Six baby chicks suddenly died?

[superpenguin]

I bought some baby silkie bantams at the feed store yesterday. They were under a heat lamp (the same type the store used) and had chick starter/grower and water in chick feeders.

They were fine yesterday, and when I checked them today they had all suddenly died. They were still warm from the heat lamp so I know they didn't freeze. Their food and water looked untouched. They were all lying on their backs with their feet stretched out - I thought they were just asleep at first.

Anyone know what would cause six chicks to suddenly die?

 

[FaithM]

Did you show them where the food was and dip their beaks in water when you first brought them home?

 

[superpenguin]

FaithM - I dipped their beaks in the water but they didn't drink, just walked away from it. They also seemed uninterested in their food. I assumed they just needed to get used to their new home before they were comfortable eating.

I got some ducklings at the same feed store and they are all perfectly healthy, just the chickens died for some reason.

 

[shmccarthy]

I wonder if they got chilled during the shipment to the feed store.. I ordered some bantam silkies from cackle and they ended up being in transit an extra day. Some were dead on arrival and the first 48 hours, 13 more had died. I dipped all their beaks, gave them electrolytes in their water and followed everything to a tee. But it turns out, if they had a particularly rough shipment, it really messes them up, and some just get too chilled to survive and are unable to survive. sorry about your chickies

 

[donrae]

Sorry about your chicks! Will the feed store refund you or replace them?

My only thought is, did they have enough space to get out from under the heat? Over heating can kill a chick pretty quickly. They need that one warm area from the heat lamp, but the rest of the brooder should be ambient temperature to allow them to cool off.

 

[realsis]

I'm so sorry about your chicks. That must have been devastating! I would defiantly call the feed store and get them replaced.the only thing I can think of is maybe they came ill.or got Jared around in shipping. Do you have a cool and warm area for them? Like above post said they also need to be able to get away from the heat when they want. Again I'm very very sorry. I do hope they replace them without any problems. Let us know what happens after you contact the feed store ok. Best wishes

 

[superpenguin]

Thank you everyone for your answers and your concern. I've been considering every option and I think, like y'all said, they may have just been harmed while shipping. Either that, or the power went out at some point while I was at work and they were too cold without the lamp. I've been doing some research and there doesn't seem to be anything else that would cause all six of them to die so quickly.

The tank they were in is pretty big, about four feet long and two feet wide, so they should have been able to get away from the heat if they got too warm. The lamp was just on one side of the tank.

I'll definitely see what I can do about getting them replaced, and hopefully I won't have the same problem. Thank you all again, I really appreciate you all taking the time to answer my question!

 

[ten chicks]

One more thing for you to check is the heat lamp itself,make sure heat lamp or surrounding casing/clamps,etc do not contain any teflon. Teflon is toxic to birds and will cause death.

 

[superpenguin]

Ten chicks - Okay, thank you! I will definitely make sure to check on that.