Baby chicks too weak to survive

[Misbah Amin]

So its been 14 days since baby chicks hatched out of eggs but for some unknown reason they are not thriving. Most of them have become very weak and they dont look like 14 days older. They dont have any particular symptoms but two days back I noticed dried poop on the vent of one of my chicks, I removed it but that chick was just lazy than the others and very weak among all. It died this morning and I am still figuring what could have caused its death. Idk why my chicks are weak. I really need some guidance here as I dont want to lose anyone else.

 

[HeatherKellyB]

What are you feeding them?

 

[FeatherTay]

Are you able to do a necropsy?

Sometimes chicks don’t thrive, but it weird to have 2 week old chicks - many of them- dying.

What do you feed them? Do they eat? Do they drink?
A thought that came to my head: What kind of chicken are they? Where did you get the egg from? If you incubated: how was the experience?

The only thing I can think of (I am in no way an expert) is that something in their genetics is doing this.

If they have bloody poop, it could be coccidiosis. If they have worms in their poop, it could be worms.

 

[Eggcessive]

Sorry for your loss. Check all chicks for pasty butt. They can die of that, and it can recur each day. Get some Poultry NutriDrench or Poultry Cell and give each one a couple of drops. Make sure they are not too hot. Are they huddling together or far apart? Get them all drinking by dipping beaks. Tell us how you are raising them, for example what type of brooder, the temperature under your heat source, if it is inside your house or outside, what type of bedding, and what you are feeding. Pictures may help.

 

[Misbah Amin]

I dont know what their breed is called but I can post pics of them and their mothers. I am from South Asia so weather is already hot here so I didnt put them in any incubator. In day time they dont huddle together nor remain very far apart but at night some of them sleep beneath their mother and some huddle with each other. I used to give them milk and pearl millets and sometimes boiled rice or wheat bread. They do drink and eat whenever I feed them and that is 3-4 times per day. Their droppings look fine to me neither bloody nor any worms in it. Yesterday I read a post here that there can be electrolyte imbalance/loss in baby chicks so it was written that I should mix 2tbsp sugar and 1/8 salt and 1/8 baking in a cup of water and feed them 3-4 drops every hour.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

They need grit to digest what you are feeding them. Can you get chick grit where you are?

 

[Misbah Amin]

Whats grit?

 

[BigBlueHen53]

They also need plain water, not milk.

 

[Misbah Amin]

Yes I do give them plain water. Its always there in a bowl in their surroundings.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Whats grit?

It is a very fine gravel. Not as fine as sand. Since chickens have no teeth, they have an organ inside their body made of two strong muscles called a gizzard. They swallow grit and these muscles use the grit to grind up their food.