Why aren’t my chicks eating!?

[The Ranch Girl]

I have 1 week old and younger bantam silkies and frizzles in the brooder. A lot of them have gotten pasty butt, one has died and one is currently about to pass away. I cleared up the pasty butt in the others for now. But NONE of my chicks have full crops and they don’t seem to eat. What is going on??? I have meat bird crumble for them, and fresh water. What am I doing wrong? They all seem sick acting almost. I really need help here! I have 5 of them already sold to a lady. The last batch I hatched did just fine.
I see them pecking at the food. But they don’t eat much at all.

 

[ValkerieGunn]

With my bantams I fed them mash. Just some food with warm water in it and they loved it.

 

[thecatumbrella]

Most crumble is way to large for bantam chicks. Run it through a small blender (we use a magic bullet). You don't want to make it 100% powder, so try to shake it around and get a variety of sizes.

 

[50-45-1]

If it was me, I would get some medicated chick starter ASAP.
Your silkys are not meat birds and the formula may differ.
also I would put some chick booster in the water.
The pasty butt can be normal, but what temp is your brooder?
Chilling may be a factor?

 

[The Ranch Girl]

With my bantams I fed them mash. Just some food with warm water in it and they loved it.

Ok! That’s a good idea I’ll do that.

 

[The Ranch Girl]

If it was me, I would get some medicated chick starter ASAP.
Your silkys are not meat birds and the formula may differ.
also I would put some chick booster in the water.
The pasty butt can be normal, but what temp is your brooder?
Chilling may be a factor?

well meat bird feed has the same amount of protein as the silkie feed. But I get what you are saying. I use the sweeter heater brooder plate. So I don’t know what temp.

 

[The Ranch Girl]

With my bantams I fed them mash. Just some food with warm water in it and they loved it.

They loved that!

 

[ValkerieGunn]

They loved that!

Yeah it makes them big chunks soft enough to eat. Now the problem is getting them to eat regular food again when they are big enough to eat it. The betrayed looks and peeping demanding their mash is fun.

 

[The Ranch Girl]

Yeah it makes them big chunks soft enough to eat. Now the problem is getting them to eat regular food again when they are big enough to eat it. The betrayed looks and peeping demanding their mash is fun.

Haha I didn’t think about that!

 

[ValkerieGunn]

Haha I didn’t think about that!

I started switching out feed by giving some mash in the morning with regular crumble all day. Every morning lowering the amount of mash until they only had crumbles. To this day my cochins still think wet food is the best thing ever. They will fight all others for it but treats, fresh veggies, ect they like but won't fight about.