BackYard Chickens › BYC Forum › Raising BackYard Chickens › Emergencies / Diseases / Injuries and Cures › Lost 2 new chicks and need advice...
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

Lost 2 new chicks and need advice...

post #1 of 3
5/25/12 at 6:22am
Thread Starter 

I am a "new chicken" owner and received my first chicks on Tuesday.  I ordered 6 and they all survived shipping and looked perfectly healthy.  They began eating and drinking immediately.  I purchased a chick starter kit, with brooder supplies and have their brooder temperature at 95 degrees (thermometer in brooder). 

Yesterday when I got home from work, one was dead and this morning another one was dead.  They seem perfectly fine.  they are active and eating and drinking.  I have created the pefect environment for them.

I would love any advice as to why they may be dieing.  Does this usually happen with chicks or should I be concerned about the others?

I'm planning on calling the compnay I purchased them from as soon as they open at 10:00.

Reply
Reply

Featured Stories on BackYard Chickens

The Basics Of Raising Chickens - Raising Chickens 101
Join Our 4th Annual BYC Easter Hatch-A-Long
Raising Chickens on a Shoestring
post #2 of 3
5/25/12 at 7:08am

I'm only on my 2nd round of chicks, but I've found that some of them just aren't very hearty, no matter what you do with them.  With my 1st batch, I lost my baby light brahma at 5 days of age, for no apparently reason.  The only odd thing I noticed about her was that her toes were fused!  With this batch, I lost one on the 1st day and lamented about the rest of them seeming less hearty than my 1st batch.  So far, I haven't lost any more, but I still handle them with kid gloves!

Natalie - Wife to Pete, mom of 2 human kids, 2 doggie kids, 2 parrot kids, and 4 chickie kids - 1 Buff Orpington, 1 Speckled Sussex, 1 Dominique, and 1 Easter Eggers - RIP Trixie!  Got a bunch of chicks in the brooder!

Reply

Natalie - Wife to Pete, mom of 2 human kids, 2 doggie kids, 2 parrot kids, and 4 chickie kids - 1 Buff Orpington, 1 Speckled Sussex, 1 Dominique, and 1 Easter Eggers - RIP Trixie!  Got a bunch of chicks in the brooder!

Reply
post #3 of 3
5/25/12 at 1:32pm

The travel is very stressful on the chicks. You might have noticed, if you had had time to just sit and watch them for hours, that not all the chicks were eating, that the ones that died were mostly sleeping. Sometimes they just don't have the strength on their own to eat and drink. I nursed one of my Dominiques for her entire first week, forcing her to drink sugar-water, then electrolytes, then crushed fine crumble mixed with water through an eye-dropper. She is alive and well today. However, while I was concentrating on her, my little roo, who had been fine and active all the first and the second day, died suddenly the second night. My only clue--he had been sleeping a lot that evening when the rest were still eating. I thought he'd made it over the dangerous time, that since he'd been active and alert at the first, that he was just extra tired. I was wrong. I should have dosed him with the electrolytes, too.

Reply
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home

Featured Stories on BackYard Chickens

The Basics Of Raising Chickens - Raising Chickens 101
Join Our 4th Annual BYC Easter Hatch-A-Long
Raising Chickens on a Shoestring
BackYard Chickens › BYC Forum › Raising BackYard Chickens › Emergencies / Diseases / Injuries and Cures › Lost 2 new chicks and need advice...