My chicks keep dying! Please some advice!!!

[MBLayfield]

Okay I had 10 of my silkie eggs hatch. All have hatched within the last week and they hatched themselves no help. They were kept in the hatcher a minimum of 24 hours after hatch and one chick was in there for almost 36 before the hatch was over. I put them in the brooder and one by one they have died. I come home to find them limp and lifeless and gasping. Today was two more, last night at 1:00 was another two. The last four were only three days old. I've shown them where the water is, and I've put out food but not seen them eat any. The last chick to die had red tinted thick fluid in its mouth as well as some food. I don't know if the crumbles are too big or what is going on! I really need some advice here!

I've disinfected the brooder with bleach, cleaned the waterers and even changed their food. I'm using medicated chick starter. i don't know the brand, I put it in a sealed container that I keep in my office.

Any suggestions. I've lost all but one now.

 

[ebonykawai]

What kind of bedding are you using? What's the temp of your brooder? Are you showing them where the food is, scatterng it and pecking with your finger, showing them to the water?

 

[Katy]

Sometimes the regular starter crumble is kinda big for them. I crush it up finer for them at the beginning.

 

[ebonykawai]

I just use it straight. Seems like it might be something other than the food. Gasping makes me wonder about the bedding.

 

[Frosty]

I also would ask about the bedding... if you are using shavings, did you cover it with paper towels or something for a few days to make sure that they don't try to eat it? Is the bedding fresh? If there is any chance that it could have mold or something, that can kill a chick.

 

[Gindee77]

I lost 4 chicks (out of 17) and all of them were gasping at some time before they died. After the first one, I immediately put them on shredded newspaper over their pine shavings and kept them that way until the were all eating their chick feed well. I think I had them on shavings too soon. I have a feeling 3 of the 4 were just really sickly when I brought them home from the hatchery (they were less than 24 hours old) and maybe they just never got the idea of eating and drinking, even tho I did everything I could to get them to eat and drink. Two of them kept chirping really loudly and they died first, just a few days old. I'm pretty sure the other two died from having an over-full crop from eating their shavings.

So sorry about your babies. That has to really hurt when you lose ones you hatched yourself. :aww

 

[MBLayfield]

For bedding in the brooder I am using newspaper with papertowels over the newspaper. I don't use bedding becasue of the risks. I was grinding their food but I was afraid that it could be of a concern grinding it due to some posts I had read. I lost chicks grinding it and not grinding it.

 

[MBLayfield]

The temp in the brooder according to the flukers I have in there is 95 degrees right now. I have two chicks, one buff that survived the first death strike and one that hatched yesterday that isn't dead yet, but I'm just waiting at this point...........

 

[ebonykawai]

That's so odd. I'm really at a loss unless they just hatched out very weak.

 

[MBLayfield]

Quote:
When they hatched they were hopping around the hatcher like normal chicks would. I put them in the brooder and they acted like a normal chick. The did chirp loudly but eventually stopped. I don't know what is going on. I've now killed more chicks than I have alive. Its really starting to worry me.