Help.....??????????????

[hitnspit]

ok i lost 27 chicks last night and 15 the night before. They are 5 weeks old and for some reason they all like to cram in the corner. They have plenty of room to move and roam. Any help or advice. The heat lamp is up high enough to have 84 to 87 right now. So its not to hot for them to run from it. jim

 

[Hummingbird Hollow]

I would guess that if they are cramming into the corner where the heat lamp is, they are too cold. If they are cramming into the corner away from where the heat lamp is, they are too hot. Regardless of what your thermometer says, I'd look at the chicks behavior and adjust the temperature accordingly.

 

[iluvsedward]

Quote:
I agree, your thermometer could be broken/wrong

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Quote:
X2
I never use a thermometer. I use lots of space with a hot spot and lots of cool. Never lost any that way. On the one occasion I brooded in a smallish area, they died.

Losing lots of birds that age could also be coccidia. Is their stool bloody?

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

I have seen chicks cram in a corner even with the heat lamp in the middle of the shed...they were afraid of the older chicks in there with them. Anything they are scared of in there?

When they are cold they will pile. But it will be the corner if they are too afraid to get to their light.

I recommend blocking off the corner. Use a large piece of cardboard or put a closed cardboard box in there if you have room. Make sure of course that it isn't too close to the heat lamp. If it is, then either use something else or????

 

[hitnspit]

I also have a spot for the heat lamp and then plenty of room to move away or get closer to it. But for some reason they just like to cram and dropping like flies....ugh

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Quote:
In that case, it's not likely heat. I'd look at disease options. How's the ventilation?

 

[NanaLantana]

Could you separate them, into smaller groups? Even put some wire in the brooder to make sections? I don't know what else to say - I hate it when they just die like that -

 

[hitnspit]

I think splitting them up in smaller groups will be best. That is my next project.......

 

[ontimeborzoi]

I have had chicks cram into a corner twice. Once when I turned the ceiling fan on over their brooder and it freaked them out ( oops), and again when I turned their light OFF for a few minutes. Mine are one week old.
I turned the fan off, the light back on, cramming stopped immediately.
I bet something is scaring them.