Cornish X chicks daily deaths?

[Erin Link]

Howdy!
This is my third time raising cornishX chickens, plus I have raised a couple different types of heritage meat chickens and a group of about 30 layers over the last 5 years. This round of cornishX chicks I received from a hatchery I have always had success with before have been dying like flies. They are just a little over 2 weeks old and on a daily basis I have had one if not three die in a day. I can't figure out why...they don't look or act sick, only two had pasty bottoms that I quickly and gently wiped away. I will see a nice healthy chick dead on it's side, sometimes by a feeder or under a heat lamp. No signs of being smooshed to death. I have a great set up, a 5X5 brooder with two heat lamps. One thing I did notice is that this batch really seems to be pecking a lot at each other. But the ones being pecked are staying alive. I just started moving them out into chicken tractors and they are doing just fine. This morning is the first morning where I didn't have any dead chicks. I contacted the hatchery and they stated that they must have gotten chilled in the process of delivery and are weak from that. I was kind of hoping they would send more or do a bit of a refund. I started with 55 but now have less than 30. The super bummer is this is my first year launching a CSA business and those birds are for members. I ended up ordering more chicks from a different hatchery, they will show up next week. I guess I'm trying to figure out how much of this is my fault, what did I do? Or if I should straight up ask the hatchery for a price reduction or replacements. I know it's my responsibility as soon as I get those chicks, I just have never ever had issues like this. Do bad hatches/batches happen? I know this type of bird isn't especially hardy and has a bad reputation in that respect. Maybe I was just due to have some major issues. Thanks for any advice, thoughts, or insight!
-Erin

 

[jgmann]

This is probably from Cardiac arrythmia (irregular Heartbeat) that is a common problem with this breed. They also develop congestive heart failure at an older age. These problems can be largely mitigated by slowing their growth. Taking away the feed as they get older for 8-10 hours at night will slow down the eating and seems to decrease the sudden death. http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/p...udden_death_syndrome_of_broiler_chickens.html

 

[WildfireSmitty]

It's multiple factors. The breed for one, and handling. I have had great years and horrible years raising CornishX, with no change in my practices.

You need to expect that when doing broilers. They are soo touchy. I guess you can call them brats!

 

[slingshotandLAR]

That's too many losses.....

I would be wanting a credit or something from the hatchery.

Before I started raising CX I had a tremendous amount of success with baby chicks of all types including turkeys. Out of a few hundred I haven't lost a single chick to date.

My brooder is 9x9 with a 4 bulb thermostat controlled heat lamp, I also have plasson waterers so always fresh clean water and plenty of feeder space.

There's a group of 50 in there now, everyone was fine until day 6. I lost 2, then all was well until day 12. I noticed a few chicks that were smaller than the others lying under the lamps not really moving or moving around, I checked on them that night and one was dead. When I went back out in the morning 2 more were dead. Still had 2 that didn't look lively like all the others and lost them both that day. So seven dead total. They are on day 17 now and all the rest look fantastic, they are strong with lots of energy and due to go out to the tractors in 5 days. I hope my losses are done with this group but I will prolly loose a few before butcher day. I figure I will be somewhere around 20% loss, way too many in my book.

I'm not sure why the survival rates of different batches of chicks from the same hatchery vary so much. I have experienced the full spectrum from 100% survival to 20% loss. I don't think there's a single thing that I could do to change those numbers, I wish I could because at over $4.00lb for a finished bird 20% loss costs me a lot of money.

I now expect the best and plan for the worst, my order numbers have went up to isolate me incase I have a batch with high mortality.

My birds have a perfect growing environment, the right temps and a excellent feed ration. All I can do is give them what they require, after that it's out of my hands.