I just watched 5 of my day old chicks suddenly act strange and then die in ten minutes!!!Please Help

[bluefrog87]

I am not ruling out toxic fumes yet, but if that was it, they were in there for two days and we covered the whole thing with a towel at first to protect against drafts. If it was gases from the bulb or vaporized chemicals wouldn't that have been when the problem occured, not with it wide open? I washed out the aquarium with just dawn and water, and rinsed and dried it well, I did not use bleach. And before I was worried about the bulb they were already in the new brooder with the same bulb but I haven't lost any more chicks.

What did change is the Aquarium, paper towels and the feed.

I checked the feed, It does not look moldy. It doesn't smell really fresh though, but I may be over- smelling. There are black flecks on the bag itself, could the smaller particles trapped in the creases and weaving of the bag mold? Can the fungus be present but not overtly detectable?

I am feeling a bit better though, I thought it was Mareks at first, before I thought about it and realized there is an incubation period. I bought some birds at a swap this fall and they died as soon as it got cold and I have been worried that I may have brought something in to my flock. They were housed seperately, but, you never know. I will NEVER buy a bird again, watching those beautiful little chicks die was so horrible and I was powerless to stop it. I have not had the experience of losing birds in a group like that, it is so scary!

I want to lean on the side of caution and say the black flecks are mold. Your older birds may be less effected because they are less fragile.

Changing the food and the heat lamp would be the safest.

It really doesn't seem like Mareks

If there is something in your flock (like they are unaffected but your new baby birds are), a simple alcohol based hand sanitizer would keep it from spreading. All you would have to do is use Purell before and after handling. Use roughly a dime to quarter amount and rub thoroughly till dry. Make sure you get all over your hands, wrist and in between the fingers.

They will come into contact eventually but you may want that when they are older. All flocks carry their own special disease pool variety.

 

[VioletBlueIvy]

I hatched these myself, and have kept chickens for years, and always will as long as I can keep them safe and healthy. It is true, things happen, it is part of raising animals. It is part of life. I get that, but it is hard to take at times like this :/

What I meant was I was, at first worried it was a horrible disease, that I contracted by bringing in new birds to my flock, something I don't usually do for biosecurity reasons. Even though it was not a disease that caused this it makes me even more mindful of how horrible it would be if it was, because I could have losI or had to cull these beautiful animals I care a great deal for. It could have been so much worse.

It is not that I am not aware of the fact that things can go wrong, or that I haven't had things happen to my birds, they have. It is just that I was SO blindsided, because the obvious reasons for half of my two day old, hatched from my own eggs, right here in my house, otherwise hale and hearty chicks to go from perfectly fine to dead before my eyes were things that were apparently just fine. The feed was being eaten for the last two weeks by the rest of my flock, that would lead me to believe its fine. The bulb to my knowledge is not coated, and, has been in my coop all winter, again everyone is fine. I have always used paper towels. I have always cleaned my feeders with bleach solution. Although I have never used an aquarium, It cannot have any chemical residue in it as I just had healthy happy fish in it less than a month ago and I did not use anything stronger than dish soap to clean it. I just stood there watching them die, powerless to stop it. I was checking the heat, took out the feeder and waterer, laid down fresh towels, as one two three four five babies died in my hands! My kids were crying, my husband was like, DO something!

So we all grabbed up as many chicks as we could hold and I dumped out a bin full of the kids books I had just boxed up and grabbed some newspaper made a new brooder as fast as I could. I didn't know what else to do. The deaths stopped as soon as I did that, but WHY! I don't want to have that happen EVER AGAIN.

So, I am for darn sure going to try and find out as much as I can and solve the Mystery so it never happens again, and maybe by doing it here I can save someone else the grief we just experienced.

 

[VioletBlueIvy]

I am not ruling out toxic fumes yet, but if that was it, they were in there for two days and we covered the whole thing with a towel at first to protect against drafts. If it was gases from the bulb or vaporized chemicals wouldn't that have been when the problem occured, not with it wide open? I washed out the aquarium with just dawn and water, and rinsed and dried it well, I did not use bleach. And before I was worried about the bulb they were already in the new brooder with the same bulb but I haven't lost any more chicks.


What did change is the Aquarium, paper towels and the feed.


I checked the feed, It does not look moldy. It doesn't smell really fresh though, but I may be over- smelling. There are black flecks on the bag itself, could the smaller particles trapped in the creases and weaving of the bag mold? Can the fungus be present but not overtly detectable?


I am feeling a bit better though, I thought it was Mareks at first, before I thought about it and realized there is an incubation period. I bought some birds at a swap this fall and they died as soon as it got cold and I have been worried that I may have brought something in to my flock. They were housed seperately, but, you never know. I will NEVER buy a bird again, watching those beautiful little chicks die was so horrible and I was powerless to stop it. I have not had the experience of losing birds in a group like that, it is so scary!

I want to lean on the side of caution and say the black flecks are mold. Your older birds may be less effected because they are less fragile.  

Changing the food and the heat lamp would be the safest.

It really doesn't seem like Mareks

If there is something in your flock (like they are unaffected but your new baby birds are), a simple alcohol based hand sanitizer would keep it from spreading. All you would have to do is use Purell before and after handling. Use roughly a dime to quarter amount and rub thoroughly till dry. Make sure you get all over your hands, wrist and in between the fingers.

They will come into contact eventually but you may want that when they are older. All flocks carry their own special disease pool variety.

That is really where I am leaning as well. I cant smell the mold but, I checked the other bags and don't see those flecks in the plastic. And then there was the sunflower seed experience. I have bought bags of shavings at that store that were wet too.
That is sage advice and exactly what we try to do with new chicks every year, and never had a problem before now. I guess that's why I panicked. We were taking every precaution, and BAM!

If I can not smell the mold how can it be so toxic and how will I know if I have a bag of bad feed if it is undetectable. I remember seeing something about some people only buy grain in paper bags because they have concerns about the plastic bags. Maybe that's why?

 

[bluefrog87]

That is really where I am leaning as well. I cant smell the mold but, I checked the other bags and don't see those flecks in the plastic. And then there was the sunflower seed experience. I have bought bags of shavings at that store that were wet too.
That is sage advice and exactly what we try to do with new chicks every year, and never had a problem before now. I guess that's why I panicked. We were taking every precaution, and BAM!

If I can not smell the mold how can it be so toxic and how will I know if I have a bag of bad feed if it is undetectable. I remember seeing something about some people only buy grain in paper bags because they have concerns about the plastic bags. Maybe that's why?

Sometimes it's just bad luck and you can do everything right. I'm sorry about your chicks. I really am trying to cover all my bases with my advice just to be sure something wasn't missed or overlooked. Chicks are very fragile and the littlest thing can be very problematic

Not all molds cause problems but some contain myotoxins. This can cause a wide range of fatal health problems. It is difficult to tell which ones do and do not contain myotoxins by looking at them. I find the paper vs plastic silly because either could have the same problem. If the paper bag got wet it would be the same problem. Most reputable feed stores will throw out wet feed. It's not the bag. It's how the feed is maintained. (dry and cool place)

It would be the difference between storing bread in a paper or plastic bag. If you made the bread damp and stored it in a warm place both would grow mold. So, food storage is more important than what material it is in.

I would try to find a different feed store if they sell wet products. This could lead to further problems. I would also use a different feed than you have now.

 

[VioletBlueIvy]

Yeah, I wont be going there anymore! And regardless the reason, I will be doing all of these things, just in case, thank you for your brainstorming, its just the reason I came here

 

[pwand]

That is really where I am leaning as well. I cant smell the mold but, I checked the other bags and don't see those flecks in the plastic. And then there was the sunflower seed experience. I have bought bags of shavings at that store that were wet too.
That is sage advice and exactly what we try to do with new chicks every year, and never had a problem before now. I guess that's why I panicked. We were taking every precaution, and BAM!

If I can not smell the mold how can it be so toxic and how will I know if I have a bag of bad feed if it is undetectable. I remember seeing something about some people only buy grain in paper bags because they have concerns about the plastic bags. Maybe that's why?

Please do not use hand sanitizer. Simple water and soap is enough.

When replacing the feed, buy it from somewhere else. This time of year the feed would set longer on the shelves. Look for dates.

I have always used an aquarium, no issues. Definitely a red light.

 

[VioletBlueIvy]

Yeah we just wash their hands warm soap and water like normal. We do change clothes before holding new chicks too if we have been out in the coop holding other birds or doing chicken chores. I do keep sanitizer in the car for when we cant wash, but that stuff is noxious blech.

I do usually use a red light or was using the ceramic heat emitters from the reptile section at the pet store. I imagine having a blinding light shining on you like there was perpetual daylight is unnatural and one would think harmful. It would make me a little crazy

 

[bluefrog87]

By hand sanitizer, I just mean keep your hands clean. It doesn't matter which you choose as long as you do it properly. I use both (hand washing more but hand sanitizer if I have to touch a door or something).

I wouldn't use any with fragrance around chicks and try to keep it hypo allergenic.

 

[VioletBlueIvy]

Well sadly it happened again The only common denominator is the feeder. It is a pink plastic chick feeder with a plastic jar with a pink and purple rooster printed on it. I have had it for 6 years or so. I dont know if there is some chemical leaching from the plastic or if somehow something toxic got onto it somehow, something that the plastic absorbed and cant be washed out. I really cant imagine what that would be. I lost 8 ducklings the same way as the chicks, then, the next day 6 more, using a tupperware dish I had washed along with the pink one. I think either the heat of the brooder or getting wet makes it release the toxins.
I am only using glass feeders and waterers with the little ones now

 

[masschickvet]

Is it medicated feed? Sometimes there are formulation problems and there is too much medication in there. The larger birds can tolerate it but the little ones cannot because they are so much smaller. It might be worth contacting the feed store or maker to see if any other problems have been reported.