Please help - entire batch of chicks dying suddenly - TWICE

[Stephine]

Right! So what is an oil heater? I know space heaters are listed as dangerous for birds.

Seeing as it does suddenly strike them all, I wonder if it is the heater since that seems to be a common factor in both cases.

 

[Stephine]

Space heaters! Is the oil heater you mentioned a space heater? They are listed as dangerous to birds, they give off toxic fumes.

 

[Tiffanysw]

Do you have a carbon monoxide detector in that room? Wondering if you have occasional carbon monoxide increases. It is a heavy gas and the little chicks on the ground would feel it much faster than a person, although it would eventually be a risk to your health too if not resolved.

 

[countrybumpkin5]

Agree with a previous commenter, this is a sudden change in the environment. This is a neurological response to some toxic exposure or electrical. That could also mean a surge of EMF exposure. And also agree with the chicks on the floor where most, but not all, toxic fumes accumulate, they would be most vulnerable and it takes very little to cause death, unlike a full grown human. Convulsions are from toxins, or electrical interruptions or delivery and it's doubtful it would be the water or the bedding as that would be a slower buildup and unlikely they would all die at the same time. I agree that brooding outside is your best bet but I would also test for stray voltage and dirty electricity as well as EMF surges. WIFI routers can be very dangerous. Your vacuum is a high draw appliance as well and like you noted, very noisy and also will give off a vibration. I can imagine that being quite disruptive to young chicks, but if it would cause what you describe I wouldn't know.

 

[VFamily]

Thanks for everyone’s responses today. I’m also thinking an environmental change. Not sure what it could be, though.
To answer a few questions, the oil heat is the regular furnace for me house. In the summer it only comes on to heat my hot water heater.
Also, the vacuum we have is a battery powered Dyson. Nothing plugged in at the time of use. Only when on the charger.
We do have a carbon monoxide detector in that room. My six year old son loves to test it as regular preventative maintenance so I’m confident it works.
Anyways, moving forward I think the plan is to brood right in the chicken coop. I’m going to walk off a section of it and run an extension cord out for heat. We are going to be using a different brand of pine shavings and using bottled water instead of well water. I’m feeling confident this next batch will work out for us.

I really appreciate all the help and advice everyone has offered.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Best of luck and hopefully your next update will be a positive one, with lively healthy chicks outside and growing well.

 

[chickencoop57]

Hmm, interesting! From what I've read, at the beginning, the only thing I notice that may be causing your problem is Nature's Best Feed. It seems like you're doing everything else right. I incubate eggs year-round and have never had that problem. Once the eggs hatch, they go in a clear plastic container, like yours, inside the house for about 2-3 days, with a heat lamp, that I keep at about 100 degrees at first. I don't use Electrolytes in the water. The feed I buy is just regular Medicated Chick Starter, from my feed store. Then as they get older, I go to just regular chick starter. After the 3 days they go outside to a bigger plastic container/brooder and they stay in there for about 1 1/2 weeks before I move them into an enclosed pen, inside my enclosed chicken run. This time of year especially with this heat, they don't need a heat lamp. Easy peasy! Hope things work out for you but if you need any more info, you know where to find me.

 

[NatJ]

could be contaminated feed. I would research this brand for other complaints.

From what I've read, at the beginning, the only thing I notice that may be causing your problem is Nature's Best Feed.

Probably not the feed, because the first chicks were eating Grubbly Farms feed, while the second chicks had eaten all the rest of the Grubbly Farms feed with no problems and were then switched to Nature's Best feed.

Quotes from the first post:

The first batch... were fed unmedicated chick starter from Grubbly Farms (Little Pecks I belive it’s called)

Fast forward a few weeks and we received 10 chicks... fed the Little Pecks chick starter that we had leftover. Little Pecks starter feed started to run low so we purchased a bag of Nature’s Best organic chick starter/grower from Tractor Supply. I took what was left of the Little Pecks and added about an equal amount of the new feed to it to start transitioning them over. That was about a week ago. They finished the mix in a few days and were fed the Nature’s Best since.

The timing is also wrong for it to be the feed. If the feed would kill all chicks within just a few minutes, they should have died after the first meal. If a feed was good enough that they could live so many days and seem healthy, any bad effects should show up more gradually and kill the chicks over a longer stretch of time (not all within a few minutes.) So either way, the timing does not work out right.

 

[BuckarooForU]

Be very careful of the water you give them!
Never use tap water, for the very same reason we as humans rarely drink water straight from the tap. You don’t need to give your chickens Bottled water, but you do need to let the tap water rest for a day before giving it to the chicks. You can speed up this process by either boiling the water or putting it out in the sun, which dissipates the chlorine and other impurities in tap water.
I’ve never used electrolytes and I’ve never experienced the problem you’ve described.
But we all know how bad tap water is. Let it rest for several hours and dissipate.
Older chickens will have no problem with tap water, but these are babies!

 

[RoyalChick]

Be very careful of the water you give them!
Never use tap water, for the very same reason we as humans rarely drink water straight from the tap. You don’t need to give your chickens Bottled water, but you do need to let the tap water rest for a day before giving it to the chicks. You can speed up this process by either boiling the water or putting it out in the sun, which dissipates the chlorine and other impurities in tap water.
I’ve never used electrolytes and I’ve never experienced the problem you’ve described.
But we all know how bad tap water is. Let it rest for several hours and dissipate.
Older chickens will have no problem with tap water, but these are babies!

I always drink tap water straight from the tap!
You can have your tap water tested if you are worried - maybe @VFamily should get their water tested and use bottled water in the meantime. My chickens drink tap water and rain water.