URGENT - HELP PLEASE - 2 Day old chicks....

[jimmywalt]

We just started with 3 chicks last Saturday. I know almost NOTHING but I've been reading as much as I can. I'm "wet behind the ears". We can only handle 3 hens in our extremely little coop I purchased last Saturday. Our chicks are ISA Browns about 10 days old.

Tonight we visited our local feed store because we heard that they would be getting in 600 chicks today. When we got there we saw one tub of chicks "Araucana's" there were 3 yellow ones and the rest were brown ones. The 3 yellow ones were being pecked at their eyes by all the brown ones. I couldn't stand knowing that the little yellow ones were being killed by the others, so I scooped them up and put them in a box. I took them to a guy that works there and he said that he would "take care" of them (finish them off I guess) unless we wanted them for free. Well I couldn't let them die so I said I'd take them and try to nurse them back to health if they would accept them back from us this weekend or early next week. The manager said he would. We can't keep them, we just wont' have room (and we live in a small subdivision and probably aren't supposed to have ANY chickens - so our ISA Brown's from last Saturday will have to "fly under the radar" which we think we can do).

Here are pictures of these 2 day old Araucana's. We have these chicks in a different box from our ISA Brown's. Can you tell me what we can do to nurse them back to health? Can we do anything for their eyes? Also is it possible for them to really be Araucana's since they are yellow - I'm just curious.

Thank you very much!

 

[CherylR]

Hmmmmm. I'm no expert, so don't feel completely confident giving others advice. However, until someone with more expertise comes along, I will tell you what I would do. If they were my chicks, I would be sure to keep them warm, 95 degrees in the first week with a heat lamp using a thermometer to maintain proper temp., but be sure they can move away from the heat if they get too warm. It's also important to keep the eyes clean and keep their environment clean and dry as well. I'd also continue to keep them separate from your other 3 chicks to lessen the possibility of more pecking. Are they active and happy other than the condition of the eyes? From the photos, it doesn't look like the eyeballs have been ruptured (correct me if I'm wrong) so as long as they are doing fine otherwise, I'd just treat the eyes with some warm sterile saline (like sterile contact lens solution, perhaps) applying a few drops to clean them a few times a day, being careful not to bump or scratch them and keeping the drops out of their little noses. Not sure if it is serious enough to need anything like antibiotic eye drops at this point but I'd keep a close eye on them. If they seem to be getting redder, or if a serousy or green-ish discharge starts, or if they get swollen, and/or if the chicks seem to be getting ill -listless, not eating, not moving around, etc- I would see about finding some more expert advice. Hope this helps a little until someone with more experience comes along ....
Best wishes and welcome to BYC!
PS: Not familiar enough with Araucanas to answer your last question....sorry!

 

[Keltara]

Hmmmmm. I'm no expert, so don't feel completely confident giving others advice. However, until someone with more expertise comes along, I will tell you what I would do. If they were my chicks, I would be sure to keep them warm, 95 degrees in the first week with a heat lamp using a thermometer to maintain proper temp., but be sure they can move away from the heat if they get too warm. It's also important to keep the eyes clean and keep their environment clean and dry as well. I'd also continue to keep them separate from your other 3 chicks to lessen the possibility of more pecking. Are they active and happy other than the condition of the eyes? From the photos, it doesn't look like the eyeballs have been ruptured (correct me if I'm wrong) so as long as they are doing fine otherwise, I'd just treat the eyes with some warm sterile saline (like sterile contact lens solution, perhaps) applying a few drops to clean them a few times a day, being careful not to bump or scratch them and keeping the drops out of their little noses. Not sure if it is serious enough to need anything like antibiotic eye drops at this point but I'd keep a close eye on them. If they seem to be getting redder, or if a serousy or green-ish discharge starts, or if they get swollen, and/or if the chicks seem to be getting ill -listless, not eating, not moving around, etc- I would see about finding some more expert advice. Hope this helps a little until someone with more experience comes along ....
Best wishes and welcome to BYC!
PS: Not familiar enough with Araucanas to answer your last question....sorry!

Very good advice Cheryl. I would also like to add for you Jimmy that chickens are attracted to the color red. As long as they are in the box with the red heat lamp, the others will not peck at the eyes as they won't be able to detect the red. I too would keep them separated until the eyes begin to heal. It was very kind of you to show mercy and rescue these babies.

 

[BorderBrigade]

Looks like their eyes are just a little "gooey" from the other birds pecking at them, Just keep them warm, fed and watered and the brooder spotless. i would use Vetricyn Opthalmic ointment in them daily to help keep any infection at bay. I have used it for any eye conditions in my flocks and it has always turned out fine.

 

[jimmywalt]

This morning 2 of the 3 now have their eyes open and they "look" ok (the eyes). Hopefully they will eat and drink.

The third one still has both of her eyes totally shut. I'm wondering if she was born without eyes? She can stand, but that's all. She can't eat any food or drink water from what I can tell (she can't find it). I have held her and tried to put her beak in the water dish and she will drink a few drops of water but without my help she can't do anything. I'm pretty certain that she has not ate at all since she got to our house last night, and I wonder if yesterday during transit from the hatchery if she ate (before or after). She's only about 3 days old today. I'm really concerned about her.

Please, please, please post and help me if you have ANY suggestions. How can I get her eyes open, how can we get her to drink and eat? What can we do?

Thank you.

This is what both of her eyes look like -

 

[Cknldy]

Add save-a-chic (vitamins and electrolytes) to their water to reduce stress and promote healing. Eyelids look scabbed so it may be too uncomfortable for the chick to open its eyes right now. At least it is healing For now I'd treat it as though it was a blind horse- don't move the food and water to it, knudge chick gently from behind to the food and water. Keep them in the same spot and knudge chick to them every few hours until you see chick doing it on its own. I believe antibiotic eye gel is sold in stores for cats/kittens so I'd try VERY gently applying a bit to the eyelid just to promote healing and soften the scabs so it may open them. Great ideas from the other posts as well. Put it all together and you should have a very grateful chickie! Best of luck

 

[Keltara]

Jimmy
As hard is this is to hear, it is the truth. Some chicks are just weak and nothing we can do will help them to live. Last spring we lost a newborn chick too. What you can do, is ensure that she is as comfortable as possible. What I did for mine, was hand feed her. I got an eye dropper from the pharmacy. I would mash up some of the chick feed into a fine powder. I'd mix it with water so that it was very thin. Then I would hand feed her. We got her when she was one day old, and she died the following afternoon. Most important is to keep yours hydrated and warm. Make sure that your heat lamp is not too hot. It sounds like she may be too weak to move out of the heat if she needs to. Pay attention to her siblings. If they're moving out of the heat, then you'll need to move the sick girls out of the heat. If you haven't already, go to TSC and get a poultry vitamin/electrolyte mixture.[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] If she is strong enough to survive, then she will. If she doesn't survive, then you can rest knowing that you did everything you could to help her and you made her comfortable. Please keep us updated and I'll be praying for her today.[/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Kelly[/FONT]

 

[jimmywalt]

Thank you everyone! Here's an update.....

This morning before I left for work I read the suggestions posted here. I moved the 2 other chicks into the other box with our 10 day old chicks. All seem to be doing fine, yet I could tell that they were trying to find the "pecking order" (who was higher up the food chain).

The one little sick girl I held and she didn't seem to mind at all. She would chirp as I patted her head and chest. I got her to drink a few drops of water by carefully putting the tip of her beak in the water. Then I took some of my contact solution and gently put one drop in each of her eyes. She shook her head as the drops hit her eye lids. I went to get ready to go to work and ran back to check on her one more time before I left. She was fixing her wings with her beak and she got up and I notice 1 eye open. I softly nudged her to the food and she started to eat (I think because she could see it now with the 1 eye). She ate quite a bit (I think that's good). The other eye is still shut but I hope it's open by the time I get home. She seems to be doing better and I have her where the light can keep her warm, but she can also move away from it if she wants. I think she's getting a little better - we will find out later today.

I'm happy to say that the other 2 seem fine as can be as well!

Please keep posting please if anyone has other suggestions. I'll update this thread when I get home on what her status it.

Thank you!

 

[Keltara]

That's wonderful news Jimmy. I look forward to hearing how she's doing when you get home from work. I'll keep praying for her.

 

[jimmywalt]

Got home and the two that "were" ok now each have 1 eye shut (from pecking at it). Had to take one of them and put in the open box that we got from the farm store when we brought them home.

The little girl that was alone is doing great. Both eyes are open, she eats, drinks and poops a lot. She's alone and chirps a lot because I don't think she likes being alone. I tried to put her with my 3 ISA Browns that are 1 week older and she attempted to peck one of their eyes, so I had to put her back by herself.

So all 3 that we are nursing back to health are confined to their own boxes. Not sure what's with this breed but they sure like pecking at each others eyes. Why?????

I'm pretty sure that all 3 will be returned to the Farm store once they are better. Not sure if I could handle one of them pecking my nice quiet ISA Brown girls and hurting them.

We will see.................

Is this breed supposed to be aggressive like that, or are these chicks just crazy?