average mortality rate of few days old chicks

[featherz]

I am now jinxing myself also, but I have also not lost any chicks once they are out of the incubator (have lost several IN the bator, tho, but they were weak to start with) - I agree that I found 95 is too hot. When I tried that on my first batch the chicks were WAY away from the light. I now use an 85W red flood light and adjust it based on where the chicks are gathering, not on any thermometer reading.

I also use nipple waterers only - probably has nothing to do with it, but it keeps the water clean. A little wet chick food + scrambled egg as treats.

 

[MOChickenz]

I have had 3 groups of chicks since June. I haven't lost any in the brooder, just out of stupidity with predators. I am a newbie, and I might not be doing the right stuff.

I use buchheits medicated starter for 7 weeks, then change to grower. I do not add anything to their water. I have not used any vitamins. Mine are in a (very!!!) secure outdoor brooder. At least I learned from my disasters.

I feed absolutely NO treats til they go on grower feed. I have very hard well water and add nothing to it.

I use a red brooder light and raise it if they are trying to get away from it and lower it if they are huddled under it.

I do not let my kids handle them for the first 7 days. I keep hand sanitizer next to the brooder and we wash before and after.

 

[HPK farms]

So glad you asked this! We have had a high mortality rate before also...we have gotten chicks from both hatcheries and reputable breeders so I think maybe we are doing something wrong. They have also been all different breeds. They are in a baby pool (around 3 ft in diameter) for around 15 baby chicks and we keep it in the garage. We give them tap water and use a brooder bulb (adjusted by whether the chicks are huddling near it or laying on the other side of the pen, not by temp, and usually just left on only at night since the temps are still high here in GA). We feed medicated starter grower (Dumor) from Tractor Supply Co. We have used pine shavings before but thought that maybe they were eating those and dying, and so we switched to hay. We have already lost half. This has been our luck with almost every group of new little bitties we get. We also don't give them any treats until they are old enough to go outside and free range.

We have just joined this board after getting some chicks from a breeder that recommended it so maybe there is already a post on how to best raise new chicks we should be looking at?

 

[Rozzie]

Quote:
You say that temps are high there. How high? Baby chicks need about 95 degrees the first week. (You will find some people who will argue for 90 degrees. If I stray, it is in the opposite direction, aiming to have a SMALL area of the brooder that is actually warmer than 95.)

If the temp in the garage is 85, for example, and they are only a week old, then they may be getting chilled.

Also, one way around the issue of bedding making them sick is to use shelf liner for the first week or two. This way, there is NOTHING they can eat other than what they should be eating. They will mess the shelf liner up pretty quickly. You can flip it over once, but then will need to change it out. Get the shelf liner that is really rubbery, not the slippery kind. (When you change the liner, you can wash the original one off. You may need to let it soak a bit. I don't use soap when I wash it, though. )

What type of chicks are you raising? If banties, the commercial crumbles "may" be too big, depending on the brand. You can grind it a little finer in a coffee grinder to make sure they are able to eat and digest it.

Do you use your garage? Could they be getting a draft when you open and shut the door? If you start a car in the garage they may also be getting exposed to carbon monoxide or other fumes. How about gasoline fumes? Do you store a lawn mower in the garage? Gas can? Other chemicals that might be giving off fumes? (I do have my car in my garage, plus my birds. However, I take care to open my garage door before starting the car. We don't store the mower or any chemicals (other than laundry soap and bleach) in the garage.

What, if anything, was used to clean the pool before the babies went into it? Could there be some sort of residue?

What are you using to clean their food and water dishes? Could there be soap or other residue on them?

 

[Akane]

The only ones I've lost hatched weak or had to be helped. Unless you are getting shipped chicks you really shouldn't have a steady mortality rate. If you are frequently losing feed store chicks I would wait until they have had the chicks a day or 2 before buying them or find another place to get them from.

95 is too hot. I've noticed that my day old hatchlings prefer 85 degrees, then I decrease 5 degrees each week. I know lots of people here swear by 95, but in my experience, it's just too hot.

I find this entirely inaccurate. 99% of the time my chicks do best when the temp directly under the bulb is at least 95F. In cooler weather when the house temp is lower they often complain and pile until the temp directly under the bulb reads 100-102F. When the house (or wherever your brooder is) temp is warmer they do seem to do fine with lower but I've never started any at less than 95F the first few days. Sometimes in the summer I'd get them down to 80F by 3weeks and that's about the quickest. The average temps are always listed at 95F the first week and 5F less each week after that. Another thing is that the exact temp should not matter so whether you are using the correct temps or not you should not lose chicks. Your brooder should be big enough that you can put the center of the lamp a little warmer than they will probably want it and let them find where they are comfortable. They should be able to sit around the light at various distances. When they are starting to avoid the light you need to lower the temp a little until they are comfortably walking through it to cross the brooder and resting just outside of the center. Use the chicks as a guide not hard and fast numbers. Most of the time you don't need to use a thermometer at all. Just watch the chicks. The only potential death to temperatures should come from drafts which you do have to take into account. I prefer to use aquariums for really young chicks so the sides are solid and sometimes if I hatch in winter I cover one half of the top with a folded up blanket. Wire cages will need to be placed with some care to avoid windows, vents, heaters, and any other sources of air flow.

I usually cover the shavings in a couple layers of paper towels. When the paper towels get too dirty after a day or 3 I roll them up and the chicks are on shavings. By then they know what poultry feed is and eat minimal shavings. However I have placed chicks directly on shavings from the incubator when I had lots of them and never had an issue. Plenty of people raise hundreds of chicks on shavings and don't have mortality rates like that so I would not blame shavings unless you are using cedar. Lots of people have talked about losing chickens to hay. Personally I think something else is going on when adult chickens are lost to hay but chicks eating hay leaves without grit could most certainly cause death.

Cold water can sometimes be a concern. Make sure you aren't using extra cold water when you refill. If your tap or well comes out very cold (ours is 50F in spring and fall) then leave a jug of water out by the brooder or put the water near the light and make sure it never runs completely empty so they won't rush to fill up on cold water.​

 

[Happy Chooks]

I have brooded chicks at different times of the year. I'm just sharing my experience, I've had chicks panting at 95. My outbuilding is about 10 by 12 and it's insulated with a concrete floor. It holds the heat in well and there are no drafts. The chicks are perfectly content at 85. Yes, they are under the lamp, but not piled on top of each other.

 

[HPK farms]

Quote:
The baby pools are new so possibly there could be residue? I have never considered it honestly, we use them for birthing puppies without a problem but I guess new chicks are more susceptible? The garage is only used as storage and we are dog breeders so we keep the door closed so the dogs can't get in there to get the chicks. During the summer we do keep the single window open but the temperature in the garage would quickly get well over 100 without the brooder lamp if we didn't. The temperature during the day here is only just now getting into the low 80's & high 70's, and I have started leaving the brooder lamp on during the day. I have a few reptile aquariums so maybe we should try using those instead of the baby pools to hold the heat in the area where the chicks are better. We only use water to rinse off the food and water feeders. Someone else mentioned the water temperature in the feeder which I have never considered doing. The water is pretty cool from the faucet - does it need to be warmer for them?

The breeds of chicks we have raised that we have experienced this high mortality rate are: Frizzle Easter Eggers, Cochins and bantam Barred rocks (from an extremely reputable breeder) Red Ranger broilers & Golden Nugget layers (these are mixed-bred birds from S & G Poultry who on a side note are GREAT to work with) and last year a mix of chicks from McMurray Hatchery.