I ordered 30 bantams (the minimum order #). 20 bantam delaware, 10 buff sebrights.
They sent a email when I placed the order with the hatch date (March 2 - a Tues.) and that was my only warning. I called to check on the second, since they didn't call or email me to make sure I remember or let me know nothing has changed. They said they were boxing them up and taking them to the post office right that moment.
Thursday morning came... 8:30am the PO calls... "you got chicks"... by 9 I was there (Welp didn't send them to my shipping address... they sent them to the BILLING address and that was two towns over).
Now, I'm not driving... I have the chicks. Heater is blasting... I pull the corner of the box back to peek in. One of the chicks that I can see is laying on it's back. I give it a minute to see if it can get up on it's own... nope. So I (while going down the road) open the box and pick that chick up. It is COLD to the touch so I cuddle it in my hand. It was weak and couldn't keep it's head up.
Once home, brooder lamp on... waterer filled... feed in two corners.... count the chicks and check them as I put them in the brooder. ALOT have sores on the backs of their legs, so I'm already worried about infections. I counted out 30. If you never seen baby bantam delawares and baby buff sebrights, you wouldn't know... they are very much alike. So, I wasn't checking breed - just overall number.
Well, still on day one... one chick dies. (not the one from the ride home, either) about 5 or 6 more look like they are starting to get weak too. These chicks eat like they were starving. Incase you weren't following along close enough... the should only be 2 days old (and still living on the yolk). There were about half that already had wing feathers and didn't have their little "horn" on their beak that they break out with. So, I'm thinking... these birds were not just hatched. The box lable says (as required by law) "Hatched at 10am on the shipdate shown" (which would be Tues. the second).
Now, it is the end of Friday. We got credit for 3 chicks because they said we had until 4:30pm Friday (the chicks arrived at 8:30am Thursday) to get our refund. However, we have had 6 die so far, and three more look like they won't make it through the night. And at this rate, I'm not sure it will stop there.
I have been hatching, brooding, and raising chicks long enough and through many different venues to know that a two day old chick does not have it's wings yet and it will still have that little "horn" (as I call it) to break out the shell on it's beak. It's not just one of the breeds (as some may think the bantam Dels grow fast like standards do - nope that isn't it)... it is some of the sebrights, and some of the delawares. It's heartbreaking. I have three chicks right now that I'm trying to feed. They are laying in food and starving. I put the vitamins in the water, got them to drink... but it's hard to convince a extremely weak chick to open it's mouth.
With all that said, is this something any of you all ever experienced with welp? I would just say it is a hard trip they had, but they got here in two days and like I said, some are obviously older... and those are the ones dropping like flies. Tomarrow morning should be day 4 of their lives and we have already refilled the feeder twice. That is how hungery they are. Just for comparison... my other brooder has week old chicks (exactly one week older than these should be) and they are feathered out the same. Now, not all of the welp chicks are feathered... some are the little poofballs they should be... and those are the healthy ones. Ok. I'll post this and just read what you all have to say.
They sent a email when I placed the order with the hatch date (March 2 - a Tues.) and that was my only warning. I called to check on the second, since they didn't call or email me to make sure I remember or let me know nothing has changed. They said they were boxing them up and taking them to the post office right that moment.
Thursday morning came... 8:30am the PO calls... "you got chicks"... by 9 I was there (Welp didn't send them to my shipping address... they sent them to the BILLING address and that was two towns over).
Now, I'm not driving... I have the chicks. Heater is blasting... I pull the corner of the box back to peek in. One of the chicks that I can see is laying on it's back. I give it a minute to see if it can get up on it's own... nope. So I (while going down the road) open the box and pick that chick up. It is COLD to the touch so I cuddle it in my hand. It was weak and couldn't keep it's head up.
Once home, brooder lamp on... waterer filled... feed in two corners.... count the chicks and check them as I put them in the brooder. ALOT have sores on the backs of their legs, so I'm already worried about infections. I counted out 30. If you never seen baby bantam delawares and baby buff sebrights, you wouldn't know... they are very much alike. So, I wasn't checking breed - just overall number.
Well, still on day one... one chick dies. (not the one from the ride home, either) about 5 or 6 more look like they are starting to get weak too. These chicks eat like they were starving. Incase you weren't following along close enough... the should only be 2 days old (and still living on the yolk). There were about half that already had wing feathers and didn't have their little "horn" on their beak that they break out with. So, I'm thinking... these birds were not just hatched. The box lable says (as required by law) "Hatched at 10am on the shipdate shown" (which would be Tues. the second).
Now, it is the end of Friday. We got credit for 3 chicks because they said we had until 4:30pm Friday (the chicks arrived at 8:30am Thursday) to get our refund. However, we have had 6 die so far, and three more look like they won't make it through the night. And at this rate, I'm not sure it will stop there.
I have been hatching, brooding, and raising chicks long enough and through many different venues to know that a two day old chick does not have it's wings yet and it will still have that little "horn" (as I call it) to break out the shell on it's beak. It's not just one of the breeds (as some may think the bantam Dels grow fast like standards do - nope that isn't it)... it is some of the sebrights, and some of the delawares. It's heartbreaking. I have three chicks right now that I'm trying to feed. They are laying in food and starving. I put the vitamins in the water, got them to drink... but it's hard to convince a extremely weak chick to open it's mouth.
With all that said, is this something any of you all ever experienced with welp? I would just say it is a hard trip they had, but they got here in two days and like I said, some are obviously older... and those are the ones dropping like flies. Tomarrow morning should be day 4 of their lives and we have already refilled the feeder twice. That is how hungery they are. Just for comparison... my other brooder has week old chicks (exactly one week older than these should be) and they are feathered out the same. Now, not all of the welp chicks are feathered... some are the little poofballs they should be... and those are the healthy ones. Ok. I'll post this and just read what you all have to say.
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