Baby chicks keep dying

[1949lea]

I have been trying to raise baby chicks, I am buying them from tractor supply, I have the recommended food, bedding, heat lamp, but my chicks start to die after a day or 2 and by 4-5 days they’re all dead. I have the temp between 90-100 and have the lamp on one side so they have a cool off side, I don’t know what I’m doing wrong, I have done so much research and takes to so many people and am told I am doing everything right. Can someone please help I’m tired of seeing them die. I am not getting anymore until I can figure out what I’m doing wrong

Have you tried putting some apple cider vinegar in their water... It was recommended to me and I haven't had any more problems with chicks dying... Make sure you buy the raw vinegar it should have sediment in the bottom of the bottle... shake it up and put just a little in their waterer... I even put some in the water for the adult chickens

 

[BirdsBeesTrees]

Attention: original poster hasn't even been on to see any of these replies since April 19th!

 

[rosemarythyme]

Attention: original poster hasn't even been on to see any of these replies since April 19th!

Yeah it makes me a little sad that folks are asking good questions and making suggestions, but looks like we won't ever know what was wrong in the first place.

 

[Joe q]

Maybe try to suspend the light over the end of the brooder. This will be thier warm side and the opposite side will be s little cooler

 

[TheChickenHole]

They might have disease

 

[kodster]

No way..
100 is too hot.

For the first week of a chick's life, 95 degrees is the correct temperature for them, as they have not feathered out yet. It's the same temperature that they would be, under their mother hen's wings, as that is HER body temperature. But the option is there for them to move away from the heat source, and then return. I'm thinking that she doesn't have the heat lamp close enough, and as someone also pointed out, it's directed to the middle, instead of one end of the brooder tub, so that they can move away from the heat and cool off as they themselves decide, so the entire tub is the same temperature, and could be too high. Something is not correct as far as maintaining the correct temperature for them to survive.

As the chicks grow older, and start to feather out, the heat lamp should be raised, to drop the temperature 5 degrees per week, until they reach the 60-65 degree range, which is when they should be moved outside to their new coop. This is standard operating procedure recommended by the experts that do this for a living, and a proven success rate. For you to say otherwise, is giving misleading information.

 

[Kiki]

For the first week of a chick's life, 95 degrees is the correct temperature for them, as they have not feathered out yet. It's the same temperature that they would be, under their mother hen's wings, as that is HER body temperature. But the option is there for them to move away from the heat source, and then return. I'm thinking that she doesn't have the heat lamp close enough, and as someone also pointed out, it's directed to the middle, instead of one end of the brooder tub, so that they can move away from the heat and cool off as they themselves decide, so the entire tub is the same temperature, and could be too high. Something is not correct as far as maintaining the correct temperature for them to survive.

As the chicks grow older, and start to feather out, the heat lamp should be raised, to drop the temperature 5 degrees per week, until they reach the 60-65 degree range, which is when they should be moved outside to their new coop. This is standard operating procedure recommended by the experts that do this for a living, and a proven success rate. For you to say otherwise, is giving misleading information.

I'm not giving a misleading information a hundred degrees is too hot.

 

[kodster]

I'm not giving a misleading information a hundred degrees is too hot.

Where did anyone say they were at 100 degrees, though? And 95 degrees is the standard temperature to keep the chicks at, for their first week. I didn't say anything until I finally saw the picture of her set-up, because I didn't know how it was situated. IMHO, I don't think they were at that temperature, as the heat lamp was too high, and I think they died from not being warm enough! So, get off your high horse. ALL of the hatcheries, like Murray McMurray, et al, say, keep the temperatures at 95 degrees for the first week, and then back it off, to 90, the 2nd week, and so on until the temperature is at 70 degrees, and then move the chicks to the chicken coop, as they are fully feathered by then. Until they are fully feathered, you HAVE to supplement their body heat temperatures.

 

[Kiki]

Where did anyone say they were at 100 degrees, though? And 95 degrees is the standard temperature to keep the chicks at, for their first week. I didn't say anything until I finally saw the picture of her set-up, because I didn't know how it was situated. IMHO, I don't think they were at that temperature, as the heat lamp was too high, and I think they died from not being warm enough! So, get off your high horse. ALL of the hatcheries, like Murray McMurray, et al, say, keep the temperatures at 95 degrees for the first week, and then back it off, to 90, the 2nd week, and so on until the temperature is at 70 degrees, and then move the chicks to the chicken coop, as they are fully feathered by then. Until they are fully feathered, you HAVE to supplement their body heat temperatures.

Did somebody wake up on the wrong side of the bed?

 

[kodster]

Nope. Just setting the record straight.