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Ugh. Yes I’ve heard of that. I hadn’t dewormed and when I do, I toss the eggs for a few weeks after. The chicks were hatched by me, from my own flocks. About six different breeds, all chicks randomly affected. No rhyme or reason to whom survived (except naturally many sexed cockerel chicks...

Yes! Onto brighter things... here is our invaluable pack who helps caretake our farm.

Wow! That’s horrible. I had been giving them small amounts of yogurt recently. I’m thinking neurotoxin now. Not so much from the yogurt but from the water leaking into the chick starter, creating some mold. Who knows, maybe the yogurt somehow contributed.

Thank you

No, it was done by a reputable company over a year ago. Been raising chicks in there ever since without a problem. Putting the feed under the nipple waterers was a new thing. I didn’t realize the moldy feed that was being created by the drips.

Let’s hope this is what it was. Lesson learned the hard (and a very horrible) way I’ll never again put the feed under the nipple waterers where water can end up dribbling down and creating this moldy ick I found when I cleaned up. If this post saves someone else the misery I went through...

If only I had thought of this sooner... I cleaned everything from top to bottom. Waterers have all been bleached. Old feed dish dumped onto manure pile & scrubbed clean now. I wouldn’t be able to find anything to test now

We only have teeny, shy, elusive and harmless garter snakes here. Currently they are still hibernating & they don’t confront anything but insects. I tore the place apart, looking for anything. Not a drop of blood. Not a single rat turd. Found a couple more dead chicks wedged behind things. I...

Thank you, I will try a dehumidifier. A strange toxic event sounds most likely to me at this point.

That’s the most logical explanation I’ve heard so far.

There’s no way any person or kids got in here. I’ve been home all the time. We have a fenced, gated property with five intimidating farm dogs and a warning sign on the gate- NOBODY comes in uninvited. It’s been balmy warm here lately too. Not the kind of weather that chicks freeze to death in...

The can was perfectly intact & solid steel. I know rats can chew, but that would be extreme to chew through a shipping container. It’s only very recently that the dogs are indicating ‘rat alert’. I’ve caught a couple in traps & have ordered a rattinator trap.

Maybe it was the moldy feed if it causes chicks to act hysterical and then die all at once like that. It’s true that we somehow need to improve the ventilation. We have a fan that brings in fresh air & exhausts old air outside. But during cold weather it doesn’t help well enough to stop...

You are correct. There are small gaps at the tops of the plywood walls there.

No gaps more than a hair. We made this completely predator proof.

Here’s the structure, from built to now.

Yes it’s been the perfect barn for us. Under the floor is intact steel. This can had no rust holes or punctures. Floor & walls have 2x4 framing, spray foam insulation and new plywood with no gaps. We’ve added windows, doors and a ventilation fan. As hubby says, no way for anything to get in /...

No changes were made to the sea can since a year ago, well before any chicks were put in. But I’ve been having issues with condensation creating some mold. I’m in Canada. We do have weasels, probably pine martens and my dogs say rat activity underneath. Hubby says there are NO WAY there are...

Heat source is a Preimier 1 heat plate. The surviving chicks were found under it. No dead were under the heat plate and no signs it malfunctioned. Normally the big chicks have a red heat lamp bulb on but I turned it off recently because it was too hot. We are in Canada and have never seen...

Good eye! No that pic was during construction. There are no holes at all now for anything to get in. Nobody has accessed the property to poison them, so if it were a poison it would be from an accidental mold situation or the past dates yogurt? We don’t use chemicals or poisons of any type here.