Odds of chick fatality

[nuts4hotwheels]

I am going to get 5 chicks next weekend. Is there a big risk of a few of them dying or do they usually have a good success rate?

 

[chickensrock98]

as long as you give them chick starter and water and keep them warm they should be good and i would suggest putting sugar in the water for the first 12 hours to give them energy and a good start hope this helped and please post pics of your babies when you get them

 

[RAWR]

alot of it depends on the conditions
the only chicks i have ever lost were being shipped to me and they were packaged very poorly. they all froze to death.
sometimes runts just die. theres really no way of telling

 

[nuts4hotwheels]

Thanks for the info. I will definitely post the pics, when I get them. I have been reading the forum for a couple of months before I registered and have learned a lot from everybody and got a lot of ideas for my coop.

 

[nuts4hotwheels]

I will be picking them up in person from a local breeder, so hopefully I will be able to pick out the healthy ones.

 

[Boo-Boo's Mama]

DH had picked up chicks at the feedstore 3 times this Spring and all have made it and are doing great....6 are 8 weeks old, 5 are 6 weeks old and 11 are 5 weeks old. You will learn how to read their chirps and peeps and they will let you know when they are cold, hot, hungry, etc. If you are picking them up, don't let them get too hot in your vehicle or too cold from the a/c.

Good luck with your chicks.

 

[tryingtohaveitall]

I have only lost 1 as a fairly young chick out of ~ 40 that I've had these last two springs. However, we have lost them over time due to other factors, dogs, a bad hip, being a mean rooster, etc. I tell friends that chickens have fairly short shelf lives unfortunately. If you want to have 5 that lay, I'd get a few extra.