New to raising chics

[tfelts]

Hi all, first post here and hoping to get some insight. I was given chickens a few years ago and decided to start some chics this year. I have to say, not my favorite thing... of 6 I lost 1 the first day (3 day's old at that point and I bought at a store) and the following day I lost two more. The other three seem to be doing well but now I'm totally on edge and wondering if there is possibly something I did wrong, or if there was something I could have done differently...

I have the Brood at 95 degrees where the heat lamp is (I'm using a 60 watt ceramic bulb that doesnt omit light for the heat source) then a regular light during the day and switch it to a red bulb at night. From one side of the brood to the other it varies from 95 (sometimes a bit higher) to 85 so they can get out of the heat... Could it have been the environment or just some weaker birds?

Thanks!

 

[CluckerFamily]

Lots of people are losing more chicks this year. I think it has to do with the stress of transporting.
I don’t switch out the different colored lights, I keep the red one on during the day and night. It would be less work for you to keep the red one on all the time.

 

[TheChickenGuardian]

Sounds like a lot of them got starve out from shipping. Do you have the others on probiotic water?

 

[tfelts]

I added NutriDrench to the water. I did just buy probiotics today but wasn't sure if I should add it or not since they seem to be doing well. Should I add, and if so for how many days? Again being my first time with chics, I'm shocked at how fast the other three declined. I'm picking up more tomorrow from the same hatch so they will be almost a week already.

Thanks all for your feedback. Its much appreciated!

 

[TheChickenGuardian]

I added NutriDrench to the water. I did just buy probiotics today but wasn't sure if I should add it or not since they seem to be doing well. Should I add, and if so for how many days? Again being my first time with chics, I'm shocked at how fast the other three declined. I'm picking up more tomorrow from the same hatch so they will be almost a week already.

Thanks all for your feedback. Its much appreciated!

Probiotics for chicks are supposed to be in their water until they are fully developed. Then you can choose to move to adult probiotics. And it's even more important if they seem weak