whenever something happens at mine that I can't explain like somethings been knocked over or some food has gone missing I look at my dog in a questioning way since he is the only other occupant in the house. I was going to ask if this was secure or freely accessible. How old are the kids? Could they have dropped something into the water bowl? Chances are even if they did they might not remember or realize what they did or even want to own up to having done anything. Maybe it was a disease and nothing to do with anything else but the facts are suspicious to me. Everything has been the same, seemingly, to successful chicks in the past. They all died at the same time. The kids were in the room when it happened. You were not in the room. If you know it wasn't the kids that is great, I don't want to imply that it was, or cause any problems suggesting it could have been, every kid is different. They could have fed the chicks their sweets for all we know. I do hope you find out what the likely cause was.
Hope you find the cause soon
