Lost a few chicks. What's wrong?

[aggieterpkatie]

I got 27 cornish X chicks last Thursday. I lost one Friday night, and one Saturday. I started them on antibiotics and gave them that for about 4 days. They all seemed healthy. Yesterday, one of them was kinda rocked back on his hocks and not standing properly. His wings were also splayed out at his sides. This morning, it looked like that chick was the same, but there was another chick just lying dead out of the blue.

What the heck is going on? They're on non-medicated starter, fresh water. They have a light on at night, but none during the day because it gets so hot. They seem healthy and active and then one will drop dead. I'd really like to prevent losing any more. They were not vaccinated for Merricks. Could that be the issue?

 

[jaku]

Most likely, there isn't a specific issue. I usually plan to lose about 10% of my birds, but never to an outbreak of a specific disease- with the Cornish X's, some will just die. I've never vaccinated a single bird, or given them a drop of medicine or medicated feed. Occasionally you get batches where more than usual amounts die. As long as they have food, water, and heat, I would guess that those that died in the first week would have died no matter what you did.

 

[aggieterpkatie]

Thanks jaku. I've lost very young chicks, and older birds to respiratory issues, but never these seemingly healthy ones. Hopefully it's just a few week birds and the rest will be fine.

I don't understand how I didn't lose any of the 20 layers/bantams I raised this spring, but the broilers are the sensitive ones.

 

[jaku]

Quote:
Yup, Cornish X's are a whole different game. I have the same six layers that I've had since I got into chickens a couple of years ago. I do almost nothing for them except fill their water and food jugs and get eggs, and haven't had a single problem, but I put a ton of work into my meaties and always lose a few.