8 of 12 new chicks suddenly dead - unknown cause

[Jaylee52]

Something similar to this happened to my chicks a few years ago, except for the part about the blood.

Are your chicks outside in a coop? My chicks were dying because they were in a brooder outside, and when we moved them into the house the dying came to a stop.

Just a thought

I think the main cause of death is the Teflon coated bulb

I don’t know if the bulb is Teflon coated, there isn’t much writing on it I can read, especially in the dim coop. But for what it is worth, we got all of our equipment (galvanized tub, heat lights, watered, feeder) second hand from our former next door neighbors who successfully raised chicks with all of it. I’m thinking if it was Teflon and was deadly enough to kill ours in 2-3 days, it would probably have killed theirs too and they probably wouldn’t have given it to us. There’s always the chance i’m wrong about this and the bulbs ARE Teflon and just didn’t kill theirs for some reason, but that just feels more far fetched to me than chillingly or disease.

 

[RodNTN]

If I were you, I would stop at a feed store, and pick a heat lamp intended for brooding chicks. I have several, and have never had a problem.

Was the equipment that you borrowed cleaned before you used it? Some kind of bacteria that a 6 week chick is exposed to might be deadly for a day old chick.

 

[Jaylee52]

Here are the possibilities:
1. Teflon coated heat bulbs give off a gas deadly to birds.
2. The wet bedding went moldy releasing deadly toxins.
3. Contaminated water supply
4. Petroleum distillate contamination (pesticides, W-D40, kerosene, motor oil, hydraulic fluid, paint thinner, etc.)

This is so tragic. I'm so, so sad for you having had this happen when you should be enjoying your new babies. Many years ago, here on BYC there was a thread just like yours. Tragic loss of many chicks. A year later, the OP updated their thread. It turned out their water supply was contaminated, killing the chicks. It wasn't discovered until much later and they had to move out of their home.

Thanks for all the suggestions! I’m afraid these feel unlikely to me (but I am SUPER inexperienced so I may be 100% wrong). See my last comment on the bulbs being Teflon.

Re mold - would toxic mold form in just 2-3 days? We certainly had no visible mold. And the cold temperatures here are definitely not encouraging growth of anything.

Re water contamination: it’s the same water we drink in our house (filled the waterer at our kitchen sink). It’s spring water from a spring on our property and goes through a 50 micron filter then a 5 micron filter then gets UV treated. And because we have a food processors license, we have it tested annually for E. coli and Coliform bacteria and it’s negative for both. I scrubbed the waterer but maybe it carried some bacteria still when I filled it?

Re Petrolem distillate- I just can’t think how any of that would get in their brooder. They’ve only been in their brooder. I scrubbed every inch of it and sanitized the whole thing before we put them in it. Their feeder went through the dishwasher on the sanitize setting before we used it.

Maybe the food is bad? It’s a major brand from our local feed shop. If these four make it through the night, I am going to get a new bag of *medicated* feed from a different feed store tomorrow.

 

[azygous]

This is what you need to do, eliminate the possible causes one by one. The feed is one possibility I didn't think about, but it's a real one. I've been on BYC a long time, and bad feed has definitely killed a lot of chicks on threads posted here. It can become contaminated by molds or other things and end up being deadly to chicks. Pay attention to the lot number of the feed sack and google it for alerts. The internet is a "town crier" for things such as this.

 

[FamilyFarm12]

I’m so sorry

 

[Jaylee52]

If I were you, I would stop at a feed store, and pick a heat lamp intended for brooding chicks. I have several, and have never had a problem.

Was the equipment that you borrowed cleaned before you used it? Some kind of bacteria that a 6 week chick is exposed to might be deadly for a day old chick.

The brooder bin and feeder were scrubbed AND sanitized. I realize now the waterer was scrubed but not santized. I originally had a mason jar sized waterer in there that WAS sanitized but they spilled a bunch of it the first day so I put the bigger waterer in because it is more stable (and put it on bricks to raise it above the shavings) and I had only scrubbed the big waterer.

I haven’t sanitized the bulbs since they don’t touch those, but maybe I should since they hang above the chicks.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I don't know what to call this type of bulb. I attached a picture. What do you mean "Teflon coated bulbs are deadly" - deadly how? Too hot? Not hot enough? Burns out? Both bulbs were on.

Also, the bulbs in this picture are in their new position, I lowered one because I am most worried about chill.

How hot is it under the bulb? 2 bulbs are too much, I see your chicks huddled together, away from the bulb? What's the temperature? Heat can kill quickly too.

 

[HuskerHens18]

I just thought of it and saw someone mention it just now, what about your feed? Does it smell okay? Is the date new? Was it at all in a damp environment? I have been sold spoiled/moldy feed and have lost grown chickens to it.

 

[Jaylee52]

They are actually huddling NEAR the bulbs in almost the hottest part of the brooder. The area where they are huddling is 90 F. 2/3 of the giant bin isnt under the heat bulbs at all and the temperatures outside here have been between 35 F - 55 F since we’ve had them, so they DEFINITELY have space to get into a MUCH cooler zone than the bulbs are providing. When we had 12 and would check on them, usually 2-3 would be under the bulbs, a few at the waterer and a few just exploring. Then, they would see us approaching and see us picking up their friends to check them and get scared and they all run to where you see them in that picture.

 

[Jaylee52]

I just thought of it and saw someone mention it just now, what about your feed? Does it smell okay? Is the date new? Was it at all in a damp environment? I have been sold spoiled/moldy feed and have lost grown chickens to it.

I will check in the morning, it’s in a bin out in the coop. I didn’t notice any moldy smell or texture but I also didn’t intentionally give it a smell.

That said, we are in Oregon, so everything is always cold and wet here. And this feed store I got it from keeps the chicken feed out back - you pay for it inside and the new drive behind the store and show your receipt and the guy gets your big things (wood poles, hay bales, animal feed, etc.). I didn’t see where the feed was kept, it was around the corner from where I was parked. So it definitely could have gotten wet - but there was no noticeable problem when I opened it. I am such a novice though, so I am not sure I’d notice if the signs were just subtle things.

I am definitely replacing it tomorrow as soon as somewhere to buy feed is open. That’s the problem with discovering this at 6pm on Saturday night - it’s too late to do anything regarding the bulbs or feed until tomorrow.