- Apr 8, 2015
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I have had chickens for 7 years. I feel very comfortable caring for them. On November 30, I bought 28 chicks from a hatchery. I normally hatch out my own but needed to replace a large number of my hens that are getting to the point of no longer laying. I opted to buy chicks because they were sexed female and I needed layers for this spring.
All of the chicks appeared healthy when I first got them home. The hatchery is reputable to my knowledge. But over the last couple of months I have lost 4 chicks. The most recent I found this morning. I have found no apparent reason that they should be dying. I just find them on the floor of my brooder. I currently have them in a larger brooder in my garage (it is a very large wooden crate-like box that offers plenty of room, I don't feel they are over crowded). My garage is not heated and I have been trying to wean them off of the heat lamp so I can move them outside. We do park one of our trucks in the garage but I keep the door open for quite a while when we are pulling in and out to make sure that the fumes don't remain in the garage. I have been feeding them medicated chick feed. Water is fresh and clean.
I am not sure why they are dying. None of my other birds are sick. I don't normally have this many chicks at one time. I normally hatch out an incubator full, keep the chicks that I am looking for (generally 5-6) and then sell the rest. The only thing different that I am doing this time than all of the other times is that I have far more babies, the new brooder box (this is the first time I have used this larger box), and the time of year (I usually only hatch in spring and summer).
For those of you that do larger batches is it normal to lose this many babies? Am I doing something that I don't realize?
All of the chicks appeared healthy when I first got them home. The hatchery is reputable to my knowledge. But over the last couple of months I have lost 4 chicks. The most recent I found this morning. I have found no apparent reason that they should be dying. I just find them on the floor of my brooder. I currently have them in a larger brooder in my garage (it is a very large wooden crate-like box that offers plenty of room, I don't feel they are over crowded). My garage is not heated and I have been trying to wean them off of the heat lamp so I can move them outside. We do park one of our trucks in the garage but I keep the door open for quite a while when we are pulling in and out to make sure that the fumes don't remain in the garage. I have been feeding them medicated chick feed. Water is fresh and clean.
I am not sure why they are dying. None of my other birds are sick. I don't normally have this many chicks at one time. I normally hatch out an incubator full, keep the chicks that I am looking for (generally 5-6) and then sell the rest. The only thing different that I am doing this time than all of the other times is that I have far more babies, the new brooder box (this is the first time I have used this larger box), and the time of year (I usually only hatch in spring and summer).
For those of you that do larger batches is it normal to lose this many babies? Am I doing something that I don't realize?