I am so upset!

[countrychicken]

I got my order from Ideal on 3/13, they shipped on 3/10. I ordered 53 chicks and 3 were dead on arrival. Since then I have lost 13! I thought at first it was due to the long shipping and some of the SS Hamburgs were little and seemed weak, which I lost all of them.
I don't know what to do! I have contacted Ideal and they will replace my losses, but I don't even want to look in the brooder anymore!

They are in a temp controlled brooder with fresh food and water, they have had sugar water and everything. They just suddenly get weak and then die. I have 4 other chicks and keets that are about 5-6 weeks old now and they are thriving (in another area of course)

Is it just a waiting game?

 

[MissPrissy]

I am sorry you are losing chicks.

Instead of sugar water they need something like quik chik or apple cidar vinegar. Sugar water does nothing but give a boost of energy and help to start pasty butt problems. Stop the sugar water.

The loss of chicks is one of the problems with ordering this early in the season. Somewhere along the way they could have gotten chilled. Once they get cold it is very hard for them to recover. It does take a few days for the results to begin to show and you end up with fatalities.

It also must be noted that while we all want all chicks to live and grow to be happy adults in our care it is very normal for chicks to die in the first days for no reason other than they died. There really isn't a way to test what chicks will make it. The stats are very high for casualties and even a percentage of those chicks that do make it past the chick stage may not make it past one year. No, it is not a pretty thought but it is part of the husbandry of raising chicks and subsequently maturing chickens.

 

[countrychicken]

I will try the ACV water as soon as I get home from work.

I was doing the sugar water on the reccomendations from Ideal. I wish I would have known that! There were a few with pasty butt but I gently took care of that as soon as I saw it.

I do feel that the weather had a lot of impact on the chicks. I ordered from Ideal b/c I am in the oklahoma panhandle and I thought it would be quicker shipping time. Next time I will wait until later in the year!