Cornish X suddenly dying at 3 weeks old - HELP!!!

[JoyfulPromise]

We got a batch of 100 Cornish X from our usual hatchery and they arrived on April 17th. 108 healthy looking chicks - all alive on pickup at the P.O. Put down 1 weak chick that would not eat 2 days later and then another chick a week later who seemed to have a compacted crop and did not respond to treatment.

The other 106 have been doing Extremely well. They have weighed in at several ounces larger than usual for us at Two and Three weeks. We feed them our own home-mixed feed that is also soaked/fermented. The feed includes Corn, Garbanzo Beans, Oats, Wheat, and Flax Pellets, with added supplements of Fishmeal (for extra protein), Fertrell's Poultry Nutribalancer (at recommended rates), and Thorvin Kelp. This is basically the same feed formula we used last year with no problems.

This morning my brother (who is the main caretaker of the Meaties) found a dead chick on the Right Side. To explain, our brooder covers one whole side of our two car garage and is divided into two 8x8 foot boxes, with 50 or so chicks in each side. There are two heat lamps hung over each side of the brooder. The dead chick was just sitting normally like it was sleeping with its head stretched out, but it did not move when he was feeding and he realized it was dead. It was kind of sitting apart from the main group of chicks, but other than that there was nothing abnormal. We thought it was just a random weird death, until he noticed another chick who was having trouble walking. It kind of shuffled, like it was having trouble moving its legs. That chick died before mid morning. Found it under the heat lamp with another chick perched on its dead body. It was lying flat out like they do when sleeping sometimes, with both legs straight back.

This afternoon, my sister was putting some fresh pine shavings on each side to freshen up, and she found another dead chick, and two more that were having trouble walking! She took out the dead one and put the two sick ones in a tub separately while she was finishing with the shavings. One of the chicks was dead less than half an hour later - again, just sitting down normally like he went to sleep. The other chick didn't seem as bad, and I managed to get him to drink a little vitamin water. He still does not seem to want to stand, and staggers when he tries to walk. When I was holding him to give him the vitamin water, his crop seemed pretty empty.

FOUR CHICKS DEAD today for seemingly no reason!

ALL THESE DEATHS WERE FROM THE SAME SIDE OF THE BROODER!!!

What is going on!!!! Why are they suddenly dying when they seemed to be growing so well, and looked so healthy, and WHY is it only on one side????

Any suggestions or help would be GREATLY appreciated!!!

 

[Chick Charm]

Well at least you received 6 freebies to offset these deaths. I like your feed ingredients and your set up.

At first reading I thought that that is just normal for meaties. I usually get somewhere between a 3 - 10% rate of attrition myself. Could you have possibly had a change in weather where it got hot? My meaties never like it hot. Other than that I would say possibly cut back on the feed if you are seeing greater growth. Possibly they may be getting to much of something. I am just guessing at this though. Again, I believe that this is the normal rate of attrition from what I usually get in CX's.

I hope for your sake that this is the last of this. Best of wishes.

Phil

 

[Hummingbird Hollow]

I'm afraid I'll not be a big help to you, having raised only 10 CX so far (started 36 Freedom Rangers last summer and only lost one at about the 2 or 3 week mark) However, with these CX, I lost one at 3 weeks, one at 4 weeks and 1 at 5 weeks. Other than the second one, all chicks seemed fine on final check in the evening but were dead in the morning. The 4 week one seemed weak and wobbly mid morning. I tried to give it water with electrolytes but it went downhill fast and I ended up dispatching it during the late afternoon. So, while with me it was only 3 birds, it equalled 30% of my original amount. Does anyone have an average mortality rate for CX?

 

[JoyfulPromise]

Thanks for the input, Hummingbird Hollow. My brother (and our whole family) has raised several 100 ct batches of Cornish X each year for the past 3-4 years. We have had various numbers of casualties, usually early on due to weak chicks, or one time spraddle legs or slipped tendon, but after adjusting our feed formula those problems have pretty much disappeared. We still expect to lose a few chicks to unexpected death, but usually in the first week or two when they are smaller. And then of course there was the one time we had a raccoon raid on our hoop houses at 5 weeks and lost nearly 20 chicks in the course of two or three days!!!

But this batch seemed very healthy and great growers, and had passed the fragile 1 or 2 week mark. So that is why it was so strange that all of a sudden we lose 4 (now 5) chicks in the same day with no apparent reason!

 

[JoyfulPromise]

I appreciate the comments, Chick Charm. It has been a bit warmer the last few days, up in the low to mid 70's, and today was in the high 70's, but it is still quite cool at night, in the 40's, and the meaties have been still huddling under the heat lamps in the morning. That is what is so strange - the first chick was dead this morning, before it even got warm today! And so were several of the others. We always try to turn off the heat lamps and open the garage door for air as it gets warmer. I haven't noticed them acting hot at all until maybe a little bit this afternoon. They are feathering out pretty good and are scheduled to move out to the hoop houses on grass next week.

I wouldn't be as surprised at losing 5 or 6 or even a few more out of a batch of 100 chicks, but this is very unusual for it to happen at this age and all at once like this!

On the feed, we fill their feeders 3 x a day. They started with the red chick feeders, and then progressed to PVC troughs on the side of the plywood brooder last week. They always seemed to finish their feed before the next feeding and were very hungry and crowded the feeders right at first when we fed them, at least until we put the PVC troughs on. They did go through a bit more feed in the first 3 weeks than last year's batches, but we attributed it to the fact that we had nearly 10 more chicks than last time (our previous batches have dipped below 100 chicks in the first or second week) and figured their faster growth compensated for the extra feed. We hoped to turn off the heat lamps entirely before sending them out to the hoop houses, to get them used to being without light at night and the cooler temps, but because it has been so cool at night we have not been able to, and this weekend is supposed to have a cold snap with 2 nights in the 30's!!!

I am at a loss as to what to do - I sincerely hope this is the last death too!

 

[JoyfulPromise]

Well, the horror continues.

Two more died before last night, and this morning we found 3 dead, and one more died just a few minutes ago! And the STRANGEST thing is that they are all from one side of our brooder, and the other side is only separated by a 1/2 inch plywood wall! Why this side? They have been getting the same food, the same water, the same everything! We just can't figure it out! Is it a vitamin deficiency? But then why wouldn't the other side be sick and dying too?

Really searching for answers, ANY reason why this is happening! We are now up to 10 chickens lost in about 24 hours!

 

[Hummingbird Hollow]

Could there be a cold draft coming in on that side, or perhaps the heat lamp is set too close or two far away? How about some sort of gas fumes? Just grasping at straws here but you might want to set up an entirely different brooder for the remaining chicks in that side of the brooder and get them as far away from the others as possible in case they have something contagious. Is there any sort of agricultural extention or vet that could give you an autopsy?

 

[JoyfulPromise]

I was trying to look up about getting an autopsy, but wasn't finding anything yet. I am pretty sure it is not heat or lack of it, especially since they are over 3 weeks old and getting their feathers in already. The brooder is enclosed with 2 1/2 foot tall walls of plywood all around, so they aren't getting any drafts.

We have pretty much decided it must be a virus or something similar, and are trying to treat naturally right now with garlic in their water and feed as a natural antibiotic. We may also mix a little bit of theraputic grade Oregano oil in their feed as a stronger antibiotic. Praying that something will work!!!

 

[Elke Beck]

Here in California there are universities, like UC Davis, that will do post mortems on chickens to determine if they have any contagious diseases. They do it free and will give the owner a report showing what they found. Try contacting colleges near you that have ag or vetinary schools. Also, your county extension might be able to help you. In areas where chickens are raised commercially there are usually free of low cost post mortems to detect diseases that might result in financial losses for the farmers.

 

[fuzziecreatures]

no one recently changed the bulb did they? those coated bulbs release gases that will kill birds