Dropping like flies ! :(

[fishboy1]

The death toll is now at 7 and we have 2 more that have the wobbles.
Got 26 mixed straight run chicks from Mcmurray. They were immunized

A couple (2) of the smaller black/grey/white chicks were dead upon arrival and a 3rd was barely alive and died later that day.
3 more were weak and had to be hand watered. One rallied and started drinking on his own and pecking at food.
2 of the 3 were dead this am. The 3rd seemed healthy enough to be released from the shoebox into the brooder with the rest this am.
Then about lunch time he started going down hill and died this evening with a previously healthy acting chick of the same variety.

So far only the smaller black/grey/white chicks have died and we thought maybe it was that they are getting beat up by the bigger chicks. Any chick that lies down to sleep gets stood on and pecked by other chicks. (never realized that chicks were so mean)

Symptoms. Chicks start sleeping a lot, and get kinda wobbly on their feet. They quit drinking and eating unless prompted. Checked all the birds for pasty butt and they are good. No noticeable snot or discharge from the face. Poop colors are all over the place but tends to be watery.

Feed is chick starter 20% and I did the 2-3 table spoons of sugar in a qt of water as instructed by the hatchery. Water is changed out and cleaned 2-4 times a day.
We changed the news paper out too to keep the bedding dry.

Im getting kinda worried. We expected to loose a couple but now one of the medium sized chicks with the chipmunk pattern is starting to wobble.

Any ideas what might be wrong or remedies?

 

[macdoogle]

OMG. No ideas but how awful. Hopefully someone has some ideas. Have you contacted the place were you got the chicks? I'm assuming you got them from a hatchery or feed store.

 

[sunny & the 5 egg layers]

Thats really sad. I am sorry about your loss.

 

[BrattishTaz]

I'm not sure exactly what you have going on. How long have you had them? What temperature do you have them at? Are you sure they are all eating and drinking?
Try this ASAP.....get some polyvisol without iron (human infant vitamins found at almost all stores) and give each chick a couple of drops. This can be continued for a few days if necessary. You will usually see them perk up quickly. Also check their vents to see if they have any signs of pasty butt.

 

[BooBear]

Shipping is very rough for the tiny chicks. You are doing good when at least half of them survive.
Do let the hatchery know of the ones you lost. I think most will replace all reported losses that you have in the first 48 hrs of receiving them.

Also, make sure they have plain water available too. Sugar water is just to give them an energy boost when you first receive them. Afterwards they really need access to regular water.
Scrambled egg with a dab of plain yogurt smeared or mixed over them makes a wonderful treat that helps their tummies and gives them a nice boost from the protein.

You are doing good so far it is just really rough when they give up on you without any apparent reason. This is really rough for folks getting chicks for the first time with no clue of the mortality rate for shipped chicks.

Sorry for your losses and the majority still pulls through for you.

 

[BooBear]

Quote:
Good points, I didn't think about the temp which is important. The polyvisol without iron works great too.

 

[fishboy1]

I was reading through the emergency/health section (probably should have posted there)

2 more symptoms. Chicks would shake their heads a lot in the process of drinking.
One chick seemed to get the hiccups after drinking and had a 1-2" long drool or slime burp up.

Switched to plain water this evening. I didn't realize that 50% mortality was normal for shipped chicks. That sucks.
Ill pick up some yogurt tomorrow.
What Kind? plain?

I wonder if I should split the brooder in half and put all the smaller chicks in one side and the big rowdy bullies in the other.

oops. forgot to add, I have 2 lights on opposite ends of the brooder. One is up around 95-100 at ground level and the other is reading about 85-90. The chicks seem to want to cluster under the cooler lamp and sleep standing up clustered together. I had the door shut and the bathroom lights on+ brooder lights and it got pretty warm in there. Most of the chicks were plopped down resting when the room got hot. I don't understand why the chicks don't want to hang out under the warmer light instead of piling up under the cooler one.

 

[ShortCircuitRanch2332]

My duckling just did The SAME EXACT thing are yours standing there really sleepy with there chests puffed out? mine did I tried the sugar water the sav-a-chic vitamins and nothing worked

 

[KZ]

What are you brooding them in and what are you using for a heat source? What is the temperature under the heat and on the side of the brooder away from the heat? If you are confident all these things are correct then you can attribute the deaths to shipping stress. I have heard that using a red light reduces the aggressive pecking.

Edited to add.... I have only bought from private breeders and not a big hatchery in the past, but I have never lost one chick, much less half... I find it hard to believe this is normal.

 

[BrattishTaz]

Quote:
Plain is best. Try giving them mashed yolk from a boiled egg tonight though. If you are going to have chickens you should keep the polyvisol w/o iron on hand.