My baby chicks got very wet!

[linz44]

I have 6 new chicks and they are currently under a brooding lamp and all has gone well until today! I left for about 2 hours and came home to screaming chicks. 2 were close to death and didn't look like saving was an option, 2 were soaked but breathing better and 2 were damp. One was on its back in the waterer. It is shallow but they soaked a lot of the pen. I quickly searched online and it said warm them up quickly without getting them too hot and also get them dry asap. So I did that and the 3 of the ones that were near death laying down eyes closed and not moving I got back on their feet after a lot of coaxing. My biggest one took 2 hours to get somewhat better. She finally opened her eyes but is still kind of wobbly and is sort of panting and has her beak open breathing harder then normal. She has Been moving around slowly so I don't think she is overheated and she isn't directly under the light anymore. I don't know why she is doing this. I have had a lot of chicks and this is the first time I have had them get wet like that. I think the one that isn't back to normal is probably the one who was laying in the water dish on her back when I got home. She came to, and promptly shot out liquid out of her behind. It shot out hard and actually made a loud sound. Does this mean anything? And any ideas on how to try to save her? They were all in great health and this is the first problem I have had with them.

 

[sumi]

I hope your chicks are o.k. now? Please put some marbles or clean pebbles in the waterer to prevent them from soaking themselves again. They are SO clumsy when they are small!

 

[dlaplume2]

I hope they're ok. Please update us.

 

[Choco Maran]

What kind of waterer do you have? Invest in a normal chick waterer from a feed store this should help prevent this from happening again.

 

[realsis]

Please update I hope your chicks are alright! What I do is put little colored polished stones into the water a all the way around the base of the waterer.as they grow, I take out a few more stones. I do this because I've heard they can actually fall asleep while drinking and sadly drown. They have managed to stay dry thank God until recently at 2 weeks old perching on top of waterer, and flying all about.i put a food tray under the waterer in a attempt to keep the bedding dry.

 

[MrsKuhn]

oh no! Hope they are all doing better. Please update us. Poor babies and mama. You must have been so worried.

 

[linz44]

All of my chicks survived! I had to stay up all night and bring them back. I have a chick waterer from blue seal. It's a bottle that attaches to the base. It's the smallest one they have. I took it out and am using small dishes now. It was so weird because they have used the waterer for a week and never once got wet. It was almost like one fell in and splashed the others really bad. I couldn't believe my eyes when I looked in and 4 were basically dead. I actually thought 2 weren't breathing. I held them on a towel by the light and got them dry one side at a time and then laid them down under the light on dry sawdust and worked on them one at a time and they came back very slowly. It was a lot of time before I had all 4 up and moving. The one that was in the dish must have inhaled some water because she was sneezing and didn't open her eyes for about 2 hours after she dried and warmed. It took about 4 hours before she came to. I'm glad the waterer is only about half an inch deep or I probably would have lost them all. They are all eating and drinking normally and are playing and happy. The first day the worst one was in rough shape and was pooping mostly water and it did the squirting poop thing 4 times that I saw. I was very lucky to have all of them live. I still can't believe that they survived. They were so wet and cold and unresponsive. My boyfriend said they weren't going to live and when he got up in the morning he couldn't believe they were all ok. He went to bed with the kids and I stayed up with the chicks. It was not easy to save the worst one but she is totally back to normal now! I am very happy they all lived and I will not use the waterer until they are much bigger to avoid this ever happening again. I used the same waterer for every chicken I have and this is the first issue I've ever had but I won't take a chance using it on babies again.

 

[sumi]

I'm so glad to hear they are all o.k! Thank you for the update.

 

[jxc900]

this is usually because the duck is born to early. did you help it to hatch?

 

[Cluckcluck1215]

this is usually because the duck is born to early. did you help it to hatch?

what do you mean,baby duck? Her chicks half drowned!