I bought 20 chicks from a local hatchery on Saturday to use as meat birds and some to add to my flock. They were different breeds, a few barred rocks, a Brahma, some other breed and a Turken. 20 male chicks altogether. Because I have 60 more chickens I am very worried about diseases and isolated the newcomers right away. They all seemed to be a couple of days old and I started them on medicated feed and electrolyte water to help them over the change. I put a heat lamp over them and made sure the temp was between 90-95 degrees. I made sure there was no crowding, or hiding from the heat lamp. All seemed happy. The next morning I found one of the chicks dead, laying on his back in the water. I thought that was strange. His legs were stretched out but I could see no obvious reason for his death. I figured it was the stress-until midday, another chick became ill, started to lay down, and eventually died. It was gasping for air and seemed to have a seizure before finally dying. His head was shaking quite bad. All in all, it took less than 1 hr from the appearance of the symptoms to its death. The next day 2 more died. I called the hatchery and was told that that happens, it is chicks. I explained that I had raised 80+ chicks myself this year and lost only 2, so 4 out of 20 seemed a bit high. He said I could pick up new ones. Today I come home for lunch to find one of the BRs and the Turken dead. Same thing. Legs stretched out underneath them and they died within 9AM and noon. I have done everything I can to keep these guys alive but now I am terribly worried about what kind of disease would strike so fast. I explained to the Hatchery that I was planning on returning the birds as I dont know what disease this is and I will not spread it to my birds. If they dont take them back I am afraid I may have to kill the rest to make sure that whatever caused that will not endanger my other guys. This is my first, and terrible experience with a hatchery and I will now go back to incubating out of my own flock. I was really looking forward to receiving some new breeds but this is just terrible, especially when you do all you can to try and save those guys. Does anybody here have an idea of what this is? I looked at all the typical diseases, but no lethargy or bloody poo as in Cocci, no paralysis like in Marecks, no nasal discharge or any sign of respiratory disease. What am I missing? What other information could I supply? I only bought these birds on Saturday and I already lost 6 out of 20 today. I am dreading to come home and potentially find more.
