chicks yawning then death

[DariaR]

I have several 2/3 week old chicks. 1 died within 24 hours of arrival. Couldn't seen to walk and was not drinking.
Was gone in a few hours. Just last night I can home from work (chicks were fine in morning) to find a back copper chick yawning constantly. It could walk just fine - just yawning constantly. Went back a few hours later to find chick dead on it's back with feat in the air.

There are 6 other chick in the brooder currently, any idea's what is going on here?

 

[Egghead_Jr]

Is your brooder too hot? Do they have a unheated side of brooder to get away from your heat source if they want to?

When chicks are mouth breathing it's a sign of too much heat. Put a thermometer in there and check. At 3 weeks old 80-85F would be fine. It could be as hot as 90F under heat lamp as long as they have an 80F area on other side of brooder to go to. Raising the lamp is a means of lowering temp or switch to a smaller incandescent bulb. I brood with a 100w bulb in large plastic tote.

 

[DariaR]

it's a very large brooder with only 1 lamp on it (built to use 2)
so they have plenty of space out from under the lamp.

they usually hang under the lamp at night but are all over the coop during the day.
All were running around eating and drinking this morning.

 

[ten chicks]

Are feeding them anything other than chick feed?

Since you are new to chicken keeping,make sure you are familiar with Coccidiosis and know the symptoms. I am not suggesting this is the cause,but it is something you need to become well versed in,as it is the leading cause of death among chicks.

 

[DariaR]

they are just getting chick starter. switched them to medicated today & added a vitamin supplment to one of their water bottles. also cleaned the brooder & added some de to their sand to help with any worm issues we may have going on.

 

[cafarmgirl]

Very unlikely to have any worm issues going on at their age, and DE will not get rid of worms if they did.

Keep a close eye on the others in regards to coccidiosis, being on medicated feed will not prevent an outbreak. It's always a good idea to keep Corid on hand when raising chicks.

I don't know what caused the death of the one chick but keep a close eye on the others.