Frustrated Chick owner..

[CrazyChickens09]

Is it possible to have a sickness free flock..the reason I ask this is because I bought 16 bantam chicks from the local feed store and 11 of the 16 have died and the five remaining seem healthy but I am leary that they are because of the mass of mortality in the flock. The symptoms they (the ones that have died) were sneezing and when they breathed something made a pop every breath(thinking air sac/ chronic resp. or are they the same)..I am just beyond getting chicks just to watch them die and should I be buying them from a hatchery instead of the local feed store and what guarantee do I have that I wont get the same thing from the hatcheries

 

[mdbokc]

We bought from the local lumber/ranch/feed store. All survived and have thrived. So yes, it is completely possible as we expected some loss and have had none.

 

[canada-goose]

Quote:
Of course!

I am just beyond getting chicks just to watch them die and should I be buying them from a hatchery instead of the local feed store?

Yes, hatcheries are a better place to buy chicks.

What guarantee do I have that I wont get the same thing from the hatcheries?

You don't have any guarantee. However, hatcheries have to maintain a good reputation to keep their customers, feed stores don't. I'm sorry you're having chick problems.

 

[bawkbawkbawk]

I only have four, but yes, got them at the feed store and other than a bout with pasty butt they are incredibly healthy.

Did yours seem healthy and alert when you first brought them home?

 

[Akane]

Either you just got a bad batch or you have a bad feedstore. It shouldn't matter if you order from the hatchery or the feedstore because feedstores get them from the hatcheries. Usually you have even better luck if you get from the feedstore because they've already dealt with the weak or sick ones that are lost from shipping and you can pick out ones that look healthy. If it's a bad feedstore that can't keep them healthy though then of course you will have problems. Occasionally people have the same thing or worse (entire shipments lost) happen when ordering from a hatchery.

 

[crazyhen]

The only thing with feed stores is all the people that come in that have chickens of their own bringing in germs for the baby chicks. The longer they are exposed to other people the more likely they will have caught something. Also they are stressed more at the stores than in a good brooder. Stress really can bring down their resistance.
If you order through a feed store. They will hold them seperate for you if asked. I try to be there as the chicks are just coming in. Then I get them without the exposure to other people.. My feed store orders from MT Healthy hatchery. All mine have been very healthy. Gloria Jean

 

[rancher hicks]

Personally I would cull the remaining chicks and start again. Treating them would just mean having to treat any new birds. Yes alot of people handle chicks at the feed store and who knows how the help treats and keeps the birds.
Having a diseased free coop is possible I believe but when you have birds from multiple owners the odds go down considerably.
I would order from a hatchery direct, never buy at auctions (unless your willing to take the risk), or buy from reputable breeders you trust.
Follow the book recommendations for keeping chicks to the letter. Read everything you can and learn as much as you can. The public library is a great place to get books and save money. I recheck out books and learn alot everytime. Everything is simple when you know what you doing. FIRST.
And you know what? You still might have problems but at least you've done everything you can.
Definitely stay with this site and take advice. Subscribe to poultry magazines, I've learned alot and swear by them. I even buy the UK mag even though it's expensive.
Even my DW who is not an animal lover boast alittle bit about chickens even though she doesn't realize it. She's been my biggest seller of eggs and she won't even eat an egg. Iv'e told her to much gross stuff, lol.
Don't you just love chickens?

 

[elmo]

Feedstores get their chicks from hatcheries, too. One of the things I'm wondering about is whether this new fad of chicken keeping will result in hatcheries stepping up production more, with a resulting decrease in the quality/health of the chicks they produce. Quantity and quality are rarely in matched step with each other.

Rather than go the hatchery route, maybe you could check around in your area and find a local hobby breeder to get chicks from. That way, you could see the conditions the parent birds are kept in (and avoid stock from someone who uses poor animal husbandry). A breeder is often quite concerned with genetics and improving the breed; hatcheries? nope. They're concerned with pumping out product.

Also, you'll be getting chicks that haven't been stressed by shipping.

I was going to order chicks from My Pet Chicken, but happened to discover that the breeder we got our doves from was breeding Serama hybrids this year. I got five beautiful, healthy chicks from him simply by driving five minutes from my own house to pick them up. They are wonderful, healthy birds (no pasty butts!) and they're laying like the dickens now.

 

[rancher hicks]

While I understand that feedstores get their chicks from hatcheries, they are not however "day olds" and could have been in the store for awhile. Touched and handled by who knows who. Caught in drafts, not have clean water etc. etc. These are all possibilities.
I do believe that hatcheries would be more careful. I recieved mine from Ideal and of 25 none was doa and all lived. 3 I lost to a coon and one I culled due to an unknown illness but that was months later. While she lived she wasn't laying and I grew impatient.

 

[Bizzybirdy]

What are you using for bedding???