Dying chicks-NEED ADVICE QUICK, please.

[featheredmom]

Yesterday we get a call from the Shreveport post office(over 1hr away) saying that we might want to pick up our chicks...never a good sign. All other chicks have been brought to our local post office for pick up.

Upon receiving the box, it felt damp. There were 16 dead chicks out of 52(one smooshed by the box divider-obviously done by Meyer). On the ride home another 4 died. Before lights out we lost another 7-all were acting normal until they laid down & died.

This morning we woke up to almost all the chicks laying down, they are chirping, just not moving or breathing well.

What is wrong with these chicks? Can the remaining be saved? Can these chicks infect my others?

This is quite honestly the worst chick experience ever & my kids(9&12) are very sad with each dead chick. To the point that they dont want to go in the laundry room out of fear there will be more dead...keep in mind we already have 40-4 & 5 wk old chicks that they adore. Just so hard.

 

[happybooker1]

Don't really have a clue what could be the problem. Sounds like they *might* have been exposed to some type of toxic gas. I would be sure to let the hatchery know ASAP.

So sorry for your kids too. I know my son would have been devestated if any of our chicks had died. ((((((Hugs))))))))

 

[featheredmom]

happybooker1-thanks for the well wishes and hugs, we sure do need them!! Its been a rough 2days with chicks!

Well, we are now down to 7 chicks, 3 "healthy"(or so they seem) and 4 that stumble around.

Called Meyer, they told me I have to call back tomorrow for replacements as we aren't yet sure how many we will have by morning...really?? At this point, with 45 dead chicks, I would think they would just replace the whole order without an additional call. I ordered 50 pullets + meal maker, they sent 53(2 extras to make up for loss). They claim that something must have stressed them along the way...ya think?? Either cold or rain/snow. I will likely never know the cause of death, but its very sad.

We have tried everything, grogel, sav-a-chick, syringe feeding...but they just keep dropping. My daughter is raising the chicks for 4H and to have eggs to sell at the farmers market(we have 15 tophats & 25 feather footed bantams that are 4 & 5 wks old, plus the 50layers-25 rainbow, 12 brown, 13 rare layers...that is now down to 7chicks) and she is very upset by all of the death and now care has been put on me until the deaths stop.

I guess this is all part of the learning experience, but its still very difficult...especially for the kids, good thing the 1yr old isnt old enough to know whats going on yet.

 

[featheredmom]

We lost 6 more and now have one lone chick :-(

I am considering putting her in with my motherly frizzle cochin, but fear if they have a sickness they will kill off my healthy chicks. She is only a few days old as opposed to the 4 & 5wk olds in with the frizzle. However, being a lone survivor isn't good either.

What should we do?? I have never had chicks drop like this and have never had a lone chick before, so I just dont know.

 

[chickenlover91]

So sorry to hear about your other chicks I would NOT put the remaining chick in with your other chicks and hen, you do not want to risk all their lives. The chances of this chick living is not likely, but always possible. Put her under a heat lamp and next to a stuffed animal, and put some sugar in her water. Try and be with, around her because she could just die of stress now.

We had a baby duck that everyone said would die, but after a month of care she is perfectly fine and now is the sweetest thing

Good luck!

 

[champer]

How incredibly sad. All I can do is send some hugs to you and your daughter. ((((((hugs))))))

 

[3riverschick]

Put the lone chick down. Whatever is killing the chicks, you best not expose your other birds. Then go to Tractor Supply and buy a bottle of Poultry Nutri-Drench by Bovidr Labs. wonderful stuff. Esp. for saving stressed poultry and giving chicks an advantage. See their website. http://www.bovidr.com/poultry.html transport stress : http://www.bovidr.com/stressconditions.html#transport
I have used it with great success on dogs and poultry for years. Also go get a bottle of VetRx
. http://www.jefferspet.com/vetrx-poultry/camid/liv/cp/16803/
It is a very old remedy used by generations of breeders. I have not used it yet, but am getting a bottle. When your replacement chicks arrive, put Poultry Nutri-Drench in their water per instructions. Keep it in their water for 2 weeks. It's quite concentrated so the 10.00 bottle will get you well started. Shouldn't need more than one more 10.00 bottle later on.
Best Success,
Karen
Waterford English Sussex, USA
======================
Poultry Nutri-Drench is for sale all over the Net. Comparison shop. Here is a good deal with free shipping.
http://www.valleyvet.com/ct_detail.html?pgguid=23114f45-f59a-41e9-baf7-f617dc1dfefb
2 of these 4 oz. bottles should be all you need to add it to the water of 54 chicks for 2 weeks. Give each chick one drop in their mouth upon arrival at your place.

 

[midwest]

I agree with the last few posters. DO NOT expose this chick to any of your others. We bought some chicks from a hatchery earlier this year (pick up, not shipped) They did fine for about a week and a half or so and then we lost 17 out of 20 of them. They were mostly large fowl but a few were bantams unfortunately as the LF out grew the bantams we moved them to a brooder with newly hatched chicks and ended up losing most of the new chicks also.
We have a daughter and went through the same thing with her not wanting to even go in the room because she knew more would just be dead. Horrible thing for kids to deal with. As bad as it is it will be a lot worse if it works its way through the rest of your chicks. Good luck

 

[featheredmom]

Well, the lone chick died as well :-(

Sad as it is, it was probably for the best considering what was potentially going on. As horrified as I was/am, all of this spreading to the kids other chicks would've been much worse.

Now Meyer says they won't have replacement chicks until the end of February-just ridiculous. They are supposed to call back Monday morning to let me know if they have any over-hatch they can send.

We are just very saddened by this experience and are hoping for better results with the next batch.

Thank you Karen for the advice, I will head to TSC this weekend so I can be prepared when the new babies arrive. We gave this batch gro-gel and save-a-chick, but nothing seemed to help. I have never seen anything like it.

 

[SummerCK]

I had this happen to two of my chicks. I had 6 chicks total, 4 of the same breed. Two died from my dogs which are now behaving a bit better. The other two though started stumbling about and laying down a lot. When they did lay down they couldn't stand up without help. They wouldn't eat or drink. To this day I have no idea what was wrong with them but my other 2 chicks didn't get infected. Were yours all of the same breed? If so it could definitely be something wrong from where you got them. The two that lived we got from a different feed store than the 4 of the same breed.