wildflower Posted June 12, 2009 Share Posted June 12, 2009 I am hoping that you ladies (and gentlemen?) will be able to help me out here. I am beside myself, I have idea what I am doing! We bought our chicks from mypetchicken.com- mistake. They were easy to get on the phone to sell us the birds, but now, I cannot get ANYONE on the phone for 2 days to help & we have already lost one bird and I am afraid we may loose at least one more, if not all of them the way we are going. I remember from one of the books I read before we even ordered the chicks that sometimes dried droppings will crust up on their little behinds and can cake over. That I should be using a wet cloth & cleaning them off and that we could dip their little behinds in water and peel off the dried fecal matter. We tried that yesterday, could not get the droppings off, although DH thought that the one we lost was able to go, the poor thing looked like it was constipated & I am sure DH was wrong. I am heartbroken that I could not help that little bird, and now am afraid that a second one will go that path. I waited on hold yesterday for a cumulative 4 hours and 15 minutes before I got someone who ended up being not helpful at all. She told me to give the bird some sugar water by dropper, which I did & almost chocked the thing, we turned it upside down and it did start to come back, the woman on the phone was laughing at this! She did not help me resolve the droppings issue & offered to call me back in the AM, which she has not done yet. I have tried to call, left messages, no call back yet. What do I do with these birds? DO all people who buy baby chicks spend their days cleaning dried feces off their behinds? Help, please, if we loose anymore DD1 is sure to notice that there are less and less each day. Robyn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Country Mouse Posted June 12, 2009 Share Posted June 12, 2009 I have a small flock of chickens and I have found the website http://www.backyardchickens.com to be very helpful. There are many experienced chicken keepers at BYC and they are glad to help us newbies. HTH and I hope the little ones get better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigdogs29906 Posted June 12, 2009 Share Posted June 12, 2009 I second going to backyardchickens. They're super helpful. And I'm sorry that you are having an awful time with mypetchicken. The first time around, we ordered from there and were very pleased. You are describing "pasty butt". It isn't about cleaning off any and all fecal matter from their fuzzy behinds, but making sure that there is still an opening around the vent so that they can pass, well, er, droppings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Firefly Posted June 12, 2009 Share Posted June 12, 2009 I'm no expert my any means-- I've only raised two batches of chicks, about 30 total. But I do not remember pasty bottom being a huge issue-- maybe once or twice I had to do the wiping. I do know that losing some chicks is to be expected... they are quite fragile those first few days. I third the recommendation to check out Back Yard Chickens, they have lots of friendly people there with a great deal of chick-rearing knowledge. Good luck to you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wildiris Posted June 12, 2009 Share Posted June 12, 2009 I hope this helps. So far this spring we've had two batches of baby chicks. I bought in town the first dozen Buff Orpingtons of which we lost three chicks in the first 48 hours. The ones that died looked weak from the start, so we expected attrition. The second batch of 25 of Cornish chicks I bought through a mail order business. We lost four in the first 48 hours. Again we expected attrition. Traveling by mail can be tough on the chicks. I am not sure why the chicks died, but looking at the chicks when they first arrive you can see which ones are going to make it past day four. We cleaned their rears, gave them plenty of clean water (3 times a day. Ours are messy birds.), and we made sure they were warm with a light for heat. I did read about the sugar water too. I think the idea is to give the chicks an energy boost when they first arrive in their new home. DD (6) adores the chickens and makes the chicken adventure worthwhile. When the first one died, we talked about what might have happened and what to look for. When we got the second batch we restricted any handling of chicks for the first four days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karen sn Posted June 12, 2009 Share Posted June 12, 2009 How awful. I have no advice regarding that end (pardon the pun) but I can give you some intersting info about the egg cycle. Maybe some vaselline on their butts will soften it. I can't get the attachments to work. If you want the coolest info ever about chickens and their reproduction, just pm and maybe I can get it to work there. Or email.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Remudamom Posted June 12, 2009 Share Posted June 12, 2009 I always give my new chicks antibiotics, either in their water or in their feed. And then check their rears. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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