2 month olds smothering each other at night

[CityGirlintheCountry]

Have you ruled out illness? This sounds a lot like what mine are doing. They are fine one day, they all pile up together at night, the next day one more has died or is very stationary and lethargic. I think mine have cocci and am treating accordingly. Have you considered something other than smothering, especially if this is something new that is happening?

Good luck!

 

[Maryallison]

I am dealing with respitory problems with my adult flock and they are very far from them and have no symtoms. They all seem very healthy. They are hatchery chicks from ideal. Last night my DH told me which one had gotton smashed at the bottom of the pile of chicks when he went to put them in the coop and that was the chick that had died.

 

[Judy]

Well, that's another monkey wrench. It would be so easy to carry a resp. illness from one flock to another, on your person or clothes, for example. Sometimes it is so fast that death seems to be the first symptom.

CityGirl had a good thought with cocci, too. Are they on med. feed? Were they at any time? Not that med. feed prevents all illness from cocci, unfortunately.

Going back to my search on piling. So fat it appears the roost might actually help prevent this, to my surprise. Could you just lay a board in there for tonight and put them on it? You can get fancy later.

 

[Judy]

OK, look at post #6 on this thread. Maybe a light is just what they need.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=202475

Going back to it.

 

[CityGirlintheCountry]

Yeah, my first thought was that mine were smothering each other as they would be fine all day and then one dead in the corner of the coop the next morning. Then I noticed one acting very lethargic during the day. The next morning it had died as well. The smothering didn't make sense though as they had all been sleeping in a pile from day one. The deaths started a few days after I moved them outside.

Try the roost and see if that helps. You might also try a run of sulmet just to cover your bases.

Good luck. I feel your pain. It's so hard finding the tiny babies dead each morning.

 

[Judy]

Never found anything else of any use except that you need to consider cocci as the root cause. Corid is usually recommended here for treatment rather than Sulmet, for several reasons. Read here:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=174582&p=2

Speckledhen is one of our Moderators and has a lot of experience with cocci. And Corid is essentially harmless.

I do hope something in this thread will help you keep the rest of your chicks alive. I don't know the answer.

Good luck!

 

[Maryallison]

ok, they are on medicated start & grow feed. I have tried very hard and spent lots of money trying to keep the 2 months olds away from the older chickens that caught the respitory disease. They are in the same rabbit hutch they were in before, but we took the legs off of it and it is 7 inches from the ground. We were hoping they would hop in and go to bed themselves. They have only lived in the new area for a week now. They were much closer to the adults and I was in fear of them also getting sick so we moved them soon as we could.

I am off to read the thread u have dawn.

thanks you guys. I will make changes 1st thing in the morning...either the light, roosts....something. Please don't think I am a bad chicken mommy, but honestly I hate going outside at night. I live way out in the country and all sorts of things are out there!

 

[Judy]

If you were a "bad chicken mommy," you wouldn't be on here in the middle of the night worrying about your chicks! I do know what you mean about being out there at night; it is a bit wild where I am, too.

Best of luck, and do let us know how it comes out. Staying subscribed.

 

[Maryallison]

ok, the weak chick made it over night, but isn't looking great. I went out to the chicks (even before I fed my human kids--hehe) Last night I didn't put it in the coop in fear that it would get smashed. It slept under the coop. This morning I made sure it ate and I carried it to the water, but it feels really light now. It gets around, but it is very slow. I just wonder if the piling leads to some kind of internal damage.

I will update later in the day after I get busy outside. Thinking I may have to go to town and buy the extention cord for the light. Wish there was a solar light I could use... I guess for now the easiest thing to do is get the cord.

 

[Maryallison]

Ok so I have avoided going to town. I actually live 30 miles from town so going was a big deal (was willing to go for the chickens though)

I got all the extention cords together and they made it to the coop!

I also got my light out there and found a light bulb! WOOHOO! Then I got the middle dividing wall down.........WAS NOT EASY!

But I did it. The middle wall I cut in 2 and laid down for the floor. It is not great, but better than nothing I think. May look for wood to cut better floor later.

I am going to attempt to build some roosts after lunch. Wish me luck!