FrankeFarm9394
In the Brooder
- Aug 12, 2024
- 18
- 42
- 46
Hi all. So we just got our 3rd batch of baby chicks in from MyPetChicken a little over a week ago. Upon arrival, everyone was doing fine, eating and drinking and all seemed fine until about 3 days ago.
All babies were fine, we went to bed. We woke up, one of my polish was dead. Just random as hell. She had shown ZERO signs of anything. Had been eating and drinking and carrying on just fine the night before. We thought maybe it was a fluke.
The next day, our smallest chick, an Andalusian puller, started showing signs of lethargy and just not being normal. She wasn’t cold as the heat lamp had it very warm in there. She would drink some of if I dipped her beak but wouldn’t eat at all and wouldn’t drink on her own. I nursed her for two days and she finally passed.
Flash forward one day and we just lost another polish who was literally THRIVING. These babies all went from 100 to zero in no time. Their poops were normal. No pasting. Not being picked on or bullied. Just absolutely nothing to indicate we would lose them.
Once — strange. Twice — concerning. Third time? What the hell is happening??
Well, now we have a red star pullet who has been exhibiting weird signs the past 12 hours. She is lame on one side, doesn’t want to move much and just kind of lays under the brooder plate. If I set her in front of food, she pecks at it and her crop is full. She was drinking some water this morning (I was giving her some honey water) but now if I dip her beak she doesn’t even try to swallow she just shakes her head and tries to get away from my hand. Better than being totally lethargic but idk what to do for her. I got her to eat a little bit of warmed up egg yolk this morning, but I haven’t done that again yet.
We picked up some hydro-hen mix at TEC and added that to their water but if she isn’t drinking it won’t do much good so I’ll have to try ad. Get some of that in her this evening.
I am just…at a complete loss. We’ve NEVER lost babies before, let alone 3 (hopefully not this last one) in a week. It’s absolutely nutty.
Babies are in a large turtle brooder thing from Amazon. They have an open top and they had a heat lamp at the start, then a brooder plate and then a heat lamp again (heat lamp when all three passed) and are now back to a brooder plate because hubs thought maybe they were getting too hot?
They are on pine shavings. Have access to a feeder and a large waterer. They’ve been on medicated chick feed from purina.
I am at a loss. All the MPC chicks are vaxxed for mareks. We also have 3 babies that we had first that came from a local lady, and then 4 babies we just got from TSC. They’re all thriving and happy except for the three that passed and the baby now showing the above symptoms.
Is failure to thrive a real thing and does it happen like this? Should I be worried about illness? I don’t want to lose all my babies.
All babies were fine, we went to bed. We woke up, one of my polish was dead. Just random as hell. She had shown ZERO signs of anything. Had been eating and drinking and carrying on just fine the night before. We thought maybe it was a fluke.
The next day, our smallest chick, an Andalusian puller, started showing signs of lethargy and just not being normal. She wasn’t cold as the heat lamp had it very warm in there. She would drink some of if I dipped her beak but wouldn’t eat at all and wouldn’t drink on her own. I nursed her for two days and she finally passed.
Flash forward one day and we just lost another polish who was literally THRIVING. These babies all went from 100 to zero in no time. Their poops were normal. No pasting. Not being picked on or bullied. Just absolutely nothing to indicate we would lose them.
Once — strange. Twice — concerning. Third time? What the hell is happening??
Well, now we have a red star pullet who has been exhibiting weird signs the past 12 hours. She is lame on one side, doesn’t want to move much and just kind of lays under the brooder plate. If I set her in front of food, she pecks at it and her crop is full. She was drinking some water this morning (I was giving her some honey water) but now if I dip her beak she doesn’t even try to swallow she just shakes her head and tries to get away from my hand. Better than being totally lethargic but idk what to do for her. I got her to eat a little bit of warmed up egg yolk this morning, but I haven’t done that again yet.
We picked up some hydro-hen mix at TEC and added that to their water but if she isn’t drinking it won’t do much good so I’ll have to try ad. Get some of that in her this evening.
I am just…at a complete loss. We’ve NEVER lost babies before, let alone 3 (hopefully not this last one) in a week. It’s absolutely nutty.
Babies are in a large turtle brooder thing from Amazon. They have an open top and they had a heat lamp at the start, then a brooder plate and then a heat lamp again (heat lamp when all three passed) and are now back to a brooder plate because hubs thought maybe they were getting too hot?
They are on pine shavings. Have access to a feeder and a large waterer. They’ve been on medicated chick feed from purina.
I am at a loss. All the MPC chicks are vaxxed for mareks. We also have 3 babies that we had first that came from a local lady, and then 4 babies we just got from TSC. They’re all thriving and happy except for the three that passed and the baby now showing the above symptoms.
Is failure to thrive a real thing and does it happen like this? Should I be worried about illness? I don’t want to lose all my babies.
