All my chicks died in 20 minutes!

[aart]

I used pine shaving as bedding.
My brooder tank is a plastic storage bin.
I used Dumor organic chick starter grower.
I had a warming light 32 inches from the chicks.
The temp by the chicks was around 78 degrees.

Post pics of bin and light?

 

[629864]

My first thoughts were the temperature being too cold, as chicks that young need a warmer environment. I dont know why all would die in such a short span though.

 

[3DFowlFarm]

My thought is the bedding. If there was any treated lumber shavings present it can release chemical toxins when wet. If it was in the waterer and then ingested it makes sense they all dropped as you explained. Im so very sorry but please dont let this trauma deter you. Go back to TSC, tell them what happened and they should replace your chicks. Big hug, don't give up!

 

[RoyalChick]

So sorry to hear. Heartbreaking.


I have only brooded two batches of chicks but both times I used TSC pine shavings - the coarse ones, not the fine ones as the fine ones may be too easy to swallow.
The description makes toxic fumes like Teflon or CO2 more likely than the bedding.
I have a heat plate and the room is about 70 (mine are now 10 days old). I can’t see them all dropping dead at 78 without making a lot of fuss and noise beforehand. Mine spend 90% of their time away from the plate so wouldn’t be instantly killed by the 78 degrees.

 

[nuthatched]

Any Febreeze or scented candles? In thinking it was a Teflon coated light.

 

[WallyG74]

Pine shavings don’t kill chicks. I’ve raised lots of chicks with pine shaving bedding.

 

[Duckduckgoosie]

There’s a post “TSC bedding poisoned chicks”

Is that the same kind?

I’m so sorry.

 

[RubelliteRose]

There’s a post “TSC bedding poisoned chicks”

Is that the same kind?

I’m so sorry.

No, that discussion was about recycled coffee ground bedding

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

There’s a post “TSC bedding poisoned chicks”

Is that the same kind?

I’m so sorry.

That thread is about coffee ground bedding, not pine shavings. Like many others here I have brooded lots of chicks with pine shavings and never had a mass mortality. I have lost a couple chicks from brooding in a plastic tote without adequate ventilation-at least that is the only thing I could come up with for the sudden death and drilling holes in the bin has worked so well I have brooded three batches of chicks in it just fine.

 

[HappyClucker7]

It sounds like they were poisoned by something in their environment. Were you spraying anything like fabreeze or lysol around the chicks? Were you using any pans with non-stick coating near them? Were there any paint fumes in the air, or were you using any scented candles?