Weak Sapphire Olive Eggers from Hoovers or store bedding?

[GravityWaves]

I went to my closest Rural King Friday night and they had four stock tanks w/ a couple breeds each. The first had Speckled Sussex and Sapphire Olive Eggers on coffee ground bedding. The rest had wood shavings as bedding. I really wanted SOE so got a couple and an Americana(EE). By Sunday the SOE looked pretty bad so I went back and got another as insurance and a Cinnamon Queen. There was a dead chick of each kind in the coffee ground tank (although the others seemed to be doing ok) and grounds all in the bottom of the water, the two in the middle were out of water. Long story short, the first two SOE died Sunday night and the third is just about there. Failure to thrive-just sit and peep loudly. I've raised chicks a few times so I tried what I could. The EE and CQ are doing great, but they were just packing peanuts basically.

I guess I just wondered if the water w/ coffee grounds in it would cause them to not wanna drink and thus weaken them? I told the guy they NEED clean water.

If (more like when) the third SOE dies do I call and ask for three more?? It's pretty disappointing to drive an hour each way (twice) and spend $7/per chick just to have the ones I actually wanted die.

PS-These chicks are in a heated closet inside w/ everything they need.

 

[swamphiker]

I'm sorry you are dealing with this! I noticed my local Rural King using the dark bedding for a little while, but they went back to pine shavings pretty quickly. I'm not sure if it's because it was causing problems or for some other reason. It's possible that the chicks were weakened by dehydration since you noticed bins of chicks without water.

It's worth calling them to see, my Rural King has signs in the chick section that state their no refund policy on live animals, but that could vary by location.

 

[GravityWaves]

I'm sorry you are dealing with this! I noticed my local Rural King using the dark bedding for a little while, but they went back to pine shavings pretty quickly. I'm not sure if it's because it was causing problems or for some other reason. It's possible that the chicks were weakened by dehydration since you noticed bins of chicks without water.

It's worth calling them to see, my Rural King has signs in the chick section that state their no refund policy on live animals, but that could vary by location.

Just to be clear, the tank with SS & SOE had water, just coffee grounds in it. When I went back Sunday I noticed two other tanks had none, and I didn't get any chicks from them.

 

[GravityWaves]

I finally had to cull the last SOE chick because it was so weak.

 

[Disheygirl]

Coffee grounds are toxic to chicks so if they ate some, that’s that.

 

[Sara S]

I went to my closest Rural King Friday night and they had four stock tanks w/ a couple breeds each. The first had Speckled Sussex and Sapphire Olive Eggers on coffee ground bedding. The rest had wood shavings as bedding. I really wanted SOE so got a couple and an Americana(EE). By Sunday the SOE looked pretty bad so I went back and got another as insurance and a Cinnamon Queen. There was a dead chick of each kind in the coffee ground tank (although the others seemed to be doing ok) and grounds all in the bottom of the water, the two in the middle were out of water. Long story short, the first two SOE died Sunday night and the third is just about there. Failure to thrive-just sit and peep loudly. I've raised chicks a few times so I tried what I could. The EE and CQ are doing great, but they were just packing peanuts basically.

I guess I just wondered if the water w/ coffee grounds in it would cause them to not wanna drink and thus weaken them? I told the guy they NEED clean water.

If (more like when) the third SOE dies do I call and ask for three more?? It's pretty disappointing to drive an hour each way (twice) and spend $7/per chick just to have the ones I actually wanted die.

PS-These chicks are in a heated closet inside w/ everything they need.

Ugh I had that too! 3 of my chicks were in the coffe bedding and they all died. I was like almost in tears watching them suffer. And it’s far for me too. I havent called and they said I had 6 pulletz (2 of remaining are Roos I think)

 

[Sara S]

I finally had to cull the last SOE chick because it was so weak.

Rural king really need to have better consideration for baby Animals

 

[GravityWaves]

Ugh I had that too! 3 of my chicks were in the coffe bedding and they all died. I was like almost in tears watching them suffer. And it’s far for me too. I havent called and they said I had 6 pulletz (2 of remaining are Roos I think)

Sorry you had to deal with that, too. I didn't call them about it either because I have a very good suspicion that the answer would be "tough s*** buddy!"

Rural king really need to have better consideration for baby Animals

You know, aside from a couple production reds that did the same thing late last fall (also on coffee ground bedding) I haven't had too much bad luck with the RK I go to. Friday night when I went there, all the tanks had food and water. Sunday afternoon two whole tanks had no water and there were shavings filling the waterers-like maybe the last time they were tended to was on friday sometime. You'd think that an establishment that sells LIVE animals would have someone tabbed to at least check food/water once a day?? Is that too much to ask??

 

[swamphiker]

You'd think that an establishment that sells LIVE animals would have someone tabbed to at least check food/water once a day?? Is that too much to ask??

Absolutely! At my RK, it seems like there are a handful of employees that really care about the live animals they sell, and the rest either don't know how or don't care. I feel terrible for any mistreated animals. I also wish RK would treat its employees better, it seems like a crappy place to work which I think leads to some of the bad outcomes for live animals there.

 

[Sara S]

Sorry you had to deal with that, too. I didn't call them about it either because I have a very good suspicion that the answer would be "tough s*** buddy!"

You know, aside from a couple production reds that did the same thing late last fall (also on coffee ground bedding) I haven't had too much bad luck with the RK I go to. Friday night when I went there, all the tanks had food and water. Sunday afternoon two whole tanks had no water and there were shavings filling the waterers-like maybe the last time they were tended to was on friday sometime. You'd think that an establishment that sells LIVE animals would have someone tabbed to at least check food/water once a day?? Is that too much to ask??

Ik, im going to work there once they have an open position at the one by me but it’s a 45 minute drive.