all my chicks are dying

[jessupfamily]

Quote:
We've found that mold is more common in Hay than in Straw. Hay is cut green and sometimes bailed a little wet. Where as Straw is the bottom of wheat and is completely dry before it is cut for bailing. Straw will get moldy if it is allowed to be outside with no cover. Hay is so hard to deal with, with the small critters!

 

[penelope77]

well i understand the hay mold thing but i just put them on hay day before yesterday when i ran out of pine and they were dieing on the pine shavings too. it's really frustrating cause one day they are fine, hopping around and being chicks and the next day they are down. actually it's my first chicks that haven't had pasty butt, hatched these myself, so i'm at a loss.

 

[Hangin Wit My Peeps]

Well that makes it even more confusing! If you had them on pine before.

What does their poo look like?

 

[penelope77]

i'd say it looks like chicken poo. nothing out of the ordinary. i'm so mad. i wish they had something visibly wrong cause then i could say oh well they are doing this, and then you guys would say, well stop that and give this, or something.

 

[birdbrainbub]

is the pen drafty? i had ordered chicks a couple of years ago and had a very similar problem. make sure temp is good. look for peeking from other chicks. make sure all chicks are eating and drinking. make sure chicks have plenty of room, lots of chicks die from stress. try not to hold them very much. every chick that my wife favored and held to much got sick and died. chickens are not as hardy as i used to think. im having trouble right now with a couple of golden seabright hens about 3 months old. my wife just told me that the one died and the other is not too far behind.

 

[tiki244]

I would put them on straight newspaper, not shredded. If you can, put them on a wire bottom cage so all their poo drops down below the wire. put a shield around the edges for warmth, a thermometer, and a light and keep at 80* for a week,,then 75*. Clean water dishes and add fresh water as often as possible. My little chickies love to dirty theirs.

If you have been getting bad feed from the feed store that may very well be the culprit. Even after a period of time has passed. I think its something called Aspergillous or something like that.

Did you check the links at the top ? there is a chart where you can go through the symptoms and maybe find something that seems to fit?!

When they die how are their legs situated? Is one forward and one backwards?

Do they snieeze little sneezes?

An extreme measure would be to medicate them, but without knowing what is going on it could do more harm then good..


I am sorry to hear about that. It is aweful to lose so many.

 

[Mahonri]

I had eleven die the first week back in April. The one and only way I stopped it was to put some Erythromycin in milk in their waterer in the AM and teramycin in Sugar water in the PM for a week. The sick ones got better and no more dead chicks.

 

[penelope77]

just want to thank everyone for their input. i haven't lost anymore since yesterday and i'm gonna try some different things. just want to get it figured out since i've got more eggs hatching soon.

 

[tiki244]

Yeah erithromycin and Teramycin are both good antibiotics for a shotgun approach! I have used when I cant figure out whats wrong.

 

[penelope77]

i've been doing the terramycin for a couple days now. it's the i don't know that else to do attempt. maybe that's why i didn't lose any today. though on the milk thing i was under the understanding that terramycin and milk are not friends as milk interferes with the drug working properly. yeah, you like my scientific explanation there? they all seem alert and happy right now. there are no drafts, they are inside. plenty of room when they were all alive, even more room now that most of them died. i just wonder what it was or is. i sure hope it doesn't happen with my next batch of chicks. again thanks everyone for the help.