Mysterious chick deaths

[yickenscarf23]

I had a lone chick hatch and she was too tiny to be integrated with my bigger chicks so I gave her her own brooder and a buddy from the feed store. All was well for a few days until the buddy chick simply faded away and passed. She just got weak seemingly for no reason. I figured she just failed to thrive and returned to the feed store to buy buddy chick #2. He was healthy, eating, drinking and pooping normally. Today he went downhill in a matter of hours. He just got weak, lost interest in food, and passed away in my hands. He had no signs of paralysis or leg deformity.

The catch is, all my other chicks including the tiny one I hatched are doing great. I keep a close eye on their temp, they all eat the same type of food, everybody is picked up and looked over every single day. They are housed within inches of each other.

Sadly my tiniest baby is once again all alone. I don't want to buy another friend for her only to watch it die. Is there something I could be missing? Could a disease or parasite only affect the newcomers? My chickens are not vaccinated.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

All feed store chicks have been shipped and it's very hard on them.

Using poultry nurti drench in the water might help. Crushing the crumbles a little extra always seems to help as well.

Pasty butt... is very common and can sometimes be easy to miss. It's deadly very fast.

All chicks hatch with their yolk to absorb (I'm sure you know). But some will not fail until after the yolk is gone and they are relying on their own system to digest and provide nutrients.

Only thing I can think is maybe those chicks were still super fresh shipped. Not likely a parasite or disease effecting just the newcomers so early on.

Lone chick hatches are frustrating enough, sorry for you troubles.

 

[Alaskan]

Very odd.

Can the tiny one be housed next to the others? To see them?

And could she be integrated soon?

If she is good and peppy, I have had success with different sized chicks (bantams and standards) ... ages of much more than a week or two is trickier.

 

[yickenscarf23]

Very odd.

Can the tiny one be housed next to the others? To see them?

And could she be integrated soon?

If she is good and peppy, I have had success with different sized chicks (bantams and standards) ... ages of much more than a week or two is trickier.

They're a little over two weeks older and huge compared to her. They are nearly fully feathered and she just got her wing ones. I've had a few failed attempted at introducing them. They can see each other at all times but the lone baby just screams and screams.

I'm going to try to find some nutri drench like eggsighted recommended and see if I can give it a go at giving her a friend one more time. Probably get more than one in case. I hope it was just a bad batch that had a hard time shipping.

 

[chickens really]

Do you watch for pasty Butt in the store bought Chicks?

 

[DellaMyDarling]

All chicks I've seen at our local TS look awful, half dead, pasty rumps, heads flopped, or actually dead in tub.
I would avoid TS if you can.

 

[AltonaAcres]

Maybe get 2 or 3 from a feed store. Then you would have a better chance of having one make it.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

All chicks I've seen at our local TS look awful, half dead, pasty rumps, heads flopped, or actually dead in tub.
I would avoid TS if you can.

Maybe your TSC has more issues than some others.

All the chicks, ducklings, and poults at mine look the same as any other feed store.

It really depends on how many chicks and such. I have been able to integrate up to 3 weeks apart... But I think you have a good grasp on your situation.

What's worse... I've also bought "friend" chicks for a lone hatcher.... just to have my lone hatcher fail and have to go get another friend for the friend.

Keep watch for pasty butt.

 

[DellaMyDarling]

Do you ever search local Craigslist?
I still see a lot of postings for chicks on mine. Might be fast way to get some.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Do you ever search local Craigslist?
I still see a lot of postings for chicks on mine. Might be fast way to get some.

I sell a lot of my birds on CL... and all are quality... disease free as far as I can tell.

I avoid bringing in birds from unknown non NPIP sources... to much risk for Marek's, and worse respiratory stuff!

Feed store chicks also have more of a possibility of actually being pullets if you buy sexed. And while I have the ability to process extra roosters... I still don't wanna have to deal with them.

But it is a good option... using some discernment.

The farm and garden section is where they're listed most often. Lots of folks are even selling their hatchery chicks that were sexed as pullets.