2. You mentioned 80 out of 100 chicks. Are these meat birds? If not, any particular breed? egg layers not meat breeds
3. Are you getting them from the hatchery at a day-old (or thereabouts)? yes same hatchery
4. Have you always gotten them from the same place? yes and I do hatch my own about the same time the ones that die are exposed to night air (in a rabbit coop with heat lamps surrounded by plastic for warmth (with air holes for breathing) )
5. What do they eat? Are they getting any treats? onlyu medicated feed, ACV or meds if needed
6. You said they have all the symptoms of coccidiosis. Does that include bloody droppings? no blood just listless and then dead
To clarify, you have them in an enclosed brooder situation with a heat lamp, and then you move them to the outdoor coop area where they are exposed to cold night air.
Do they start dying before you move them? Or after you move them?
maf2008, Sorry you are having so much trouble. Do you have a camera so you can post pics of your set-up? We may be able to help you better if we could see what you have.
You need to put a thermometer in the brooder and verify actual temperatures. One cause of lethargy is too high a heat. I am also concerned about the rabbit hutch covered with plastic and holes for air--it could be getting too hot, or there might not be enough air. I would suggest covering with blankets or towels rather than plastic.
Another possibility is lice/mites. They will kill babies much faster than adults, and the symptoms are similar to what you describe.
Since the birds all come from the same hatchery, that could be the problem.
Personally I do not like brooding that many babies together--20 is the absolute maximum number of babies I will brood together, and I prefer half that number and two brooders.
My recommendations are to
- thoroughly disinfect the brooders with oxine, vircon or novalsan. When dry,
- thoroughly spray it with a premise spray such as Adams. Get the kind that is effective for 7 months.
- let set for 24 hours after dry
- disinfect all feeders and waterers. I clean then soak in a strong bleach solution for an hour or two.
- feed medicated feed and
- use ACV in the water, but
- do not use corrid or sulmet unless you see symptoms of coccidiosis.
- Get an indoor/outdoor thermometer with a wireless remote.
- Put the remote in the lighted brooder and
- monitor the minimum and maximum temperatures daily for several days before adding chicks, and each morning after you add them
- if you work or are gone from home regularly, check the min and max temps when you return. If you are nearby most of the time, check the current temp several times during the day.
At the first signs of listlessness, check in the wingpits for mites/lice--use a strong light and a magnifying glass if it will help you see better. If they have them, immediately spray treat with flea/tick spray such as Adams.
could be the wood shavings if you buy them from the same place all the time. We were loosing young call ducks this year in the off the ground pens that had woodshavings in the boxes. Someone else we know was having the same problem so we bought a different brand.......no more dead ducks.
You could try some newspaper lined with paper towels and see if it helps.......or maybe they are eating the shavings???
Whether you want to believe it or not, I am trying to help you figure out why your chicks are dying....because those are not normal loss numbers. You are free to either take into consideration what I have to suggest your issues might be, or you can ignore them.
If they had cocci there would be bloody droppings and you say there are no bloody dropping, so I wouldn't treat them for that.
That's pretty tight quarters for that many chicks...especially past the first week. You probably would be better off to do smaller batches of chicks at a time.
As someone else said, pictures of your set up might help us to help you.
I know you think I don't know diddly, but I raised a lot of chicks over the years.
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You should not have that many chicks perishing on you. And in your post you do say your treating them with corrid and sulmet, acv. I say that's why you are losing them. Too much medication. Unless mine are not on the ground I have never seen cocci happening.