revived chick, how long to let sleep between checking on her.

[ninja333pirate]

tldr at bottom

So I got some chicks in the mail yesterday (after 3 days in the mail and a slightly squashed box) and so far 7 of them have died, one was DOA, one died right after getting her home another died shortly after that and one more later that day. That whole day I checked on them every 15 minutes and at night I checked on them every 2 hours) Then this morning I checked on them at 8 and everything seemed good then checked on them a little over an hour later and one was dead and another close to it and that one died in my hands. At this point I have been checking on them every half hour or so. (I fed a raw egg yolk to them to see if it would help also had probiotics and vitamins and electrolytes in the water and dipped their beaks into a separate cup of sugar water)

Then noon rolls around and I find one dead and another lethargic. So I took and held this one and kept bothering it so it wouldn't just lay down and die, I went and grabbed an egg yolk and held open the chicks mouth and put a drop of egg in her mouth on the tip and she would taste it then swallow it and she had about 5 drips of egg yolk. Then I held her for about 2 and a half hours rubbing her and moving her around to keep her awake enough, eventually I took the sugar water and put it right where the tip of her beak would fall every time she lowered her head to sleep and I found she would swallow the water every time she felt the water. And right after doing that for 10 minutes she started to perk up a bit.

so I put her back in the brooder and she was standing up on her own. so I took the chance to go out and get some Corid just incase it some how was cocci and dosed every one and their water. ( I know unlikely but I really wanted to make sure it wasn't that) when I got back she was still standing dozing off while standing but she seemed to refuse to lay down despite dozing off she would stand back up every time she fell over. Then later in the day I gave them a cooked egg yolk and at first she didn't seem interested but after everyone else started going crazy over it she started joining in on the game of steal it out of the mouth of another and run away with it. She seemed to have a lot of energy she was even going and drinking water on her own and picking and eating chick feed, even when she eventually laid down she found herself hungry enough to keep picking at food instead of sleeping. she seems to be doing much better now.

now after everything they are all getting sleepy and are going back and fourth between running around and sleep. she seems tired and not lethargic right now, but I don't want her to get to the lethargic stage again, so here is the part I need to know how long should I let her sleep before checking on her again to make sure she is not getting lethargic again? I cant tell unless I get her up and she can stand up and move around. but I feel she is tired and needs sleep to recover from her ordeal. I am just afraid that she will start getting worse again and want to catch it before its too late so I can treat her with more sugar water.

TLDR:
chick was lethargic but she got better should I let her sleep or should I keep checking on her to make sure she doesn't get worse again?

 

[ninja333pirate]

I really cant tell if her condition is getting worse again or if she is just really tired after everything, anyone have any ideas if I need to keep my guard up at all? I am tired of loosing chicks

 

[OfWolvesAndHen]

I would let her rest. If you must check on her, do so from a distance. Observation only; no handling unless she is visibly struggling.

3 days in the mail and a squashed box sounds to me like they may be experiencing some sort of trauma from careless shipping... the timeline of the losses seems to suggest that, as well. One problem with chicks being in transit for so long is that the 3-day window of no food or water post-hatch is not an exact rule---in excess heat, that timespan is drastically reduced, and shipping conditions can get pretty warm. Dehydration can occur in as little as 12 hours and once it sets in, it quickly becomes lethal. Not to mention, for them to safely be in the mail for 3 days without food or water, they would have had to have been packaged and shipped almost immediately after hatch. 3 days is, in the best cases, the absolute maximum. For what it's worth, I have never seen a hatchling choose to ignore food or water for that long. Alongside whatever smashed the box up, this die-off may unfortunately be due to poor mailing conditions, whether from a physiological cause like dehydration or from stress. I suppose it could also be due to poor-quality birds, but I can't imagine that would result in so many rapid losses.

It sounds like you are doing all you can, so at this point I would just allow the chicks to rest. If they are experiencing stress or shock, excess handling will only make matters worse.

 

[ninja333pirate]

the thing is as well I had ordered 8 silver laced Sebrights and 8 gold laced Sebrights but they got the order wrong and sent me silver duckwing OEGBs instead if the silver ones, and most of the ones that died were the Sebrights. Apparently they put several globs of grow gel in with chicks that they ship but I saw no evidence of grow gel in the box except maybe it was on the tiny popsicle stick that was in their.

Either way all I know is I really don't want to lose another one, I am so glad I managed to bring this one back from the brink but I have no idea of she is out of the woods yet, I guess time will tell, only time I touch them when checking on them is if it looks like its sprawled out like its about to die (laying on side with feet stretched out) or to check for pasty but, which luckily have not had anything to severe there. just a little streak of slimy poo on the but fluff of some.

also besides 2 of them (of which died) all the OEGBs seem to be fairing better then any of the gold laced Sebrights.

Thank you for the response though, good to hear someone at least thinks she is resting instead of going down hill. Its sometimes so hard to tell when she is just sleeping or if she is getting lethargic again.

 

[OfWolvesAndHen]

the thing is as well I had ordered 8 silver laced Sebrights and 8 gold laced Sebrights but they got the order wrong and sent me silver duckwing OEGBs instead if the silver ones, and most of the ones that died were the Sebrights. Apparently they put several globs of grow gel in with chicks that they ship but I saw no evidence of grow gel in the box except maybe it was on the tiny popsicle stick that was in their.

Either way all I know is I really don't want to lose another one, I am so glad I managed to bring this one back from the brink but I have no idea of she is out of the woods yet, I guess time will tell, only time I touch them when checking on them is if it looks like its sprawled out like its about to die (laying on side with feet stretched out) or to check for pasty but, which luckily have not had anything to severe there. just a little streak of slimy poo on the but fluff of some.

also besides 2 of them (of which died) all the OEGBs seem to be fairing better then any of the gold laced Sebrights.

Thank you for the response though, good to hear someone at least thinks she is resting instead of going down hill. Its sometimes so hard to tell when she is just sleeping or if she is getting lethargic again.

This does not sound like good service on the seller's end. I'm sorry you've been having such a tough experience.

 

[ninja333pirate]

This does not sound like good service on the seller's end. I'm sorry you've been having such a tough experience.

She slept all day today and I left her alone for less then an hour and came back to her flipped on her back for idk how long, and she passed away in my hands