Please help - entire batch of chicks dying suddenly - TWICE

[Lil TexHens]

Sorry for your loss

Well water is best because it contains minerals, whereas as bottled water has minerals filtered out. You can buy bottled water with minerals…but why bother when you can have your well water tested!? Find out how to take a clean sample, and mail it off for testing. All that said, I think it is unlikely that it is your water… nor: the heat plate, electrical issues, two separate hatcheries, two different feeds.

Yes, you can brood outside… but there is much more in preparation… so do your research.

As for temps in brooding chicks outside… as long as the temps don’t get too hot, too cold, and there are NO drafts… you can brood outside. Heat plates are fantastic, what I use indoors, but they aren’t meant to be used outside. In fact, per manufacturer’s instructions, they can’t be used in temps below 50-60 degrees, depending on the brand (50 for Brinsea). Some people use heat lamps, but they are a fire hazard and chicks don’t wean themselves from heat as quickly as with heat plates.
You can use Sweeter Heaters instead. They are made for use outdoors and can be used in temps as low as 40 degrees.

Hope this helps

Edited to add: I forgot to mention… I use the outside spigot to get water because I have a water softening system, which the outside spigots are not connected to. There are nos studies to say whether or not salt softening systems are safe for birds… but experts recommend avoiding it anyway. So when I raise chicks indoors, I get water from the outside spigots.

 

[Cluck a roo]

I am having a very strange and troubling problem with keeping chicks alive (this has been my first attempt at chickens). I have had 2 different batches of chicks (two batches ocurring at two different times) all die within minutes of each other.

My brooder is a clear 100 quart tote with the cover cut out and 1/2” hardware cloth attached to that opening. I have a brooder plate for heat from Brinsea. The chick waterer and feeder are the style you can screw a mason jar into however it came with plastic bottles so I used those. Feeder and waterer were cleaned mornings and evenings of whatever they managed to get into them and topped off. We started with paper towels the first two days and then switched to pine shavings after that with both batches.

The first batch (mailed to me) was 6 Rhode Island Reds (ordered vaccinated for Mareks and coccidiosis). They were fed unmedicated chick starter from Grubbly Farms (Little Pecks I belive it’s called) and I added electrolyte to their water upon arrival. I lost two within 48 hours and spoke to the hatchery and explained my setup and was told it was a great setup. The remaining 4 seemed to be doing great after that. About a week later while vacuuming in the same room I noticed chaos in the brooder. Two of the chicks seemed to be actively dying (convulsing) and the other two seemed to be breathing heavily and lethargic. All chicks expired within about 3 minutes of each other. They seemed perfectly fine 10 minutes prior the last time I had walked past the brooder and put eyes on them. I frantically researched what it could be but came up with nothing. I thought that I may quite literally scared them to death when I started the vacuum in the same room.

Fast forward a few weeks and we received 10 chicks in the mail from a different hatchery (not because we were unhappy with the first but because of the availability of breeds). These were three Rhode Island Reds, four Plymouth Barred Rocks, and three Australorps. These were not vaccinated for anything. They were given electrolyte added to their water upon their arrival and were also fed the Little Pecks chick starter that we had leftover. These chicks seemed to thrive more than the last batch I had which is all I had to compare it to. They seemed generally livelier and seemed to grow a little more in their first week compared to the last batch of Rhode Island Reds. After 2 weeks we felt the plastic tote was beginning to get tight so we moved them to a plastic kiddie pool surrounded by 1/2” hardware cloth and added a chick roosting bar thingy for them to play on. They seemed to love this new area hopping up on everything they could. During this time the 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. Tonight while watching a movie in the same room we heard some commotion and checked on the chicks, assuming they knocked over their waterer or something. Instead we find two of the chicks convulsing. I tried to grab their waterer and add some electrolyte to it in a desperate attempt to save the remaining chicks but then a couple more died a minute later, a few more and within 10-15 minutes they were all gone. They seemed to have gone a similar way as the first batch. We were hanging out watching them for a bit before we put on a movie and they were jumping around playing on their playscape. Like the last batch, nothing seemed amiss. It may be worth mentioning we never had any cases of pasty butt on either batch.

At this point I am totally at a loss as to what is going on or what I am doing wrong. Does anybody have any insight? I tried to include as many details as I could but please let me know if I left some out. I’m sure I did.

I have not seen all the answers but I read pine chips can be toxic and have to be used in a well ventilated coop. Maybe when the chips got hot it released the fumes from the chips. We used a dog crate with brown paper liner and hay. Don't give up!

 

[PoopCoopMama89]

I am having a very strange and troubling problem with keeping chicks alive (this has been my first attempt at chickens). I have had 2 different batches of chicks (two batches ocurring at two different times) all die within minutes of each other.

My brooder is a clear 100 quart tote with the cover cut out and 1/2” hardware cloth attached to that opening. I have a brooder plate for heat from Brinsea. The chick waterer and feeder are the style you can screw a mason jar into however it came with plastic bottles so I used those. Feeder and waterer were cleaned mornings and evenings of whatever they managed to get into them and topped off. We started with paper towels the first two days and then switched to pine shavings after that with both batches.

The first batch (mailed to me) was 6 Rhode Island Reds (ordered vaccinated for Mareks and coccidiosis). They were fed unmedicated chick starter from Grubbly Farms (Little Pecks I belive it’s called) and I added electrolyte to their water upon arrival. I lost two within 48 hours and spoke to the hatchery and explained my setup and was told it was a great setup. The remaining 4 seemed to be doing great after that. About a week later while vacuuming in the same room I noticed chaos in the brooder. Two of the chicks seemed to be actively dying (convulsing) and the other two seemed to be breathing heavily and lethargic. All chicks expired within about 3 minutes of each other. They seemed perfectly fine 10 minutes prior the last time I had walked past the brooder and put eyes on them. I frantically researched what it could be but came up with nothing. I thought that I may quite literally scared them to death when I started the vacuum in the same room.

Fast forward a few weeks and we received 10 chicks in the mail from a different hatchery (not because we were unhappy with the first but because of the availability of breeds). These were three Rhode Island Reds, four Plymouth Barred Rocks, and three Australorps. These were not vaccinated for anything. They were given electrolyte added to their water upon their arrival and were also fed the Little Pecks chick starter that we had leftover. These chicks seemed to thrive more than the last batch I had which is all I had to compare it to. They seemed generally livelier and seemed to grow a little more in their first week compared to the last batch of Rhode Island Reds. After 2 weeks we felt the plastic tote was beginning to get tight so we moved them to a plastic kiddie pool surrounded by 1/2” hardware cloth and added a chick roosting bar thingy for them to play on. They seemed to love this new area hopping up on everything they could. During this time the 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. Tonight while watching a movie in the same room we heard some commotion and checked on the chicks, assuming they knocked over their waterer or something. Instead we find two of the chicks convulsing. I tried to grab their waterer and add some electrolyte to it in a desperate attempt to save the remaining chicks but then a couple more died a minute later, a few more and within 10-15 minutes they were all gone. They seemed to have gone a similar way as the first batch. We were hanging out watching them for a bit before we put on a movie and they were jumping around playing on their playscape. Like the last batch, nothing seemed amiss. It may be worth mentioning we never had any cases of pasty butt on either batch.

At this point I am totally at a loss as to what is going on or what I am doing wrong. Does anybody have any insight? I tried to include as many details as I could but please let me know if I left some out. I’m sure I did.

Im not a professional at all but I would recommend a metal brooder or even heat resistant wood because plastic can be toxic if heated to a certain temperature constantly all the plastic items we use are not necessarily good for our bird friends. It may also just be to hot, I use a heat lamp that I can move around when necessary. Also some of your breeds are aggressive, the Rhode Island Reds alone could kill all the other chicks.

 

[Barbours]

I've attached a picture of the feed and the pool set up. The electrolyte is from Sav A Chick and the shavings are the flakes from tractor supply (regular flakes, not fine).

Is it small or large shavings? if it's small they could be impacted.

 

[VFamily]

Is it small or large shavings? if it's small they could be impacted.

Large shavings. I read the same about small shavings so we made sure to get larger ones.

 

[Barbours]

Large shavings. I read the same about small shavings so we made sure to get larger ones.

Than I don't really know. It seems like your doing everything right.

 

[VFamily]

I am very thankful for all the advice given to me here so I wanted to update everyone. We received another batch of chicks on 9/15 and am happy to say we still have all of them. We ordered 9 chicks and received 12. A mix of RIR, Barred Rocks, and Australorps. They have been raised right in the coop with a heat lamp and appear to be doing very well.

There was one chick that was much smaller than the rest and after about a week she seemed very lethargic and didn't seem to be getting around well. She was brought inside for 2 days with another chick to keep her company, given electrolytes and some boiled egg yolks and has made a full recovery. She is still much smaller than the rest buy seems to be keeping up with everyone.

Thanks so much for all the helpful info and we are looking forward to being able to let the chicks roam their large enclosed run in a couple more weeks.

 

[TaylorGlade]

I am very thankful for all the advice given to me here so I wanted to update everyone. We received another batch of chicks on 9/15 and am happy to say we still have all of them. We ordered 9 chicks and received 12. A mix of RIR, Barred Rocks, and Australorps. They have been raised right in the coop with a heat lamp and appear to be doing very well.

There was one chick that was much smaller than the rest and after about a week she seemed very lethargic and didn't seem to be getting around well. She was brought inside for 2 days with another chick to keep her company, given electrolytes and some boiled egg yolks and has made a full recovery. She is still much smaller than the rest buy seems to be keeping up with everyone.

Thanks so much for all the helpful info and we are looking forward to being able to let the chicks roam their large enclosed run in a couple more weeks.

I'm so glad this time is going better. We love our Australorps. They are great chickens.

 

[Little Tala Bug]

I am very thankful for all the advice given to me here so I wanted to update everyone. We received another batch of chicks on 9/15 and am happy to say we still have all of them. We ordered 9 chicks and received 12. A mix of RIR, Barred Rocks, and Australorps. They have been raised right in the coop with a heat lamp and appear to be doing very well.

There was one chick that was much smaller than the rest and after about a week she seemed very lethargic and didn't seem to be getting around well. She was brought inside for 2 days with another chick to keep her company, given electrolytes and some boiled egg yolks and has made a full recovery. She is still much smaller than the rest buy seems to be keeping up with everyone.

Thanks so much for all the helpful info and we are looking forward to being able to let the chicks roam their large enclosed run in a couple more weeks.

Thank you for the update! I'm so glad it turned out ok for you <3

 

[Stephine]

Thanks for the update! So glad you are finally having better luck with your chicks!