Wet chicks

[Philip Roos]

Hello All,
I'm new to this site and I'm finding the threads I'm reading very interesting.
This is my first try at raising, I've been doing it a little over 2 weeks & I already think I may be over my head.
I've started with 20 guineas and 18 chickens, one guinea died 2 days after I got them and 1 died just 2 days ago.
Today I cleaned out the pool I've been keeping them in and had put them in an enclosed container with, what I thought, had plenty of holes in it. They were only in there for about 15 minutes and when I took them out to put them back in the pool, they were fairly wet from sweating. Any suggestions on what I should do? Will the heat lamp dry them out or should I do something else?
Any suggestions will be much appreciated.

 

[Bantambird]

Birds do not have sweat glands and pant to dissipate heat, along with holding their wings out from their bodies to expose the skin underneath. If you had water in the container, they likely walked through it. Otherwise, they may have been pooping and then getting it all over each other. Birds don't care where they poop, and can get watery stool when stressed.

 

[Philip Roos]

Birds do not have sweat glands and pant to dissipate heat, along with holding their wings out from their bodies to expose the skin underneath. If you had water in the container, they likely walked through it. Otherwise, they may have been pooping and then getting it all over each other. Birds don't care where they poop, and can get watery stool when stressed.

They may not have sweat glands, but they were only in there for, at the most, 20 minutes.
May be it was the body heat from the chicks causing the moisture that was forming on them.
I got back home last night and, thank God, they were all still alive, and dry. So I guess my worry is for nothing.

 

[Bantambird]

Yes, condensation from being in there, like a terrarium. That could definitely be it! I usually use old cardboard boxes to hold them when cleaning their pens.
They still poop all over, but the condensation issue doesn't happen with cardboard.