dying cornish chicks

[jaj121159]

How's your water supply, I kept mine on water 24/7. They drink like a fish. Got to keep the water tank full and unfrozen.

 

[GottaLuvChicks]

water is good. they have several water containers, and they are filled a few times a day. its not too cold that the water is freezing yet...

 

[GottaLuvChicks]

Went out this morning to find 2 more dead (1 being the one with the prolapse)...this is really odd now. The one WITHOUT the prolapse I found in a corner on it's side, completely stripped of feathers on the one side. That could have been from the other chickens though. Any ideas at all?? This is really making me NOT want to get these guys again...

 

[GottaLuvChicks]

Alright, something is going on...just found ANOTHER one dead. I was just out there 2 hours ago and everyone was fine. I found this one in the coop laying on it's side, still warm but definetly dead. This is so frustrating...

 

[bills]

Any signs of rats, or mink? You would almost think a predator was involved?

Could there have been a bad batch of feed? I am curious if your all using the same feed product? That, or they have some sort of disease?

Sorry for your losses!

I have been thinking of trying some meat birds, but I need to gain some education on the issues that can go along with raising them. Seems there are several!

 

[GottaLuvChicks]

Quote:
No signs of any predators, rats or a mink. Their coop is pretty predator proof, plus none of the dead ones have any signs of injuries.
As far as feed, the feed that is given to them is also given to the BR hens and the Maran roo, and there are no issues with them at all. Again, with disease, I would think it would be spreading more quickly and affecting the others??

I have been doing a lot of reading, and it seems this particular breed has some serious issues with heart failures, where one second they are fine and the next they are on the ground dead. I am seriously considering doing Freedom Rangers in the spring. They are slower growing and tend to be more hardy, and only take a few weeks more to grow out as big as the CRx. Still thinking on it though...

 

[GottaLuvChicks]

Found 3 more dead, and one literally dropped dead in front of me. It was running around one second, then BAM on the ground it went, dead as a door nail. So that makes 4 since yesterday. I started with 27, lost 4 to hawks, and have lost 10 in the past week to this strange syndrome....no more CXs for me. I have put in too much time and effort and money into these guys to end up with them dropping dead like this. Even got a new freezer....<sigh> how frustrating.

 

[twister]

I am sorry for your hard luck with CXs. Sounds like something is terribly wrong to lose so many. From my readings a 20% loss is to be expected...but not more than that. From the things that you have posted , it really seems that you got an unhealthy batch. I would not throw in the towel on the breed, tho. chalk this up to a unfortuanate experience, but don't give up. Many folks on here have had such great successes. Here's to a better batch next time.

btw...did ya happen to give med. feed the first 2 weeks? supplements in feed or water for the duration of grow out?
just something to consider on your next group.

 

[peach]

I have tried this breed a few times, lost some to piling. I loose mine to altitude. The best sucess so far has been the cornish cross SLOW breed. They take a couple more weeks to finish but you can't beat the cornish breed for meat production. I have a batch every other year or so and only loose 1 or 2 now. YUM!

 

[Lorije1]

At 6 weeks they should not be getting 25% feed 24/7. Mine (5wks, but they've been on this for a little over a week) are getting 20% 12hrs on 12off and I have had no deaths (other than the first 2 weeks - drowning, piling and 2 mystery deaths). My guess would be heart attacks, especially describing the running around and dropping dead. Protein builds muscle, the heart is a muscle ... so high protein is going to effect their already struggling hearts. Try dropping to something like a 15% finisher and lots of grass, greens, veggies etc