Chicks becoming weak and dying.

[Crow Mountain Chickens]

I got some queen silvia chicks from Greenfire Farms about 5 weeks ago. Everyone was fine for the first couple of weeks. But over the last 3 weeks or so I have lost 5 chicks. They will all seem to be thriving one day. Then the next day I will notice on weak and not as alert. The next morning it will be dead. 1 at a time, I dont want to continue losing chicks.

I have raised at least 50 other chicks this season in the exact same manner and have lost only a couple of birds prior to this. I know this is very vague but any suggestions or advice?

 

[BantammChick]

Look up coccidiosis. Are there any signs of it?

 

[mixedbreeds]

Also I had some of the same birds from Greenfire last year the Queen Silvia didn’t do as well they seemed to need more vitamins and a higher protein diet. I couldn’t stand the temperament of the cockerels and ended up culling them ended up with 3 pullets but lost five others as chicks. Once they grew up they were fine on regular feed. I also ground up there feed when they were small as I thought maybe they were so small they were having a hard time getting what they needed but the higher protein feed I think was it.

 

[50-45-1]

Not sure what is wrong, but give them a nutritional boost by hard boiling an egg and crushing it.
Do you have some chick vitamins? If so give them some. What ever they are fighting this will help.
Can you tell us more about there environment, feed and symtoms?
One small detail may give us a better clue.

 

[ScottKelly1974]

I've been having the same problem. For me it turned out to be a heat problem. I have a heat lamp on them but still even the feathered ones still feel the cold. I did not have this problem the rest of the year, but with the change in temp I've been loosing a lot of chicks. I set up two heat lamps and a digital temp read out. With 90 degrees they all were fine. If it got to 80 or below they were resting on and next to the heat lamps. You might want to check your heat for them.

I am now considering getting a radiant heat brooder. Any thoughts?

 

[snow5164]

I had a brinsea heat plate , I loved it but they are poorly made the connection for the plug cracked and broke off ...no way to fix it !

I’d rather invest in a few heating pads , I lay them on cooling racks and some chicks go under and some sit on top , I wrap the pad in 4-5 pillow cases and remove one a day .... they poop a lot

I also taped my heating pad to the wall of my brooder once , they backed up right beside it