HELP 3 day old chicks randomly dieing!

[aoxa]

Yes,the Brinsea brooder is excellent.

Regarding shavings,i usually recommend to new chicken keepers to use paper towels for 1-2 weeks b/c i have seen chicks eat shavings(or not eat at all if they do not recognize feed) and while i would know what to do in this event,a new chick owner may not and this could possibly cause the death of a chick.

With my hundreds upon hundreds of chicks I have raised, I've never had the issue of them eating shavings. I have with sand, and saw dust.. but the shavings are simply too large.

I have found that if I add shavings in after a week, they seem to think it is food at that time rather than starting them on shavings straight away. They don't eat them, but they play keep away with the large pieces and chase one another around. If they really wanted to, they could try to eat it.

I think sand is a very dangerous bedding to use for chicks personally. Nothing wrong with paper towel, it is just not environmentally friendly, and it can get very expensive. I can use a roll up in a couple days. I find they get really bad poopy feet with paper towel - and that can be terrible with feather legged chicks.

It is easier to get them to start eating on paper towel, but I wouldn't bother continuing to use it after 4 days old, as they are simply poop machines, and should know what is food at this age.

 

[ten chicks]

I have seen and read where chicks have eaten shavings and have had crop issues/choking as shavings are not consistent in size and are small enough for chicks to eat.

Each to their own,but this is what i recommend to new chick owners as they have no experience in dealing with these type of issues.

 

[ARiesb]

Mine aren't eating the shavings. I have been keeping a close eye on them. They are all eating the food.

 

[jzervas92]

Wow thanks for all the responses! The chicks we're great yesterday, and are doing great today. I'm going to keep them on the electrolytes for a few more days just to be safe. I agree with Eggcessive I think it's just to cold to be shipping chicks. Last year I got chicks from the feed store in march, and it was just as cold as February. I have never had chicks shipped to my house before so I didn't know what to expect! I think McMurray is great, but if they're going to ship them in February they need a better system. They also need to add some type of cardboard divider in the box to keep them from all piling on one side.

 

[purplesquirrel]

Good to hear everyone's doing well
Buy an incubator instead, it's so rewarding and exciting to see them hatch, then you can look after them perfectly and they don't need to be cold, hungry, frightened of thrown about all over the place.
Plus, they will recognise you from the start, your overall relationship will be better with them and it's just brilliant!

Hope everyone stays healthy x

 

[jzervas92]

Next time I'm definitely going to hatch my own!

 

[truelala]

I've heard that cedar shavings can cause redperitory probs pretty quick. Do u have cedar shavings. It gives out to strong of fumes..? Just a thought...

 

[jzervas92]

Thanks for the response, this was a couple of months ago so they're all grown up now and doing great. I've always used pine shavings they sell in the feed store, but I think the chicks got chilled during shipping. I found out later on that they got to the main post office probably Saturday afternoon, and I didn't receive a phone till Monday morning.

 

[cjpines]

I have already cleaned the butts that were pasted up, and all the ones that died had clean butts. Visually the temperature is perfect they're not huddling and they have plenty of room to run away from the heat. But I'm going to see if I can find a thermomter right now.

You said you are going to find a thermometer? Are you keeping the right temperature for new chicks with a heat lamp above them? It's imperative the temp stays within the level for newbies, if not they will die.