Shipped Chicks one week old and still dying

[Punkinsdogmom]

Hi All! New here. I have tried searching threads but have not found one that fits me exactly. Ordered chicks from a private breeder. SFHs, 18 arrived, ordered 15 (3 are extras and a different breed). No bedding in box or a heat pack. Temps at night were dripping to 52/56 degrees in my area and a high of 85. Not sure what temps were along the way. Unboxed into a preheated brooder that I have used many times with no deaths. Have thermometers to monitor temps. Did have some fluctuation with the hot days and cold nights they are in a Brooder inside a small room we built in our garage. The room is not drafty. Dipped beaks in water. Have given electrolytes and probiotics. First one started fading the next day and I lost three more almost daily. Ive done so many things, nutri drops, sugar water, scrambled eggs, egg yolk. Watch the temp all the time. They can move in and out of heat as heat is on one end and brooder is at 3 feet long and 2.5 feet wide. Left for five hours today for appts and shopping, seen no signs of fading before leaving and two more dead. I have consulted with the breeder, I have discussed with chicken friends. At first it seemed to be the more fragile ones. But these today were growing. They are 10 days today, so these ones made it past the first week. Im at a loss. Can cold during shipping take them this long to pass? Temp this morning was 90. Fresh water and food. Pasty butts on a hand-full the first few days but none since. My chicks I shipped in the week before did great and are thriving, no losses and were in the exact same set up as the second shipment is now. Any advice? I hate to lose them all. Thanks

 

[nuthatched]

Is the breeder npip? Have you tried treating for Coccidosis?

 

[IvyBeans]

I might move them indoors and change food brands. Just in case something environmental or in their food is causing it. It’s just the one breed dying? Not the 3 others?

 

[aart]

They can move in and out of heat as heat is on one end and brooder is at 3 feet long and 2.5 feet wide.

What are you using for heat?
Have you measured the temp on the floor of the brooder at both ends?

 

[BastyPutt]

What are you using for heat?
Have you measured the temp on the floor of the brooder at both ends?

Id say it would have to be this, food and water, or some sort of mold or toxin somewhere in the brooder or bedding.

OP - can you see their poop anywhere? If it was coccidiosis you should see some abnormal droppings in the brooder.

If no - I'd change brooders entirely, change out food and water containers, and get new bags of food and bedding. Wipe the slate entirely clean.

It also wouldn't hurt to start the chicks on a round of Corid, just in case it is a case of coc.

 

[Debbie292d]

Hi All! New here. I have tried searching threads but have not found one that fits me exactly. Ordered chicks from a private breeder. SFHs, 18 arrived, ordered 15 (3 are extras and a different breed). No bedding in box or a heat pack. Temps at night were dripping to 52/56 degrees in my area and a high of 85. Not sure what temps were along the way. Unboxed into a preheated brooder that I have used many times with no deaths. Have thermometers to monitor temps. Did have some fluctuation with the hot days and cold nights they are in a Brooder inside a small room we built in our garage. The room is not drafty. Dipped beaks in water. Have given electrolytes and probiotics. First one started fading the next day and I lost three more almost daily. Ive done so many things, nutri drops, sugar water, scrambled eggs, egg yolk. Watch the temp all the time. They can move in and out of heat as heat is on one end and brooder is at 3 feet long and 2.5 feet wide. Left for five hours today for appts and shopping, seen no signs of fading before leaving and two more dead. I have consulted with the breeder, I have discussed with chicken friends. At first it seemed to be the more fragile ones. But these today were growing. They are 10 days today, so these ones made it past the first week. Im at a loss. Can cold during shipping take them this long to pass? Temp this morning was 90. Fresh water and food. Pasty butts on a hand-full the first few days but none since. My chicks I shipped in the week before did great and are thriving, no losses and were in the exact same set up as the second shipment is now. Any advice? I hate to lose them all. Thanks

I had nearly this same thing happen in March. I ordered 4 of one type and 4 of another from our feed mill. I have two brooders here and have raised hundreds of chicks before them. I always used medicated feed in winter and unmedicated in the summer, (Wisconsin) but not sure either makes any difference whatsoever as I just know my own never got sick. These started dying one every other day at about a week old. I bought Corid and treated them, but they still kept dying. I ended up with 3 out of the 8 and to this day, do not know what was wrong. I have since raised at least 100 more chicks without issues.

When I told our farmer neighbor about this, she said she would never order chickens from that feed mill as she had exactly the same thing happen a few months earlier with turkeys.

I've got to assume these chicks and her turkeys were from the same hatchery, but don't know which one it is, so I too won't go back there. I also will never order chicks until warmer temperatures.

Good luck with yours and I hope the rest make it!

 

[triciayoung]

Tha

What are you using for heat?
Have you measured the temp on the floor of the brooder at both ends?

This is really good and I hope is somewhere for new chicken owners. Most do not know where to measure temperatures.

 

[Punkinsdogmom]

I might move them indoors and change food brands. Just in case something environmental or in their food is causing it. It’s just the one breed dying? Not the 3 others?

It was just the one batch of shipped in Chicks. They are inside a room that was built in my garage in a brooder and there is another brooder in same room, chicks are doing well in that brooder. I did start Corid and did not lose anymore chicks.

 

[Punkinsdogmom]

Is the breeder npip? Have you tried treating for Coccidosis?

I did start Corid, I appreciate the tip, as I had been in constant contact with the breeder and Coccidia was never brought up. No more dying babies. Thanks

 

[McChooky]

I ordered 2 cockerels and 13 pullets (4 different breeds) from Murray McMurray in April and all of them survived. The only ones I came close to losing were the 2 crested cream legbar cockerels. They were frail and small from day 1 but showed improvement in a week. Some breeds have a higher mortality rate than others and few hatcheries mention this.