Help! I have lost ALL 50 of my White broilers from Meyer Hatchery...

[GeeJay]

I ordered 50 chicks.
They came during a cool snap(may 10), but I have a brooder heater and supplemented with a heat lamp.
All were fine upon arrival, drinking right away, eating..perky...looked fine.

Lost 2 within 5 days, not unusual, but still a loss.

At 7 days(may16) I lost 24 overnight. No predators, have 2 feeders and 2 waterers, heat at 95 all night. They get sunshine on them during the day, so I vent the brooder (it is built into the ground with cement blocks as a foundation, and "A" frame structure of wood on top with windows on the door on the south facing side). Temps were typical Michigan spring 50's at night. Brooder closed/locked. 24 dead-all necks pecked, some heads off completely...very disturbing.

Each night there are more dead-necks pecked or heads off. As of today I have none left.

Don't know what went wrong? Called the Hatchery...no help "overcrowding" was their suggestion. The brooder is 6ft by 6ft inside, and height of 5 1/2 ft. That is plenty big enough for 50 chicks. I have done batches of 37 (35+the extra 2 survived) with NO LOSS, different hatchery, same time of year. They would have gone out in the tractor at 3-4 weeks when feathered out, and allowed to free range all day.

Ideas? Anyone else ever experience this?

I am beside myself...I raise these for friends and family who do not have the room to do it for themselves, so now I am far behind my orders for this year.

 

[Mingming]

I'm so sorry for your loss. That would be very disturbing Is there a way a predator reached through the brooder and dismembered? do you have larger hardware cloth on the outside part, maybe?

 

[NikonD2xer]

Sounds like you have had a visit from a weasel or possibly a mink.

look at the necks for bite marks...... I don't think it was pecking.

you could call the department of natural resources there and talk to them.

might have an idea of what it is that attacked and how to trap it

Do you have any holes in the brooder ? If you can fit your finger through a hole...it is not secure.

 

[CarolJ]

I know you wrote "no predators" but the "heads off" part sounds like predators to me. Is it possible for mice, rats or other predators to dig under the brooder since it's outside? Even broilers would still be fairly small at only a week old. So it wouldn't take a large predator to get them. I'm really sorry you had such an awful experience.

 

[Blue]

Rats will also take the heads, and a member of a facebook group I'm in lost a whole batch of chicks in a grow-out pen to rats a few days ago.

 

[GeeJay]

I have plywood sides, and the cement is three blocks high, one and a half completely buried, wood secure on top of that. There is one hole, about two feet high, just big enough for an extension cord.

Weasel, rat or mink could be possible, but how would I not see any disturbance in the bedding? It is about 6-8 inches deep and I haven't seen any evidence of something else in there. I will empty it entirely and look at the soil under neath.

Thank you all for your replies...we are planning a new brooder project for this weekend...this one closer to the house. The other was near the barns with my bobwhite quail house nearby. I have lost a few quail the same way over the winter, but those look like something tried to pull them through the flight pen...likely the same culprit. hadn't put the two together until now.

back to square one for this year

 

[Blue]

It is possible that something is digging up from underneath, but if it's not disturbing the bedding, you may not find anything until you start moving the bedding out. I know it's very frustrating when you go to all that trouble to make a space that seems secure and then something finds a way in anyway. The thing about weasels and rats is that they can fit into very, very small spaces, which is annoying.

 

[BCMaraniac]

It is possible that something is digging up from underneath, but if it's not disturbing the bedding, you may not find anything until you start moving the bedding out. I know it's very frustrating when you go to all that trouble to make a space that seems secure and then something finds a way in anyway. The thing about weasels and rats is that they can fit into very, very small spaces, which is annoying.

X2 Minks could also be the culprit. I think they are bad to decapitate.....From what you have described, I don't see how it could be anything but a predator. One person posted here that a predator....can't remember what....actually dug under a foot of underground hardwire cloth, up into the run and pulled her chickens underground. Her chickens just kept disappearing from inside the run without a trace.