I just three days ago put my banties in with some bigger chickens. I thought they were doing okay, but today they have started dropping like flies. They are sitting back on their hocks and not eating or drinking. Can anyone out there give me the sugar water ratio. I think that they were not getting to eat or drink because I saw the bigger chicks fighting them away.
I AM SUCH A BAD CHICKEN MAMA!
Please help!!
Sheila
Need Help QUICK, PLEASE!!!
Hi Sheila, it is about 1/3 heaping cup sugar per quart of water.
Thank you THANK YOU THANKYOU!!!!!!!!!
They will need electrolytes as well--you can try gatorade (according to silkiechick) or pedialite. They both have sugar and salts We almost lost a parakeet when my son tried to make him switch from seeds to pellets cold turkey. I found him flopping on the floor of the cage near death. He did recover, but he still won't eat pellets.
Thank you so much for your help. I have all of them drinking the water. I know I have the pedialite for the kids around here. I lost 8 of the 14 in about 3 hours. Hopefully the rest will make it, but it will be a long night.
Thanks again
Sheila
yep the above posts r right. how old r the bantams and standards and what breeds? that may have alot to do with it. u should never put stock together without introduceing them first like a divider between pens and such first or a pen inside a pen. ur not a bad momma,lol u just didn't know and mistakes happen that's how we live and learn. don't worry about that at the moment although i know it's hard to, u need to worry about saveing the others before u loose them too.
make sure u put water and feed next to the weeker ones and keep them warm and definately seperate them again till bantams r back to normal. u may have to force feed some by seringe or pippette and that's a tough one for me but if absolutely needed i can try to help u with it, i've gotten some through it but i've lost some also it's a gamble but anything is better than nothing if they absolutely refuse to eat. for that i use cockatiel hand rearing baby formula i get at the petstore but u have to miss the windpipe and be very careful so they don't choke or get namonia if it hits windpipe or sinus area.
dip the beaks in feed and water and try to get them to do it on their own. drip it on beaks with ur fingers or hold feed in ur hand under them. use scrabled eggs, warm oats, sometimes i use yougert with starter mixed in or layer crumbles to get their attention things like that if they will eat it let them till u can get them back on normal diet again and they r stronger. they definately need vitamins and electrolytes to help them gain strength again. feedstores and tractor supply stores sell them, meal worms if u can find will help also.
hang in there we'll all help ya with what we can and if u need anything post so we know. also what all symptoms r they haveing and r they chicks, youngsters or adults?
silkie
woops ya posted while i was writeing. if u need to syringe feed and u don't have away to get handrearing formula since i know it is late here. crush feed to a fine powder and mix it with pedialyte and water and use till ya can get to it .
I think I have all of them drinking. Do I need to worry so much about the feed at this time.
I had the banties and 7 other Silver Laced Wyandottes in the house in the brooder. They seemed to be on top of each other. So I moved the brooder (a clear plastic tote) in the chicken house for a couple of days. They started escaping the top and seemed to be getting along with the older pullets so I put them together. For the first 48 hours they looked like they were doing good. They seemed to be a little slower but thought they were just intimidated. Found one not looking good and 4 dead when I went to feed tonight. They were fine this afternoon. I put the weak one up to the waterer and a pullet came over and plow him out. would not let him come back. I then went inside to fleece up the brooder and by the time I got back there were a total of 8 dead in a matter of 15 minutes. I think they had just gotten so weak. There were 3 other that were also very weak. I have been dipping thier beaks and they seem to swallow, but then fall asleep. So I am giving them a 5 minute reprieve under the heat lamp and will give them another 5 minutes of beak dipping.
Please let me know if I need to worry about the food or just the sugar water and pedialite.
Thank you again so much for your help.
I'm not sure about rushing the food--although that is important. Feed them the sugar water/pedialite like you are--they are probably in pretty serious sugar deficit right now and that can cause irreversable brain and organ damage. But what silkiechick said about getting food into them is critical. If you get them hydrated and with some sugar reserve so they are at least a little alert, I would start syringing the food she mentioned--scrambled egg yolk, oatmeal--thinned with pedialite like gruel, yogurt mixed with finely powdered chick starter. You can probably get some into them with a tiny measuring spoon when they are more alert. I know how scary it is--I've tube fed kittens and thought I was going to kill them, but just be gentle and try to make sure the food is going into their mouth down their throat, not their windpipe. If they are alert enough to swallow on their own, it is more than half the battle. Let them rest, but don't let them just drift off into a coma. Keep feeding and hydrating every few minutes Good luck!
UPDATE:
Everychick that made it back to the house is doing great. I kept them on a regular sleep five minutes drink five minute routine for about 2 hours. Then they all seemed alert, so I started dipping their beeks in feed and all of them went after it. I am so glad to see them doing well.
I guess we just live and learn, but I really felt they would hold their own in the big house. They were about 4 weeks old and the other pullets were about 7 weeks old. But will make sure they stay here until they are much bigger.
I just want to praise this forum and catscan and silkiechiick for all of their help. I hollered help and had an answer in about 3 minutes. It is so nice to have people that help and just to give you moral support. Thanks so much for everything.
Sheila
So glad to read the chicks have faired well. I just love bantams. They are saucy little things. LOL Wuld love to see some pics of yours. Do have all chicks or do you have some grown chickens, also.
u r so very welcome and great job!!! sorry i fell asleep last night shortly after i posted last, been takeing care of 6 of us sick includeing me out of 7 of us(5 of which r my kid's). so i was sure beat from the last few days and crashed hard once my meds hit,lol.
it's cause there is to much of an age difference in them and yes it would be from them pushing them out. u probably will not be able to put them together till the younger ones r about 8 weeks old mabe a little older depending on their size. sometimes even 2 days older in a brooder they still do it, it's just nature. they will need introduced slowly over a week to 3 weeks time depending on how u do it when time comes. that will keep it from happening again. most of my flock is bantams i love them!! what breed of bantams do u have?
silkie
We built a what I called a chick wrangler, its a wood and chicken wire 5 sided box (sides and top) with a hatch door on the top so I can feed and water the chicks. Last year it came in handy introducing new birds to the older ones. I placed it in the corner so they could run to the corner and be safe from beaks etc. You can make it as wide as you want, just make sure it itsn't too tall because you'll never be able to reach the feeders to clean and refill them. Plus without a bottom you just move it to another corner when the bedding gets dirty. I even wired a heatlamp to the top of it using the little holes in the hood of the lamp so they could have heat if they needed it and the larger ones couldn't knock it off and cause a fire.
My Grandpa White used to have a much bigger one he used to put the chicks or ducklings outside in so they didn't get eaten by anything.
CajuninKy - I will try and post some chick pics, but I am on dial up and it times out alot. I have a "chicken ranch" LOL I have a little of everything, but here goes:
9 SilverLaced Wyandotte hens and Bert the SLW Roo.
9 Brown Leghorn Pullets
25 Cornish Cross SR (for Freezer)
12 New Hampshire Red pullets
8 Buff Orpington pullets
12 Black Sex Link pullets
8 Rhode Island Red pullets
11 Barred Plymouth Rock pullets
Bought 14 bantam mixed think they are Mille Fluer, Black Breasted Red and Silver Duckwings (down to eight after last night)
9 Americanas
7 Silver Laced Wyandottes (that I hatched)
and have 28 more SLW eggs in the bator.
Total Chicken population: 109 (Don't tell my husband LOL, don't think he has stopped to count!)
LoraK- I have a chicken Wrangler also and her name is Paiton. LOL She is 4 and keeps an eye on the door while I am feeding and watering and shushes them back in. Most of the time she is good help, until she wants to hold one and then all the others bolt towards the open door.
Your chicken wrangler sounds like a good idea and much less expensive to operate.
I may have to move them in the chicken house in an old rabbit cage we have. About 3 foot by 3 foot, but I think they could still squeeze through the wires. Will keep them in the house till they get bigger.
Thanks again for all of the help.
Sheila
so glad they are recovering!
i have used an old baby play-yard for a "chicken wrangler". it works well, we even used separate pieces to close in under the chick brooder in the hen house for the ducklings.
now we have a new one for our current baby, and when he can climb out of it, LOL, it will also go to the poultry shed. the expandable wood/wire mesh baby gates also work nicely. you can pick them up cheap at garage sales or free from freecycle...
i would love to see pics of your SLW, they sound pretty!
i think ourpopulation is getting up there as well, but DH hasn't counted lately, and i keep reminding him most of the bantams are for sale LOL