chicks dying left and right please help!

[tdlee]

That's likely not it, then. You'll need to describe your brooder setup. There may be a problem there.

Size?
Bedding?
Heat source?
How warm beneath?
Feed?
Water source? Unfiltered, untreated well water?

Shipping is stressful on chickens/quail/fowl to begin with and they can be a little weak when they arrive and then not stay warm under the heat lamp. I've lost several this spring for no reason that I could see but I think they got too cool in the brooder.

 

[Iowajones]

Use bottled drinking water, don't use your filtered well water.

That won't outright kill chicks though. I use well water all the time. Hoover seems to have declined the last few years. I wanted to expand my breeds the last few years and bought 4 females, got 3 Roos, yr b4 deformed feet on 6 of 12 and 3 died w/in a year. I have geese, ducks and chickens for most of my 59yrs. Thus year I'm using another hatchery

 

[Iowajones]

I’m new at this and am raising baby chickens. My first impression is it may be too hot for them. I use a red 150 watt light and most of the chicks move away from it within 3 days. The floor under the light where it’s passed 95 degrees -they stay away from. Just my first impression. Other then that, I use filtered well water also, chopped straw which they love, they have 16 sq feet in the brooder and there’s 27 chicks in there presently. They are now 2.5 weeks old and want to be outside. 19 are meat birds with lots of feathers and the rest are little hens. All are healthy and get along as long as they can escape and perch if they want. I know it’s important to keep them warm, but they need to be able to escape the heat as well. Good luck and God Bless!

I was thinking that too. Do you use feather dusters. My chicks huddled under that more than my light! Lol

 

[fluffy07]

That sounds like poisoning

I've seen this before and it's a bacteria in the brain. They probably came with this infection. My avian vet gave me Amoxcillin to treat it, which needs to be given by syringe every 4 hours. It took two days for my chicks to get well again. You need to be super careful where you get your chicks from.