Slowly loosing chicks of all ages

[Evergreen_Chicken_Ranch]

Hello, I have baby chicks ranging in age from a few days to three weeks. One by one they are dying. They get weak, stop acting like lively chicks, get tired and droopy, sprawl out and die. They stop using their feet when you pick them up to touch the ground, don't respond to sound, wings lightly elevated off body. Brooding in a chest freezer with no top, thought maybe carbon dioxide? Put a small fan on a timer every 6 minutes every hour. Lost one more and have a weak one right now. Black australorps, sapphire splashes black australorps black copper Marans. Feeding 18% duck and goose feed. I'm putting in electrolytes today to see if it helps. Please help. Brooded 50 layers and 1000 meatbirds last year, can barely keep my 15 going this year.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Feeding 18% duck and goose feed.

Welcome To BYC

Can you please post photos of the chicks, the brooder and their poop?

If you are using a red heat lamp, please take photos with it on and off. The red light makes it hard to see colors of poop, etc.

What is the temperature in the brooder on the warm side and the cool side?

18% duck and goose feed - is this a mini pellet or crumble?
Do you have chick starter available?

 

[Evergreen_Chicken_Ranch]

Hello, I have baby chicks ranging in age from a few days to three weeks. One by one they are dying. They get weak, stop acting like lively chicks, get tired and droopy, sprawl out and die. They stop using their feet when you pick them up to touch the ground, don't respond to sound, wings lightly elevated off body. Brooding in a chest freezer with no top, thought maybe carbon dioxide? Put a small fan on a timer every 6 minutes every hour. Lost one more and have a weak one right now. Black australorps, sapphire splashes black australorps black copper Marans. Feeding 18% duck and goose feed. I'm putting in electrolytes today to see if it helps. Please help. Brooded 50 layers and 1000 meatbirds last year, can barely keep my 15 going this year.

 

[Prince and Pavo]

Hello! I could be wrong, but that does sound kind of like oxygen shortage and too much carbon dioxide. Can you move them to a brooder with more ventilation? Also, is it too hot? Are the chicks all spread out on the sides of the brooder?

 

[Evergreen_Chicken_Ranch]

90 degrees warm side and showing 84 on the cool side, normally brood in cardboard totes from work 40x48 or tape them together to make big areas for the meatbirds, normally use red heat lamps. Got a freezer for free that didn't work and wanted to try a brooder for it, only using 60w incandescent bulbs with the nice insulation. Lively birds coo and chirp like regular chickens, the one who is currently afflicted is in an isolation box to try and keep her from being stepped on. Do I abandon the freezer? Turn it into feed storage? Is it toxic offgassing? I am so lost. Poop appears pretty normal, color, just a tish on the dry side. Waterer is a 1.25 gallon pail, everyone is using the nipples.

 

[Evergreen_Chicken_Ranch]

Feed is a crumble, I'll check the store tomorrow, they were out of regular chick feed, would 23% broiler starter perhaps be better? Last picture of her foot shows how she seems weak and doesn't use her claws like a normal chick

 

[Perris]

Co2 is heavier than air - they are probably slowly suffocating in that chest freezer

 

[Evergreen_Chicken_Ranch]

I turned the fan back off and moved them back to a cardboard brooder to see if the issues go away. Meanwhile I'm going to cut some holes at the lowest level and screen them, see if I can make the chest freezer work better

 

[Prince and Pavo]

Good luck and I hope that that solves the problem!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

How are things going since you made a few changes?