baby problems

[POLECAT]

i am raising sid taylors and leiper hatch crosses,but my over all turn out is not to good,ive gotten 7 out of 43 up to pullett size and only one is left alive.has anyone else had problems with crossing these breeds?

 

[hdowden]

what are you feeding them? are they getting sick with something? hows their overall weight?

 

[POLECAT]

im feeding them chick starter to begin with,then medicated chick starter,giving them chick saver to drink,they get up feather out and then just die,perfectly healthy biddies then just die,no pasteing no snotty beek no nothing.im thinking maybe baby snakes.please let me know if you have any ideas

 

[Frost Homestead]

I'm not too familiar with those breeds, but it looks like they're both gamefowl? I have never heard of issues mixing any breed of chickens and them surviving until feathered and then dying.

I wouldn't give them chick saver, just plain water. They only really need chick saver if they've been shipped or under a lot of stress. Do they exhibit any symptoms of not being healthy? Seems like it would be impossible to lose 40 something chickens without them having a single symptom of being ill. Do they have adequate shelter? How does their poo look? Sorry for all the weird questions, it's just that you've lost so many birds & I would love to help you figure out why.

I can say for sure that if you're finding the dead birds it's definitely not snakes, snakes don't bite the birds and kill them without eating them. Small snakes will usually flee from chickens because they could easily become a meal themselves.

 

[ESofVA]

Small snakes wouldn't do that...they would stay away if possible and not so many chicks. I knew you said no sicknessbut have they ever stood around looking a little poofy?

Also, I have lost chicks due to the extremely humid, hot heat here. ..110 + heat index. Some days the air feels so thick it seems like I need to swim through it to get to the chicken pen. So what about heat??

Oh and yes, they are game fowl