Chicks died

[TwinWillowAcres]

I had 3 out of 57 chicks die. One was found buried under shavings and two were found lethargic and passed shortly after finding them. I never saw the symptoms, just going on what my dad told me. Happened while I was at work. What could have been the cause?

2 were red sex link 1 was buff orpington. Breeds from different hatcheries.

 

[ThePRfan]

Chickens/chicks can hide being sick.Lots of times birds catch the chicken Flu,short for respitory disease(Practically).They ooze,they sneeze/cough,they flop around,snot EVERYWHERE.
Sometimes chicks can be stressed an d not show it.

I have a couple questions.Do you have any other animals(Chickens,dogs,cats ETC).If so are the chicks ever around them?Are the chicks on any medicated food,are you putting prob/antibiotics in their water?Last question,do you feed them any treats/(Popcorn,veggies,ETC).Another,did you pick them up,and how often?
Other suggestion are check the disease/sickness forums on I believe learning center.

(My apology for the questions!)
Good Luck!
-ThePRfan

 

[Eggsoteric]

How old were the chicks and what type of set up do you have them in? What are you feeding?

Without any information, it could be a number of things. Failure to thrive; coccidia...

 

[Blooie]

This may sound cold and unfeeling, and I don't mean it like that at all. But losing 3 chicks out of 57 seems like you're doing more right than wrong! Shipping stress usually takes a few birds, even days after they arrive, especially if they might not have thrived anyway. All of the suggestions you've been given are good ones. I think I'd just keep an eye on things, recheck the obvious like heat (57 chicks put out a lot of heat on their own so if your heat source and the room they are in get too warm, chicks can die from that just as easily as being too cold), signs of pasty butt, diarrhea, etc. Again, I know it's tough losing even one chick, but all things considered your survival rate is pretty doggone good. Of course, if you do find signs of a real illness than you can ignore everything I said and start finding a tangible culprit and start treating!

 

[Percheron chick]

Loosing only 3 chicks is great. Chicks do die just because they can.

 

[ThePRfan]

This may sound cold and unfeeling, and I don't mean it like that at all. But losing 3 chicks out of 57 seems like you're doing more right than wrong! Shipping stress usually takes a few birds, even days after they arrive, especially if they might not have thrived anyway. All of the suggestions you've been given are good ones. I think I'd just keep an eye on things, recheck the obvious like heat (57 chicks put out a lot of heat on their own so if your heat source and the room they are in get too warm, chicks can die from that just as easily as being too cold), signs of pasty butt, diarrhea, etc. Again, I know it's tough losing even one chick, but all things considered your survival rate is pretty doggone good. Of course, if you do find signs of a real illness than you can ignore everything I said and start finding a tangible culprit and start treating!

I agree with her.

 

[MisfitMarie]

This may sound cold and unfeeling, and I don't mean it like that at all. But losing 3 chicks out of 57 seems like you're doing more right than wrong! Shipping stress usually takes a few birds, even days after they arrive, especially if they might not have thrived anyway. All of the suggestions you've been given are good ones. I think I'd just keep an eye on things, recheck the obvious like heat (57 chicks put out a lot of heat on their own so if your heat source and the room they are in get too warm, chicks can die from that just as easily as being too cold), signs of pasty butt, diarrhea, etc. Again, I know it's tough losing even one chick, but all things considered your survival rate is pretty doggone good. Of course, if you do find signs of a real illness than you can ignore everything I said and start finding a tangible culprit and start treating!

I also completely agree. It's sad...but true. Only losing three out of fifty-seven sounds very good too me. =/

 

[TwinWillowAcres]

The chicks were 3-4 days old. I have cats, dogs, sheep, and adult chickens. The chicks are brooded in the garage away from the cats and they don't have access to the big chickens. My dogs go out to see them, but they only look through the brooder (a mesh playpen). They are on Pen Pals medicated chick starter. I bought electrolytes and probiotics, but I haven't used them yet. They do not get treats. I pick them up, maybe one or two a day for just a few seconds.

The mesh playpen they are in has two heat lamps, it is about 2x3. I haven't actually measured it. I have a 5 gallon waterer and a 30 lb feeder. Their bedding is 3" or so of fine pine shavings over layers of cardboard.

 

[ThePRfan]

The chicks were 3-4 days old. I have cats, dogs, sheep, and adult chickens. The chicks are brooded in the garage away from the cats and they don't have access to the big chickens. My dogs go out to see them, but they only look through the brooder (a mesh playpen). They are on Pen Pals medicated chick starter. I bought electrolytes and probiotics, but I haven't used them yet. They do not get treats. I pick them up, maybe one or two a day for just a few seconds.

The mesh playpen they are in has two heat lamps, it is about 2x3. I haven't actually measured it. I have a 5 gallon waterer and a 30 lb feeder. Their bedding is 3" or so of fine pine shavings over layers of cardboard.

Well the amount of chicks you have,can cause fighting.
What may have happened is,your birds our stressed.I added in my 1st post,they can hind sickness,and stress very well.What im thinking went wrong as well,is they may were not getting enough food,nor water.
Chickens are knwon to go for long times without Food/water,but it's extremely harder on chicks.
(Like they say,your gonna loose a few birds!)
-ThePRfan

 

[jtn42248]

The chicks were 3-4 days old. I have cats, dogs, sheep, and adult chickens. The chicks are brooded in the garage away from the cats and they don't have access to the big chickens. My dogs go out to see them, but they only look through the brooder (a mesh playpen). They are on Pen Pals medicated chick starter. I bought electrolytes and probiotics, but I haven't used them yet. They do not get treats. I pick them up, maybe one or two a day for just a few seconds.

The mesh playpen they are in has two heat lamps, it is about 2x3. I haven't actually measured it. I have a 5 gallon waterer and a 30 lb feeder. Their bedding is 3" or so of fine pine shavings over layers of cardboard.

Are you saying you had 60 chicks in a 2 foot by 3 foot brooder? That would only be a total of 12 square feet which is way too small for that many chicks. So, to begin with you need a much larger brooder. I had 27 chicks in a brooder that measured 8x10 (80 sq ft) and they did well AND grew into it very fast. Second, if you do only have a 2x3 brooder with two heat lamps I am guessing you have on heat lamp at each end. It could be they are getting over heated if they don't have any place to get away from the heat. That can kill chicks a lot faster than being too cold. You say you are using "fine pine shavings" for bedding. Switch that out for the larger pine shavings. Fine shaving create way too much dust for chicks. Also, did you cover the shaving for the first few days with paper towels? It could be that the chicks that dies ate the shavings. Always give them a chance to discover their food before they discover the shavings. Now, you are using a 5 gallon waterer and a 30 lb feeder which would indicate that the 2x3 brooder is a mistype since those would fill the brooder and leave no room for the chicks.

Can you provide a picture of your setup? It might make it easier for use to offer more acurate suggestions if we could actually see what it looks like.