HELP!!!! 12 chicks dropped dead within minutes????

[Ninabelle5087]

I'll read up on the pine thing, but we have used pine shavings in our brooder and coop for years, no issues. It's also really the only bedding available around here at any of the farm stores besides cedar, which I know isn't safe. I sure hope that's not it, if it was I don't know why it would suddenly be an issue.

 

[MTR]

Had to be some kind of a toxin in my opinion. Anything else would kill slowly starting with the week.
Sorry for you guys.

 

[Ninabelle5087]

I hope this uploads, I took the heater plate out when I was checking for survivors but it was on the opposite end from the food. Twelve chicks, just dead

 

[Ninabelle5087]

Trying to get pic to upload y'all.

 

[Ninabelle5087]

The heater plate was on the opposite end from the food. It's a producers pride brand dual purpose brooder/coop heater. It was on brooder setting.

 

[Ninabelle5087]

Had to be some kind of a toxin in my opinion. Anything else would kill slowly starting with the week.
Sorry for you guys.

I know, the only time I have ever had a chick die so suddenly with no warning was heat stroke when we still used a heat lamp. It had slipped a little and had overheated two of our chicks and they dropped dead like this, so of course the brooder temp and heater was the first thing I looked at. A toxin is literally the only other thing I can think of. But I have no clue where it would have come from. Gonna burn the rest of that bag of shavings just to be safe, but good grief, I'm so freaked out

 

[topochico225]

Maybe check out this thread? I'm so sorry you and your family have to go through this.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/three-chicks-dead-within-few-hours.1462984/

 

[Doo]

So Sorry Hope you find the cause soon

 

[Mellowmalt]

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.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

How many chicks do you normally raise in that brooder?