czarinapl
In the Brooder
- Jul 27, 2017
- 9
- 2
- 19
Hi there, I am new to keeping chicks, and my first week of experience has been extremely disheartening. Any help or advice would be very much appreciated.
tl;dr 2 out of 6 4-week-old chicks have died, 2 look like they're at death's door. Providing they survive, can I safely integrate the 2 surviving chicks with any more chicks I get?
I tried my best to find a reputable local farm where we could pick up some chicks, and found an all-organic hatchery that doesn't vaccinate or give chicks medicated feed. A week ago, we drove a short 40 minutes and picked up three Easter Eggers and three Rhode Island Reds, all apparently in good health, bright eyes, clear skin, pecking around and full of energy. We were told they were around 4 weeks old, and about ready to go outside. We got them set up with food and water, came back in about an hour and checked on them - one Easter Egger had died. Ok, that's sad... did some research... bought them a heat lamp (didn't initially because we figured they were old enough to be outside, so didn't need a heat lamp) in case cold was the culprit. Next morning, one Rhode Island Red can't use one of her legs, and she seems uninterested in food or water. The other four chicks weren't bothering her, but we still quarantined her just in case (with her own feed and water right next to her). We put some honey in both her water and the other chicks' water, and fed them yogurt. We also alternated switching out the honey water with apple cider vinegar water. By yesterday, she refused to eat or drink water, so we decided to euthanize her.
My setup: initially, a plastic bin with about 3 inches of pine shavings, water propped up on small cedar blocks in there and a few sticks from the yard for them to play around on. Then, heat lamp. Now, a big cardboard box with similar depth of pine shavings, heat lamp, temperature gauge. They are at 80˚. Feed is a mix of ground up oat groats and seeds, with a sprinkle of grit. We bought this from the hatchery - it's what the chicks have been eating for the past 4 weeks. Water with raw apple cider vinegar or honey.
Also, it bears mentioning that we initially introduced the chicks one by one to our two dogs, who were very interested in them. One of the dogs started barking and lunging so we separated them, but perhaps that trauma had something to do with the sickly state of the chicks.
Now, the two remaining Rhode Island Reds are also having difficulty walking and appear to be uninterested in anything. The two remaining Easter Eggers appear to be happy and healthy.
A few questions for the community - 1) Any idea what is going on with the chicks? 2) If I just did a bad job of vetting this hatchery, what steps do I need to take to safely integrate any survivors from the original chicks with new chicks I get elsewhere? 3) Should I feed my chicks medicated feed? I really didn't want to, because at least some of the reason I wanted to keep chickens was to enable access to antibiotic-free eggs, but is there any chance I am seeing such a dismal mortality rate because these chicks haven't been on medicated feed/vaccinated? Thank you for all of your help.
tl;dr 2 out of 6 4-week-old chicks have died, 2 look like they're at death's door. Providing they survive, can I safely integrate the 2 surviving chicks with any more chicks I get?
I tried my best to find a reputable local farm where we could pick up some chicks, and found an all-organic hatchery that doesn't vaccinate or give chicks medicated feed. A week ago, we drove a short 40 minutes and picked up three Easter Eggers and three Rhode Island Reds, all apparently in good health, bright eyes, clear skin, pecking around and full of energy. We were told they were around 4 weeks old, and about ready to go outside. We got them set up with food and water, came back in about an hour and checked on them - one Easter Egger had died. Ok, that's sad... did some research... bought them a heat lamp (didn't initially because we figured they were old enough to be outside, so didn't need a heat lamp) in case cold was the culprit. Next morning, one Rhode Island Red can't use one of her legs, and she seems uninterested in food or water. The other four chicks weren't bothering her, but we still quarantined her just in case (with her own feed and water right next to her). We put some honey in both her water and the other chicks' water, and fed them yogurt. We also alternated switching out the honey water with apple cider vinegar water. By yesterday, she refused to eat or drink water, so we decided to euthanize her.
My setup: initially, a plastic bin with about 3 inches of pine shavings, water propped up on small cedar blocks in there and a few sticks from the yard for them to play around on. Then, heat lamp. Now, a big cardboard box with similar depth of pine shavings, heat lamp, temperature gauge. They are at 80˚. Feed is a mix of ground up oat groats and seeds, with a sprinkle of grit. We bought this from the hatchery - it's what the chicks have been eating for the past 4 weeks. Water with raw apple cider vinegar or honey.
Also, it bears mentioning that we initially introduced the chicks one by one to our two dogs, who were very interested in them. One of the dogs started barking and lunging so we separated them, but perhaps that trauma had something to do with the sickly state of the chicks.
Now, the two remaining Rhode Island Reds are also having difficulty walking and appear to be uninterested in anything. The two remaining Easter Eggers appear to be happy and healthy.
A few questions for the community - 1) Any idea what is going on with the chicks? 2) If I just did a bad job of vetting this hatchery, what steps do I need to take to safely integrate any survivors from the original chicks with new chicks I get elsewhere? 3) Should I feed my chicks medicated feed? I really didn't want to, because at least some of the reason I wanted to keep chickens was to enable access to antibiotic-free eggs, but is there any chance I am seeing such a dismal mortality rate because these chicks haven't been on medicated feed/vaccinated? Thank you for all of your help.
