cannot get soaked or drowned in waterers - gravel or marbles in troughs
3. Provide electrolytes for first couple of days
3a. For the gels that hatcheries provide, I've seen postings stating the gel instructions are not dilute enough. The posts state the gel actually killed the chicks with the dilution in the directions. Thoughts?
3b. Is sav a chick the best to start with? would Gatorade work? Some just use sugar water
3c. I see apple cider vinegar suggestions - not sure if this is in addition to electrolyte or in place of.
4. Cocci prevention
4a. Is medicated starter best?
4b. Corid is recommended in many postings - can this be used with medicated starter? should I use as prevention or wait until I see symptoms?
5. Wet feed
5a. I see suggestions of making a mash that is easier on chicks. I feel like this causes more issues than what it's worth - I feel like some chicks will just face plant in the wet feed. I can see adding this in after they are past going to sleep at any moment, but I feel like fermenting the feed might bet better at this point too
6. Other supplements I see suggested - I can't tell if this replaces items above or additional supplements
6a. Not clear what this is for - Acidified Copper Sulfate. 1oz to 5 gallons of water for 3 days
Or 1/4 teaspoon copper sulfate per gallon + one of following (citric acid, lemon juice, vinegar)
6b. 1 tablespoon of baking soda per gallon of water - prevents acidosis in the lungs.

 

[nuthatched]

I just make a wet mash out of the feed- you microwave it a few seconds so its more like thick oatmeal- the first few days and make sure they have a warm and cool spot to be in, after that, everything else is usually unnecessary.
I've never added marbles to water and I only add chick electrolytes the first day, after that, fresh plain water.
Acv won't do diddly jack.

 

[SueT]

How many chicks are you getting?
I give them wet feed in a tiny bowl for the first week, making it dryer and dryer each time until they are used to dry crumbles.
Corid in water OR medicated feed —not both. The preventative dose in water is 1/2 tsp per gallon.
Never heard of or tried 6a. 6b.
Never gave gel, sugar water, Gatorade or ACV.
I like to teach my babies to drink from a nipple waterer. (the vertical kind). Keeps water so much cleaner. But not on day one. Maybe by day 3. They’ll be curious enuf to peck at it. I make little ones from small water bottles, these will fit in my brooder.
Have your brooder warm before they get there and check temp to make sure it’s maintaining a warm enuf but not too hot area.

Good luck, let us know how it goes!

 

[TGinTX]

How many chicks are you getting?
I give them wet feed in a tiny bowl for the first week, making it dryer and dryer each time until they are used to dry crumbles.
Corid in water OR medicated feed —not both. The preventative dose in water is 1/2 tsp per gallon.
Never heard of or tried 6a. 6b.
Never gave gel, sugar water, Gatorade or ACV.
I like to teach my babies to drink from a nipple waterer. (the vertical kind). Keeps water so much cleaner. But not on day one. Maybe by day 3. They’ll be curious enuf to peck at it. I make little ones from small water bottles, these will fit in my brooder.
Have your brooder warm before they get there and check temp to make sure it’s maintaining a warm enuf but not too hot area.

Good luck, let us know how it goes!

19 in about 3 weeks. Hopefully no early cold spells.

 

[breegull]

I'm getting my first chicks soon (have always gotten pullets in the past), so I've been researching BYC and compiling similar lists myself. (Just a disclaimer that I'm not speaking from experience, just from what I'm planning to do at the moment.)

You should have corid on hand either way so that you can start treatment immediately if a chick starts showing signs of coccidiosis. So personally, I plan to do the corid preventative dosing instead of medicated feed. That way I can ferment the feed without worrying about the amprolium breaking down, and I can choose whatever starter/grower feed I want, and don't need a separate smaller bag of medicated starter. Obviously going without any medication is also an option, but I'll be brooding outdoors in a new-to-me yard that has had lots of other animal species on it, so I don't know what kind of cocci load it might have.

Based on what I've read on BYC, I'm planning to use a drop of nutri-drench as the thing I give them when they first arrive, and plan to continue to put it in their water for another couple weeks/till they are all looking perky and growing well.

The rationale for Nutri-drench is that it absorbs directly into the body without needing to be digested. Mail-order chicks have had less chance to develop their G.I. tracts, since they had to spend all their yolk energy on just surviving the trip with no food or water to replenish them. So nutrition that absorbs straight into their bloodstream is more efficient and will help them close the gap faster than nutrition they have to digest.

Personally I do plan to wet and/or ferment some feed for them. But just in small meals, so I can watch out for any faceplanters. Their unlimited source of food will just be dry crumbles.