minus10gmt
Songster
Hi all, this is my first post, apologies if it's a bit long, it's kind of an intro too.
I've casually "raised" chickens before but was not nearly as involved as now, since I ordered my first 15 from a hatchery to have them shipped where I live, on the Big Island of Hawaii. I must have changed my mind 5 times and driven them all crazy (it's the small orders, you know!).
I believe they were hatched and shipped on the 15th, then arrived here on the 17th. They had a type of gel, Grogel, in the crate and were lively and happy on arrival. I immediately hydrated them (water with a slight touch of ACV) and then introduced the starter (organic S&P) and left out more Grogel for them. Temp at 95 degrees, fresh pine shavings. By evening I noticed this one baby Cuckoo Maran was at the water fountain constantly and trying so hard to swallow water over and over but eventually gave up and was wobbly and falling over. We used a dropper and gave some very lightly sugared water and massaged her lightly, and saw her poop a bit. Came back out a couple of hours later and did a little more. I went back to bed and she was gone by morning.
Here's the icky part - my husband wanted to see if there was something physical we could identify, so he looked (opened her carefully). Her crop was full of grain, no pasty butt, and we couldn't see anything stuck in her throat.
Simple question is, does anyone have a clue what this might have been?
I've casually "raised" chickens before but was not nearly as involved as now, since I ordered my first 15 from a hatchery to have them shipped where I live, on the Big Island of Hawaii. I must have changed my mind 5 times and driven them all crazy (it's the small orders, you know!).
I believe they were hatched and shipped on the 15th, then arrived here on the 17th. They had a type of gel, Grogel, in the crate and were lively and happy on arrival. I immediately hydrated them (water with a slight touch of ACV) and then introduced the starter (organic S&P) and left out more Grogel for them. Temp at 95 degrees, fresh pine shavings. By evening I noticed this one baby Cuckoo Maran was at the water fountain constantly and trying so hard to swallow water over and over but eventually gave up and was wobbly and falling over. We used a dropper and gave some very lightly sugared water and massaged her lightly, and saw her poop a bit. Came back out a couple of hours later and did a little more. I went back to bed and she was gone by morning.
Here's the icky part - my husband wanted to see if there was something physical we could identify, so he looked (opened her carefully). Her crop was full of grain, no pasty butt, and we couldn't see anything stuck in her throat.
Simple question is, does anyone have a clue what this might have been?
.
