High altitude meat birds dying

[highrockieschic]

So, I'm kind of upset right now.

Here's my situation: I've never raised meat birds. I live at 10,000 feet. My friend said she raises red broilers every year and she said they are great. She lives at 10,600 feet. I just got 65 chicks yesterday and 4 have died, one is not looking so good. Most of them have had pasty-butt. I asked my friend how many she typically loses. She told me "sometimes a third." This year she got 65 and "only lost 6." She didn't tell me this when I asked her about getting meat birds. If I had known about the high death rate I would have ordered different birds. Now I'm stuck with the consequences....potential for lots of dead chicks. I wish there was more info about altitude and meat birds. I had no idea. I've had laying hens for years with no problems.

What can I do now?

 

[iwltfum]

Pasty butt is a heat problem in my experience. I usually brood my red broilers about 5f lower than the normal recommendations and mine are completely off heat lamp by the end of week three as long as ambient temps above 40f. I'm at sea level though. Use to live in the co Rockies at 9k feet but never raised birds there. That's God's country for sure. I've heard that CX dont do well at elevation but I thought reds were ok. You may need to go with a heritage breed if elevation is truly the problem.

 

[poultryprofessor]

Altitude may be a factor in your losses, but i would also evaluate your set up and management. Can you provide pictures of your set up? Information on your management? What are you feeding? What is the temperature and humidity in your brooder? How are your chicks behaving?

Also, where did your chivks come from? How far did they travel? Death loss in the first few days could be due to altitude, but it could also be due to shipping issues.


I don't have personal experience with living at high elevation, but this is something that has been explored by poultry scientists.

I'd recommend reading this:
https://www.hubbardbreeders.com/med...altitudes_of_the_andes_mountains_25102018.pdf

 

[highrockieschic]

I've lost 5 so far. I knew the one was going to die last night. It was lethargic and sounded like it had an upper respiratory illness.

My temps are 93-95 below the heat lamps. At the other ends the temp is 80. I don't know the humidity. They are in my house and I have a jungle of plants, so it's probably 40-50% humidity

They came from Ideal Hatchery in Texas and only took 24 hours to get to me. They were all alive and crazy when I got them. Now they are super sleepy and most of them are lethargic.

So far what I've done is add Durastat to their water, added brewers yeast (for B vitamins and selenium) and vitamin E to their feed. They are on an organic starter feed that's made in Colorado.

Here is my current temporary setup. I have a 4 x 8 space in my garage for them when they look a little heathier. Then they will be transfered to a giant hoop house and have access to my back yard.

The bin on the left has my smallest chicks in it. My friend let me borrow his oxygen condenser and I made an oxygen tent. I just set it up about 30 minutes ago. Those chicks are doing awesome! They are active and jumping around, pecking at the plastic. It's definitely a lack of oxygen thing. Hopefully, the vitamins help them enough not to need the oxygen. The condenser doesn't pump out enough oxygen to do that in all 3 bins, so I think I'll rotate them or something. IDK. Here's a pic. I have a thermometer in the hot end. It's constant at 93 and the cool end is open. I'm keeping a close eye on them.

Definitely not doing these birds again. I just read that Murray McMurray has a couple broiler breeds that do well at high elevations. I'll try those next time.

 

[highrockieschic]

Had to turn the heat lamp off in the oxygen tent. Lol. Don't want to cook them!

 

[highrockieschic]

My chicks ALL perked up! Yay! They are acting like normal chicks now. I swear this morning I thought half of them were goners! They were so lethargic. Hope this info helps others who live at extreme elevations. It's hard to grow anything here, plants or animals.

I'll post more if anything changes! Hopefully, the rest survive til harvest!

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Its definately an oxygen issue, and it didn't help that it only took 24 hours to get there. They didn't have much time to adjust to the lower levels if oxygen

 

[highrockieschic]

Lost one more yesterday. Looked like it had a stroke. Had no control of its head, one eye closed, couldn't walk, but still was kicking legs, flapping and trying to get away from me. It died about 30 minutes after I found it. Man, I hope I stop losing chicks.

I still have the oxygen tent set up in one bin with all the small chicks and ones that look like they are breathing heavy.

Others look ok...

 

[iwltfum]

Happens to the best of us. Do any of them still have pasty butt? Your coolest temp in your brooder should be at least 20 degrees cooler than your hot spot, in my experience. 80 as the "cool" area is still pretty warm for meaties.

 

[Folly's place]

It sounds like you are doing everything possible, so sorry for your losses.
Cornishx birds are fragile, very sad little guys. I too have zero experience with high altitude meat bird raising, but much prefer the slower growing meat types rather then these.
Have you fixed the pasty butt issues, and adjusted for cooler temps at the cool end of each brooder?
The birds from the Freedom Ranger hatchery are great, although it's in Pennsylvania, so shipping might be a problem.
How about some birds from the local feed store? At least they will already be somewhat acclimated when you get them.
All the best, hope your chicks do okay from here.
Do restrict their meal time after they are about three weeks old, so more can survive to butchering isze.
Mary