One baby dead and I'm worried the next small baby might also....any help appreciated

[azygous]

It's absolutely heart breaking when you have chicks struggling and dying. It's impossible to tell at hatch, but some chicks lack developed organs and the first sign is they seem to lag behind in growth. After you notice that, you pick up on the fact they aren't as active as the others, and may be hogging the spot under the heat source.

These are symptoms of failure-to thrive. Without a proper digestive system, they not only don't grow, but they don't take in enough calories to stay warm. They weaken and it snowballs from there when they become too weak to eat.

Some make it with nutritional vitamin help like Nutri-drench, but it's an uphill battle. You need to contact your Cream Legbar breeder and tell them you've had these problems with two out of the three. They will probably replace them.

 

[3riverschick]

Give that chick one drop only of undiluted Nutridrench by mouth. Repeat as needed every 8 hours until perky.
Listen to azygous. The brooder was too hot.
The. Chick is probably too weak to digest solid feed.

 

[3riverschick]

Lose that infrared bulb . Azygous is right. tub brooders reflect Heat .
I will never use another infrared bulb in a tub brooder. I tub brood all my chicks with incandescent light bulbs.
Infrared and incandescent bulbs work differently . Infrared bulbs heat *objects* in the area they shine ,definite objects. Incandescent bulbs radiate warmth simply because they are on. that warmth warms the environment and whatever *happens* to be in it.
An infrared bulb can overheat a tub brooder ,especially a plastic one ,no question. Been there done that. Saw the overheating symptoms and swapped out the bulb just in time for incandescent.
I use a 75-100 watt bulb the first week and second week. then switch to a 60 watt bulb in my tub brooders.
For your large Brooder I would use a hundred Watt bulb.
I cover the top of the 1/2 - 1/3 of the brooder farthest from the light with an inflammable cover. This helps keep in the heat without overheating and there's still plenty of room for fresh air.
I had four of these brooders running this year . all the birds did fine. I didn't lose a single bird and they're outside now in their outside Coop.
I wish people would stop recommending infrared bulbs. Those bulbs kill so many chicks each year just because their owners are trying to do the right thing and provide a warm environment for their chicks.
Karen

 

[TattooedChicks]

How's the chick doing today? Any signs of improvement or decline?

 

[Marybeth912]

How's the chick doing today? Any signs of improvement or decline?

She died this morning

 

[TattooedChicks]

She died this morning

Oh no! So sorry to hear that. These were babies you got from a breeder, correct? Have you contacted them? I hope your other chicks continue to thrive and grow into healthy chickens.