Urgent help needed!!!!

[sherpa]

I went into my sitting hen this morning to find her dead and 5 of her day old chicks cold but alive and 1 half hatched. i helped her hatch and have them all under my tshirt to keep them warm. i have no incubator but i keep taranchulas so was going to put one of their heat mats under a box for the time being do you think this wil sufice?

i have another sitting hen due in 2 weeks, could i put them under her tonight? and take her eggs away? what do i do?? what happened my poor hen??? typing with one hand so excuse typos

[Nicos]

Oh dear

I thought you were going to ask should you feed the chicks to the tarantula!!!

I'm sure you could buy time by putting the chicks under the other mom for a day or two ( with her eggs -if she's not too many(?))whilst you get an incubator.
She'd abandon her eggs after a couple of days with the little ones wandering about- she'll need to teach them how to scratch for food etc
That's what I'd do- and then pop her eggs into the incubator rather than take her 'new' babies away again.
Not really had much experience of babies- but you're doing the right thing keeping them warm.
Either way - you're going to need to hand rear one clutch..and will need the heat lamp etc

Sorry to hear about the mom- what a shock

[RichmondHens]

God how awful, what a shock. Do you have an anglepoise lamp that you can sit low over a small box? Also if poss a bean bag that can be warmed up in the microwave? I have used both of these in the past as emergency heaters. As long as you can keep the temp over the chicks at about 37 degrees they will be fine. You will have to get a heat lamp or electric hen but an anglepoise will be ok short term. I would not put them under the other hen, as chances are she is not far enough into her sit to take them and may reject them.

I have no idea what killed your hen. Poor you. Hope you get it sorted soon.

[Nicos]

RH- hadn't thought about her rejecting the babies

[sherpa]

I have a heat lamp from when I had lizards, could I use that for the meantime, I have different wattage I think the lowest is 50 watt. i JUST DON'T WANT TO TOAST THEM. I have the heating on (neighbours prob think I'm mad) in a box beside the radiator, with a heat mat under it, hoping it will keeep them warm, till dp gets back from work with the car to get something more long term. It's sooo sad. The other one is sitting since the 3rd July, but she has got off once for a long time and the eggs were cold, so not sure if they are going to hatch or not?

[RichmondHens]

It's possible to introduce babies when the hen has sat for 3 weeks, but if she's only been sitting a week she probably won't feel "ready" yet. Instinct MAY kick in, especially with an old experienced hen, but if the chicks have already got cold once then you want to be sure it won't happen again.

Sherpa will have fun raising them by hand though!!

[RichmondHens]

Sherpa, as long as they have space to move away from the heat if they are too hot they will be ok. They just need a box big enough to have a warm space and a cooler space.

[RichmondHens]

Meant to add, keep an eye on the newly hatched one as she may not be strong enough to move away from the heat if she's too hot. The day olds are more robust and will be ok.

[shirlthegirl43]

We had day old chicks when I was a kid and we wrapped a hot water bottle with newspaper and a towel and put that in one half of a cardboard box. The other half was left cool and had water and chick crumbs in bowls. Our chooks grew fast and healthy. Good luck with yours and what a shame about your hen. I wonder if she had been leaving the nest to feed and drink?

[sherpa]

Thanks for all the replies. My sitting hen at the moment, is a very experienced mammyhen! She hatched and reared 2 clutches for me last summer. I have had her 2 years but i think she is a lot older as she doesn't lay very much and her eggs are all different sizes she's a type of bantam. Bloody heat bulbs are gone? so I have a reading lamp and heating pad underneath. Kettle on for hot water bottle and bigger box on it's way. I'll keep youz posted. Fingers crossed for new chicky, he's not looking so hot.

[RichmondHens]

Keep up the good work. The poorly chick may be a weakling anyway which may be why it was later hatching. If you lose it don't blame yourself. You are doing all you can.

You could "experiment" with introducing one chick to the other hen, at the risk of it getting rejected, and just see what happens. If she accepts one, after a few hours you could try introducing more.

[Bramble-Poultry]

for rearing our chicks, we use plastic stacker boxes (around 70cm long) with a 60w fireglow bulb over one end. For the first day you need not worry too much about getting food and water into the crate as they will feed off the reserves of the last bits of yolk sack within their stomachs.

By putting the bulb up one end, the chicks can move away when they are ready. For the substrate in the bottom of the crate we use the non-slip matting you buy to put under the rug to stop it slipping. This will help them get a decent grip and avaoid problems with spradle leg at this young age. After about 4 days we start to use woodchip instead.

We have used reptile heat lamps (preferably a ceramic on as too much white light will cause toe pecking) hooked up to a thermostat to regulate the temp to around 32 degrees, mmidway down the crate. This means with the heat source at the one end and the thermostat mid way you get a decent temperature gradient for the chicks to move around in - the same as you would for the reptiles (we have bearded dragons here as well as the chooks!)

too teach the chicks to feed, if you place a shallow saucer full of chick crumb on the matting infront of them and dip their beak into the crumb. Then tap the crumb several times with your finger the chicks will think your finger is feeding from the crumb and follow suit. once one learns it will teach it to the other - monkey see monkey do!

The same goes for water, by dipping their beak in (only about 1-2mm otherwise their beaks might floo dand they could choke) they learn where the water is. If using a small saucer for water, fill it with marbles so they cant drown. Best to buy the purpose made drinkers for chicks that limit the amount of access to water they get.

The crucial point will be day five, as around this time if the chicks havent learnt too feed by this time their yolk will have run out and they will die. Once you are passed day five you can breathe easy!

As time progresses you can raise the bulb up higher to cool them down a couple of degrees each week, or drop down to a 40w bulb, then to 20w then heat only at night. Once they are fully feathered you can harden them off for going outside by putting them in an ark during the day on the lawn and bring them in at night.

fingers crossed and let us know how they get on

[bluemoon]

Can't make any suggestions, but there's been lots of helpful advice already so I hope everything works out well. Keeping my fingers crossed for you.

[frias]

So sorry about your hen. Good luck with the chicks. Fingers and toes crossed for you.

[sherpa]

So far they are doing well! Little chick still very poorly, but it's got to be expected, janey knows how long he was stuck in his shell all cold. 4 of them are little fighters, pecking each other, the walls and some crumb yeahy!! I see the odd one cleaning themselves and splayed out all comfy. I see the sickly one getting jostled a little, and another looking very tired but I think he may be better in there with his pals than isolated? I have a 50watt infrared lamp from my beardies and a box with towels. We'll get another more permanent fixture when dp gets back at work. My human lo doesn't like sharing her time with chicks! On a very positive note, I wired a plug for the first time today so they could have the heat bulb. Very proud moment!lol. Back with update.