Mass 5 day old chick death

[Karen62]

A few hours ago 10 mixed breed chicks were running around, eating, drinking, being cute, then, like chicks do, they all lay down to nap, we thought. A few hours later I thought they had bern asleep too long and on a hunch picked up one. She was dead. All but one of them were dead. Only one had a poopy butt, the rest had shown no sign of ill health, although I had noticed one sort of twitching before she died. I thought she was dreaming. We have had 2 hens die under unsuspicious circumstances, i.e., no sign of a predator on them, and have one rooster who looks ill, but the two flocks had no direct contact besides a feeder and a waterer, both of which hadn't been used since last year and had also been washed. We were feeding Nutrena medicated crumbles. They were not huddled together under the light, which was normal behavior. Its as though something suddenly poisoned them and they all dropped where they were. What happened? We are devastated. We want to get new chicks but don't want the same thing to happen.

 

[Fishkeeper]

So sorry for your loss. At least they didn't suffer any, right?

What's the temperature?
Heat source? What kind of bulb, if it's a light?
How much space do they have?
Anything in their water?
What symptoms are the adults showing? It's possible you brought something inside on yourself from the adults.
What bedding are you using?
Is there anything in the brooder other than bedding, food, water, and heat?
Do you have anything like a gas heater? Any source of natural gas? Carbon monoxide? It almost sounds like poisoning.
Are they near your kitchen?

 

[New2Chicks97]

Sorry to hear about your chicks. That is a hard thing to go through.

What kind of bedding were you using? What kind of heat light were you using? I have read horror stories on here about cedar chip bedding being a source of chick deaths. I have also read about Teflon coated radiant heat bulbs being the cause of chick deaths.

Hopefully you are able to problem solve and figure out why they all died so you can get new chicks.

 

[Karen62]

We were using the same pine shavings we used for the last two sets of chicks. The lamp was a standard red heat lamp. We had a few boxes with holes cut out, a stick and a cinder block, none of which had been in the chicken yard. They had just learned how to get on top of the cinder block and liked sleeping in it. The hens gave no big signs. The first one I thought froze to death one of those super cold nights, and the other was sitting on the nest longer than usual and then she was dead in the box. The rooster just seems mopey for the last few days. One hen also died in the coop at night but there was a chance the fox got in, realized she couldn't get out with the hen and left her. There was sign of feeding, but we also have a possum.

 

[GuineaFowling]

I’m sorry you lost so many chicks! I’d take in one of the chicks to get a necropsy done. sudden mass death is very strange and shouldn’t be taken lightly.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

A few hours ago 10 mixed breed chicks were running around, eating, drinking, being cute, then, like chicks do, they all lay down to nap, we thought. A few hours later I thought they had bern asleep too long and on a hunch picked up one. She was dead. All but one of them were dead. Only one had a poopy butt, the rest had shown no sign of ill health, although I had noticed one sort of twitching before she died. I thought she was dreaming. We have had 2 hens die under unsuspicious circumstances, i.e., no sign of a predator on them, and have one rooster who looks ill, but the two flocks had no direct contact besides a feeder and a waterer, both of which hadn't been used since last year and had also been washed. We were feeding Nutrena medicated crumbles. They were not huddled together under the light, which was normal behavior. Its as though something suddenly poisoned them and they all dropped where they were. What happened? We are devastated. We want to get new chicks but don't want the same thing to happen.

The lamp was a standard red heat lamp.

I'm very sorry for your loss

Do you have a photo of the space they were in and of the heat lamp bulb - a photo of the writing on the bulb would be good.

Was the bulb brand new or had you used it before?

 

[Karen62]

I've been doing some research and several people think it could have been teflon gassing off the heat lamp. It is Little giant red bulb with a non stick base, but I can't find any other information. The word is that shatter resistant bulbs have the coating. The one surviving chick is now doing fine and I changed the bulb. Anyone heard about this problem?

 

[danceswithronin]

Not sure what's going on here but with it being a mass die-off like that, poisoning of some kind does seem to be the most logical suspect.

Where is your brooder located? Anything around it that might be putting off/leaking carbon monoxide?

 

[hmarg06]

with a non stick base

Any time you see the words non-stick keep it far away from birds- of any kind. I have birds in my house and don't own any non-stick cookware for this reason. I'd guess this is your culprit. It can kill birds in the blink of an eye, by the time you notice it is often too late.

Edited to add: It needs to be PTFE and PFOA free to be bird safe.

 

[CindyinSD]

Are the chicks and adults sharing the same food? I had a bag of feed that was all moldy in the bottom part of the feed. Nobody got sick and of course I threw it out when I saw the mold. I have heard though, that moldy food can kill birds. I was obviously lucky that the mold in my feed wasn’t apparently as toxic as it might have been, but maybe your bag could have been moldy with something worse? I’d dig in there and have a look. I would be outside and wearing a good quality medical mask & gloves—what may have harmed your birds may harm you also.

Someone mentioned Carbon monoxide poisoning. I doubt that. They’d all be dead, and there are the outside birds sick too, unlikely to be exposed to CO1. Plus you’re alive. Of which we are all very glad. Any home using any kind of fuel-based heat needs CO1 detectors—beside the point I realize, but nevertheless very important.