LOST 4 BABY CHICKS

[mountain chicken]

last night we lost 4 baby chicks , they were crushed by the other chicks as they huddle close . they were about a week old . the box I'm using is a Walmart box its about 3ft by 2 1/2 a huge box now we are down to 8 chicks . they all were doing well than this wife didn;t take it well . poor chicks were flatend

 

[TattooedChicks]

Sounds like they are cold if they are crowding together that hard. And sometimes babies die and get trampled after.

What breed of chicks are they? What is their heat source? Have they been healthy otherwise? And that box probably won’t last long as fast as chicks grow.

 

[Lewis.jessie6]

I'm sorry to hear that! We lost one of ours the same way, but they were about 3 weeks old when it happened. I would suggest making them a new, bigger box before they outgrow that one. It helped my a lot. I had 7 of them in a plastic tub about the size of your box. The one I made was 4x5. Hope your others do good! Keep us updated!

 

[mountain chicken]

rhode island red , barred rock , orpan buff . white wyotts
my spellings horrible

 

[lazy gardener]

What was the heat source, and what was the temp at the warm and at the cool end of the box? Where are you brooding them? If you want help in preventing such an issue, answers to these questions will help us to trouble shoot the root of the problem.

By the time chicks are 2 - 3 weeks old, they need 2 s.f./chick in the brooder as an absolute minimum. There should only be a small foot print of warm space in the brooder, while the rest of the brooder should be at least 10 if not 20* cooler than the warm spot. Generally a plastic tote brooder does not allow the temperature gradient that is required for chick health.

 

[Hyroler]

What was the heat source, and what was the temp at the warm and at the cool end of the box? Where are you brooding them? If you want help in preventing such an issue, answers to these questions will help us to trouble shoot the root of the problem.

By the time chicks are 2 - 3 weeks old, they need 2 s.f./chick in the brooder as an absolute minimum. There should only be a small foot print of warm space in the brooder, while the rest of the brooder should be at least 10 if not 20* cooler than the warm spot. Generally a plastic tote brooder does not allow the temperature gradient that is required for chick health.

By time they are 3 weeks old the should be out of broader and in coop

 

[mountain chicken]

90*on the warm side 75* on the other side Im using a large box from walmart that they shipped my trash cans in its about 3ft by about 2 1/2 ft and I plan on up-sizing the brooder soon to a 4X8X2 plywood box with in the week never seen a baby grow so fast

 

[AllenK RGV]

I don't think I would be moving 3 week old chicks out side into a coup in the mountains of Colorado this time of year @Hyroler , at least not without a good heatsource. My current 2 weekers I am considering that when lows aren't dropping under 70. They are 2 weeks now and I have no power in my coop for them.

 

[mountain chicken]

there on the back of my jeep in the garage and its heated

 

[mountain chicken]

no it will be still snowing till around mid may, that would be the soonest to go outside . that's why I'm building a 4x8 they'll have about 4 more weeks before were done with snow and they can go out