Ok, I live in South Ga and the weather here's been getting pretty cold at night. I've had about 11 chicks die in the past 3 days. They were all born in September and had a tough bout with cocci around 2-4 weeks of age. There has not been any signs of illness, stools are fine, everyone's acting normal. Well starting Monday morning, I've had dead chicks every day.
I recently moved them out of their smaller pen into a bigger one that is more open, but still had a light (150 watts) with them because several are super small old english, a few seramas and d'uccles. I lost an old english first, then I think 1 or 2 d'uccles and yesterday morning lost about 5 total. A few of the ones that didn't die were acting 'weird' (standing around, not moving much or lying face first on the ground), so I rushed them into their old pen under a big heat light. They recover and act normal but are dead the next morning. Yesterday I lost a grown Sebright roo as well, he died on his perch.
Everyone of these chicks dies the same: wings spread out, head face first on the ground, looks like the go to sleep and don't wake up. The smallest of the chicks I put back in the small pen have not been acting weird at all, so is this the cold or should I be concerned about something else? I only lost 2 chickens last winter to the weather, but did not have any bantams then either. Oh, I am feeding them Purina Starter/Grower. As I said before, no other signs of illness whatsoever. The standard size chicks in the pen with them do not seem to be affected at all. They are Langshans and barn yard mix chicks that I got at the same time as the bantams. And no they all get along fine, the Langshans are small for the breed (purchased from a hatchery) and the bantams are their best friends.
Any help or advice on this would be greatly appreciated.
I recently moved them out of their smaller pen into a bigger one that is more open, but still had a light (150 watts) with them because several are super small old english, a few seramas and d'uccles. I lost an old english first, then I think 1 or 2 d'uccles and yesterday morning lost about 5 total. A few of the ones that didn't die were acting 'weird' (standing around, not moving much or lying face first on the ground), so I rushed them into their old pen under a big heat light. They recover and act normal but are dead the next morning. Yesterday I lost a grown Sebright roo as well, he died on his perch.
Everyone of these chicks dies the same: wings spread out, head face first on the ground, looks like the go to sleep and don't wake up. The smallest of the chicks I put back in the small pen have not been acting weird at all, so is this the cold or should I be concerned about something else? I only lost 2 chickens last winter to the weather, but did not have any bantams then either. Oh, I am feeding them Purina Starter/Grower. As I said before, no other signs of illness whatsoever. The standard size chicks in the pen with them do not seem to be affected at all. They are Langshans and barn yard mix chicks that I got at the same time as the bantams. And no they all get along fine, the Langshans are small for the breed (purchased from a hatchery) and the bantams are their best friends.
Any help or advice on this would be greatly appreciated.
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