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

[Ninabelle5087]

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.

They are 7, 8, and almost 11. They are all animal lovers and have been around various animals their entire lives. They know not to handle them without supervision, and even if one of them did something, the others would be quick to tattle. The brooder is in the corner of the living room, next to the kids bookcase, and Finn had gone to put his book up and when he looked over at the brooder thought it was weird all the chicks were laying down. Then he realized they weren't sleeping. I checked their water, but it was still clean, I had just changed it a little while before. Didn't see anything weird in the brooder, except the dead chicks.

 

[Vickischics]

I have always use Pine Flakes not the shavings in my brooder and coops. The shavings are too small for the little chicks because they will eat it.
Currently, I have 13 chicks on the Pine Flakes in with the broody.
I've been purchasing it from tractor supply and I've never had a problem.
I see from your picture you used a dark blue deep plastic tub with your heat source.
Is it possible it just simply got too hot inside the plastic bin?
For safety purposes, I'd also use separate thermometers to assess the temperature variances inside the bin to make sure they have a cool place. I don't use a deep bin, I use a plastic kiddie pool. This way they have plenty of room to get away from the heat source.
I'm sorry you and your children had to experience this type of sudden loss.

 

[Ninabelle5087]

How many chicks do you normally raise in that brooder?

I've raised as few as six, and as many as twelve at a time. At around six weeks they go out to a sectioned off area of the coop to adjust to the flock. We live in Alabama, and we have a short mild winter, so I try to time it right where they will be moving to the coop in spring or summer. The three leghorns looked a little older when I bought them, and they were three of the ones from tractor supply, and they were the ones with dirty feet. They were on clearance for $1 each, that is why I got them. I keep wondering if maybe there was some issue with them, but that wouldn't explain why all of the others died at the same time.

 

[Mellowmalt]

ok well I also doubt the bedding will have killed all of them like this but you say it is all you can get.. I use newspaper for chicks since I don't want them eating anything else apart from their food. It can't hurt not to use wood shavings. I hope the kids are not too traumatised by it all.

 

[Ninabelle5087]

I have always use Pine Flakes not the shavings in my brooder and coops. The shavings are too small for the little chicks because they will eat it.
Currently, I have 13 chicks on the Pine Flakes in with the broody.
I've been purchasing it from tractor supply and I've never had a problem.
I see from your picture you used a dark blue deep plastic tub with your heat source.
Is it possible it just simply got too hot inside the plastic bin?
For safety purposes, I'd also use separate thermometers to assess the temperature variances inside the bin to make sure they have a cool place. I don't use a deep bin, I use a plastic kiddie pool. This way they have plenty of room to get away from the heat source.
I'm sorry you and your children had to experience this type of sudden loss.

The heater I use heats just the area right under it, not the whole brooder, and I've used the same setup for a long time. And it is the flakes, I know the shavings are the sawdust type things, and we don't use those. I just call them all shavings lol. Hang on I'll link the info for the heater. We got it because it's supposed to be the safest way to heat them, if it did this I'm horrified

 

[Ninabelle5087]

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/p...jvtMErj3x3SRf6K_i3x8_M9KIOvju4kRoC5iIQAvD_BwE

This is the link to the brooder heater we use.

 

[Kiki]

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.

Put your heater thing back in the exact way it was and take another picture please.

 

[Vickischics]

The heater I use heats just the area right under it, not the whole brooder, and I've used the same setup for a long time. And it is the flakes, I know the shavings are the sawdust type things, and we don't use those. I just call them all shavings lol. Hang on I'll link the info for the heater. We got it because it's supposed to be the safest way to heat them, if it did this I'm horrified

I dont blame you. Still with the heat radiating from the heater, the dark blue bin could have retained too much heat.
The one way to tell is, set up everything and put a thermometer inside to see if the overall temp overheated and if you truly had a cool spot. I'm thinking, their wasn't a cool enough spot for them to escape.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I've raised as few as six, and as many as twelve at a time. At around six weeks they go out to a sectioned off area of the coop to adjust to the flock. We live in Alabama, and we have a short mild winter, so I try to time it right where they will be moving to the coop in spring or summer. The three leghorns looked a little older when I bought them, and they were three of the ones from tractor supply, and they were the ones with dirty feet. They were on clearance for $1 each, that is why I got them. I keep wondering if maybe there was some issue with them, but that wouldn't explain why all of the others died at the same time.

I really think they overheated.

I've used shavings for years with no issues, but limited space and heat will kill chicks quickly.

 

[Doo]

Could have been the heater.