replacing baby chick - will other chicks accept the new one?

[aart]

66F is fine for room temp...and it looks like they're inside the house so I doubt any serious 'drafts' are at play.
They should be plenty warm going under the plate if they need it.....you would hear loud cheeping if they were too cold, did you hear that?
The tote might get too warm overall, I would recommend against it.

As to why those chicks died, it's very hard to tell...coccidosis is usually the first suspect in chicks that young.
Did you see any bloody stool?.....tho that is not always present.

 

[elaineinspain]

66F is fine for room temp...and it looks like they're inside the house so I doubt any serious 'drafts' are at play.
They should be plenty warm going under the plate if they need it.....you would hear loud cheeping if they were too cold, did you hear that?
The tote might get too warm overall, I would recommend against it.

As to why those chicks died, it's very hard to tell...coccidosis is usually the first suspect in chicks that young.
Did you see any bloody stool?.....tho that is not always present.

They did cheep loudly sometimes when they were out from the ecoglow. It was loud enough for me to hear them in the other room with the door shut. I went in their room when I heard them and the ones making the noise would be out from the ecoglow on the other side of the brooder.

I've added a plastic sided box and I've put paper towels over the pine shavings. The box is not covered at all, it is placed inside the dogcrate. The plastic box measures 58cm x 38cm. They have room to come out from under the ecoglow, and they need to come out to get their water. I went in their room just now to take the photo and they are both under the ecoglow peeping quietly.
This is the set up now :-



I haven't seen any blood in their stool. They were all fine and running around and eating and drinking when I first got them home, then the condition of the australorp changed from active to weak and dying withing about 16 hours, and last night at 9pm the brahma was fine, but this morning at 9am I found her dead under the ecoglow and her body was cold and stiff, so she'd been dead a while.
And now the Sureña is huddled under the ecoglow, and not coming out to drink with the Biblue, like she usually does. She's just squat down, but she looks more sleepy than sick. I just hope she is fine...
I measured the temperature under the ecoglow yesterday. on the floor it's 30,5ºC, against the hotplate it's 49,1ºC

 

[elaineinspain]

I put some colloidal silver in the water and for 2 hours once every hour I picked up the sureña from under the ecoglow and made sure she had a drink. Now she is eating and drinking as usual with the biblue. they both look healthy and fine and only making very low peeping noises, not cheeping loudly. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank aart,, dekel and CT again for all your advice, patience and help.

 

[elaineinspain]

Another one has died!

10 hours ago, before I went to bed they both seemed fine!
Could it be the coccidosis that you mentioned aart? where does that come from? have I given it to them? are they born with it?

My husband spoke to the man at the hatchery last night and he said that chicks often die when they are so young, and that he did recommend to us to get them when they are older .
Is this true that chicks just die from being young?

66F is fine for room temp...and it looks like they're inside the house so I doubt any serious 'drafts' are at play.
They should be plenty warm going under the plate if they need it.....you would hear loud cheeping if they were too cold, did you hear that?
The tote might get too warm overall, I would recommend against it.

As to why those chicks died, it's very hard to tell...coccidosis is usually the first suspect in chicks that young.
Did you see any bloody stool?.....tho that is not always present.

Do you think we should go to a different hatchery to get replacements, after cleaning out the brooder? Or will the last surviving one be able to infect the newbies somehow?
This is my first experience with chickens and it's turning into a heartbreaking nightmare...

 

[JadedPhoenix]

Do you have a thermometer under your ecoglow? Do you know the temp underneath? To me, it sounds like they aren't able to stay warm enough. I had a friend who recently lost a whole batch one chick at a time due to not giving them enough heat. It may be that your ecoglow may be the source of some of your problems. Remember, the general rule is 95 degrees for the first week and lower temps by 5 degrees each week until fully feathered.

 

[elaineinspain]

Do you have a thermometer under your ecoglow? Do you know the temp underneath? To me, it sounds like they aren't able to stay warm enough. I had a friend who recently lost a whole batch one chick at a time due to not giving them enough heat. It may be that your ecoglow may be the source of some of your problems. Remember, the general rule is 95 degrees for the first week and lower temps by 5 degrees each week until fully feathered.

I measured the temperature the day before yesterday. And again today with a digital thermometer..
Directly touching the hotplate of the ecoglow it is 49,1ºC (120ºf) and on the floor beneath it 30,5ºC (86ºf)

 

[aart]

Another one has died!

10 hours ago, before I went to bed they both seemed fine!
Could it be the coccidosis that you mentioned aart? where does that come from? have I given it to them? are they born with it?

My husband spoke to the man at the hatchery last night and he said that chicks often die when they are so young, and that he did recommend to us to get them when they are older .
Is this true that chicks just die from being young?

Quote: I'm so sorry you're having such a terrible first experience.
As to why the chicks died, it's very hard to tell. Without specific symptoms the only way to know for sure would be a necropsy from a poultry lab, not sure if that's an option for you. I assume from your username that you are in Spain? Here in the US there are state labs that can provide this service, sometimes for free sometimes quite expensive.
Coccidiosis is often present but in numbers too low to cause problems because they build an immunity to it, it's why folks often use chick starter with a medication(amprolium) in it to help the chicks build that immunity. My first thought was go with a different supplier, but the remaining chick may be carrying something.

I'm not real comfortable with what the 'hatchery guy' said. It's true that tiny chicks can fail to thrive and die in the first few days or so, but buying older birds can be riskier as far as carrying diseases in with them. It all depends on the facility where they were hatched and raised....again I don't know how things work over there or what kind of 'hatchery' you're buying from. Over here large commercial hatcheries are pretty stringent with disease control and will refund money if many chicks die in a purchased order of day olds. Smaller or private 'hatcheries' can be a whole different story.

Sorry I don't have any finite solutions to offer....I would be torn as to whether the chicks came in with something or your brooder setup has a problem.
It's so hard to tell over the net.

Do you have a thermometer under your ecoglow? Do you know the temp underneath? To me, it sounds like they aren't able to stay warm enough. I had a friend who recently lost a whole batch one chick at a time due to not giving them enough heat. It may be that your ecoglow may be the source of some of your problems. Remember, the general rule is 95 degrees for the first week and lower temps by 5 degrees each week until fully feathered.

I don't abide by the 5 degrees a week rule....they can go cooler than that (too warm is more likely to cause problems) and judging temps needed by chick behavior is the way to go. Can be hard for a beginner, but doable.
You also can't really measure the temp using a plate like you can with a lamp because they heat the chicks differently.

 

[elaineinspain]

Quote: I purchased the chicks from a small private hatchery - the man does it as a hobby and has 6 or 7 different breeds and shares the facility with another 'hobbyist'. We went to him because he was offering a variety of breeds. I'm going to see if this last one survives until the weekend. If she does I feel we will have to return to the original guy and buy more chicks from the same hatch, so they're the same size and age and should be easier to integrate. If however she dies before then I'm going to throw away all the litter, give everything a good scrub with hydrogen peroxide and go to a different 'hatchery' (hobbyist) where they offer vaccinated chicks. Normally I wouldn't go the vaccinated route, I try to do everything as naturally as possible, but this is too heart breaking for me.

Yes, you're right! I am in Spain. Things are a little different here. For a start I noticed there is no medicated chick starter unless you get it from a vet, there are lots of small private 'hatcheries', and only one or two online where they have a minimum order which is too many for me. I'm not sure about getting a necropsy done, or if it would be worth the expense as I intend having only a small flock of 4 birds for the garden (vets are much more expensive here than in Germany or UK, the two countries I've lived before)

I'm really pleased that I found this website and that you guys are so helpful - I'd be completely lost otherwise, as my Spanish is not exactly fluent.

Thank you again.

 

[aart]

Quote:

I purchased the chicks from a small private hatchery - the man does it as a hobby and has 6 or 7 different breeds and shares the facility with another 'hobbyist'. We went to him because he was offering a variety of breeds. I'm going to see if this last one survives until the weekend. If she does I feel we will have to return to the original guy and buy more chicks from the same hatch, so they're the same size and age and should be easier to integrate. If however she dies before then I'm going to throw away all the litter, give everything a good scrub with hydrogen peroxide and go to a different 'hatchery' (hobbyist) where they offer vaccinated chicks. Normally I wouldn't go the vaccinated route, I try to do everything as naturally as possible, but this is too heart breaking for me.

Yes, you're right! I am in Spain. Things are a little different here. For a start I noticed there is no medicated chick starter unless you get it from a vet, there are lots of small private 'hatcheries', and only one or two online where they have a minimum order which is too many for me. I'm not sure about getting a necropsy done, or if it would be worth the expense as I intend having only a small flock of 4 birds for the garden (vets are much more expensive here than in Germany or UK, the two countries I've lived before)

I'm really pleased that I found this website and that you guys are so helpful - I'd be completely lost otherwise, as my Spanish is not exactly fluent.

Thank you again.

That sounds like a good plan.
'Vaccinated' can mean many things....I'd do some research on what they are vaccinated against.
'Medicated' can mean different things too....over here it's usually amprolium which is an anti-protozoan for the cocci.

 

[dekel18042]

That sounds like a good plan.
'Vaccinated' can mean many things....I'd do some research on what they are vaccinated against.
'Medicated' can mean different things too....over here it's usually amprolium which is an anti-protozoan for the cocci.

I, too, am at a loss for what is happening to your chicks. At which point I usually try different things. It appears your eco glo is in the lowest position. What would happen if you tried making it higher? Do your chicks seem content? (Just wondering if it was too warm, but in which case they should move away, unless it was at night and they were asleep.