Losing Baby chicks and 6 week old chicks

[KarnDmad]

hiya, i started raising chickens last spring and have had some success but....i hatch my eggs...all good... go to brood box for 3 weeks ...........all good....stay in brood box for 3 more weeks during this time i start to lose chicks 2 one day 1 another......they seem to jack up their water all time....in the 3 week to 6 week age they start dieing off. it seems to me that maybe they are all huddled together at night and the middle ones get trampled ?? or their water and feed needs to be twice a day ?

part 2 - at about 6 weeks they go outside in a medium sized ( way bigger than they need ) barn coop. it has 2 heat lamps and full of shavings... they do fine for 2 weeks then i start to see what were healthy chickens just dead the next day ......someone said they need grit and i have started to provide that at the 6 week stage. this seems to have helped. i would love suggestions and ideas.

now i water and feed daily , clean cages 1 time per week. no medicated food ,

last pic was taken of a chicken i liked and it died the next day .....im losing 25% of my flock in this time period between 4 week and 8 weeks.

 

[2ndTink]

What feed are they on?
What temperature is your brooder for each week of age?
Any signs of coccidiosis once you move them outside?
Any sneezing / respiratory things you've noticed, no matter how small?

If they are huddled tightly at night they may be too cold. Otherwise I'd look at nutrition and then cocci in the barn coop.

 

[KarnDmad]

thanks for the advice. Water and feed x2 a day fixed my problem. I also doubled up on heat lamps and insulated the brooder just to make sure. going on 10 days with no more losses