Chicks suddenly died

[lazy gardener]

All my questions are valid questions and worthy of asking in light of the death of a group of chicks. The amount of feathering would have given some bearing on the age of the chicks, also a bearing on how much heat they would have needed, and any one using a heat lamp should be aware of how much heat that lamp was putting out in a brooder. To not acknowledge the bearing of these issues on this situation is to not be looking at the whole picture. And how would you know that they died from stress without looking at the whole picture? I am a fan of PND, and use it with all chicks. But PND will not solve brooder error.

 

[Elza]

This is not our first lot if chicks, as i said we never had this problem before. Heat lamp was new but was burnt and heated and all that stuff before use, we had a small amount of straw and pieces of a baby blanket for comfort, we had cooling off spots to go to.. They had no signs of anything at all before dying, they literally just went lethargic suddenly and minutes later took a deep breath and died.. They all did the same thing.. All their enclosure was clean and scrubbed and aired ready for chicks, we just wernt expecting to grab some from the pet store. My plan was to get a lot of chicks from a hatchery.

 

[Ayriad]

I don't know anything about chickens but have fell in love at the pet store and I'm 50. I can only imagine how children would be

I just wanted to say I'm sorry for your children's loss and hope you find something they can enjoy for years. Don't give up .

 

[chickengeorgeto]

I agree. A pet store is the last place on earth anyone should buy an animal. Most pet stores, the origins of the stock is highly suspect. You really have no way of knowing where these animals came from and under what conditions they were bred and raised.

Make a rule not to buy chicks from any source unless they are NPIP certified against numerous contagious diseases. The issue now is have these chicks imported a long lived pathogen to your premises such as Marek's or Leucosis? Scrub every thing down well, wait a good interval, and then order chicks from a reputable, certified source.

I am mostly un-impressed with the way that chicks are raised, fed, housed, or kept. But I can guarantee you that weak kneed DNA or poor selection of brood stock will kill chicks as fast as a 12GA scatter gun.

 

[Elza]

Well i wont be doing that again thats for sure. I eventually want my chooks to become broody and hatch a few of their own but the issue is i have mixed chooks and my only rooster which im not exactly suppose to have is a silky lol, dont think i should mix breed .

 

[Elza]

Im trying to read all the comments, im pretty ****** that some are you are only interested in scorning me about where i got the chicks from and in that case did not read my post properly where i mentioned its not something i would usually do, i did not ask your opinion on my purchases i ask an opinion on how the bloody hell would my kids chicks died, but i think i have an idea now. My daughter put in fine shell grit and a bird seed treat thing thinking she was doing good and im thinking that may have been too much maybe.. I dunno, i have only ever fed them chick starter.

 

[Elza]

Hi,
I am so sorry your chicks died. The kids must have been devastated. Plus all the work you put into the brooder and equipment. Sometimes these things happen. I happened to me with a parakeet I bought my son. at a pet store. Good news is it's just the start of the hatching season and folks everywhere are marketing chicks. Just clean out and disinfect the brooder and you can start again. Go onto craigslist and take a look at the chicken ads. look for someone who has a breed you like and writes like they have a history of breeding chicken. If the have the anagram NPIP in their ad that is very good. It stands for national Poultry Improvement Plan and means their flock has been checked by the government to be free of nasty diseases.
There are so many different breeds of chicken You can buy them for color, for egg color, for fancy trappings. Some like the Cochins and Orpingtons Sussex, and other breeds are known for being great docile children's pets. There is a chart online called Henderson's Chicken Chart. It is a great help when deciding on a breed.
I used it a lot when I first got into chickens and was trying to decide which breed I wanted.
Now when you get your next chicks you want to make sure to combat any stress they may have from traveling to their new home. it is common in baby chicks. The stress makes it harder for their little immature G.I. tracts to process all the good food you ae giving them. So it helps a lot of you give them and extra helping of nutrition which doesn't need digesting.
I use a product called Bovid Labs Poultry Nutri-Drench. I get it at Tractor Supply for about 6.00 for the smallest bottle, which is all you need. Give each chick one drop only by mouth when they arrive. if the chick seems needy, repeat as need every 8-10 hours until perky. Now put the Drench in their water for the 1st 2 weeks in their new home. The water should look like weak tea. This will get them off to a strong start. This nutritional supplement mainlines directly into the bloodstream. Measurable there in 10 minutes with 99% utilization, all natural. It helps prevent pasty butt and the runs. I have never had a sick or dead chick when raising them on the Drench water. Just robust, healthy chicks.
Really all you need nutritionally to raise heathy chicks is a good medicated crumbled chick feed like Naturewise, the Drench water and ( after they are a week old) a small cup of chick grit. Easy Peasey.

Now a word about chicken grit. Many will tell you that chicks don't need grit because they don't need it to process their crumbles. That is true But it is not why you are feeding them the grit. The chicken has a gizzard muscle which pre-grinds the feed so it can be digested better further on down the G.I. tract. The more exercise the gizzard gets, the larger and healthier and more efficient it becomes, just like any other muscle. You probably won't see any change in the outward appearance of your growing birds. Everything is happening inside the bird. But when the birds finally start laying eggs, that larger, healthier stronger gizzard can mean as much as 20% more eggs from each hen.
Again, I am so sorry your birds died It happens and is just heartbreaking after investing so much joy in obtaining them.
If you would like to tell me where you live and want an assist, I would be glad to help you find the chicken breeds of your choice from local people. This time of year, I would be real surprised if you had to go to the trouble if ordering from a hatchery.
Best regards for future Success,
Karen in western PA, USA

I live in qld australia. Thank you so much for this info, u have given me some useful information that i can use constructively.. I am thinking stress, wrong food and my babies.. The only major difference with these chicks then to previous is everytime i walked away one of my babies were walking around with one, not hurting or squeezing it but that could have stessed them more, plus the drive home was an hr and a bit, i dunno iv kept chicks alive with just a lamp when our heat lamp blew and we didnt have a spare bulb.. I am just going to get rid of all our old stuff and start fresh

 

[rustymurphy]

so sorry about your chicks you can also put vitamens in their water along with electrolites you can get them at your vets or places like farm and fleet untill i started doing this i also lost chicks good luck with your next chicks BYC is a great place for information you might know this but any way when you first get you chicks dip their beaks in the water dish so they know where it is

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Too much diversity in the chicken coop results in a class of victim chickens whose only purpose in a flock is to serve as punching bags for the big bad chickens.

 

[Elza]

Too much diversity in the chicken coop results in a class of victim chickens whose only purpose in a flock is to serve as punching bags for the big bad chickens.

The chicks were on their own.