A night of you know what (Raising baby chicks)

[BrahmasMama02]

I don't understand. Does this mean you found a dead body?

Nope My fiance miscounted the chicks and I realized today that we had gotten a chick that wasn’t what we asked for . Aka there was one partridge rock from the beginning.

 

[NatJ]

Nope My fiance miscounted the chicks and I realized today that we had gotten a chick that wasn’t what we asked for . Aka there was one partridge rock from the beginning.

Oh, that is much better! Disappointing that you only got one Partridge Rock, but very good to hear that all chicks are still alive and accounted for.

 

[BrahmasMama02]

One of my chicks that wasn't doing well finally passed today too. I'm glad I was offered extras.

 

[awagnon]

I am posting a theory from my friend's experience. It looks like you brooder is a plastic tote. If I am seeing it correctly, I wonder if it may be fumes from the heat lamp heating it hot enough for it to release plastic 'gases'. Birds respiratory systems are very fragile. Before anyone jumps on me about always using these with no issues. I have too in the past. Last year I had a friend get her first chicks and she got a tote like I used. Her heat lamp was low enough for a good temp for the babies, but it was also making the sides of her brooder tote very warm. She started losing chicks pretty quickly just as you are. The symptoms of her chicks were pretty similar minus the pasty butt issue. I went over to see if I could help her figure out what to do to stop the chicks from dying and noticed a hot plastic smell in the room. We quickly moved them from that tote to a makeshift, quickly secured dog crate in another room. And set up their food, water and heat lamp in there. She opened her window to air out the room to get the fumes out so they wouldn't linger in there. She lost one more chick that was really lethargic, but after that she didn't lose any more. The only thing we changed is the type of brooder they were in. We have since switched to a plywood, interlocking design brooder. It was really cheap and easy to make as I didn't want to take any chances. Not knocking the plastic totes, but knowing how fragile birds respiratory systems can be and my friend's experience, I thought this might help.

 

[BrahmasMama02]

I am posting a theory from my friend's experience. It looks like you brooder is a plastic tote. If I am seeing it correctly, I wonder if it may be fumes from the heat lamp heating it hot enough for it to release plastic 'gases'. Birds respiratory systems are very fragile. Before anyone jumps on me about always using these with no issues. I have too in the past. Last year I had a friend get her first chicks and she got a tote like I used. Her heat lamp was low enough for a good temp for the babies, but it was also making the sides of her brooder tote very warm. She started losing chicks pretty quickly just as you are. The symptoms of her chicks were pretty similar minus the pasty butt issue. I went over to see if I could help her figure out what to do to stop the chicks from dying and noticed a hot plastic smell in the room. We quickly moved them from that tote to a makeshift, quickly secured dog crate in another room. And set up their food, water and heat lamp in there. She opened her window to air out the room to get the fumes out so they wouldn't linger in there. She lost one more chick that was really lethargic, but after that she didn't lose any more. The only thing we changed is the type of brooder they were in. We have since switched to a plywood, interlocking design brooder. It was really cheap and easy to make as I didn't want to take any chances. Not knocking the plastic totes, but knowing how fragile birds respiratory systems can be and my friend's experience, I thought this might help.

This is very possible for the ones under the heat lamp . Ill take a sniff around this evening once im back home… could the same thing happen under a brooder plate tho ? thank you .

 

[awagnon]

This is very possible for the ones under the heat lamp . Ill take a sniff around this evening once im back home… could the same thing happen under a brooder plate tho ? thank you .

I don't really know. I have never used a brooder plate. I know they can be placed pretty low and depending on how soft of a plastic your tote is made of and what kind of plastic it is also depending on how warm the plate gets, I guess it might be possible as it stays in one place though I think they go on and off don't they? If not and it's constantly heating, maybe it could off gas plastic fumes. Can't say for sure on that one tho. Hope you are able to stop the loss of your little babies. It is so hard to deal with that. I am so sorry you had to go through that.

 

[BrahmasMama02]

Well I have 26 including 2 sickly chicks. So 24 healthy ones . My end goal is to successfully raise 20 even so I have enough to give my mom a few.