Some causes of EARLY CHICK MORTALITY

[dolfi]

A lot of good info

 

[MyGully]

please ASAP. My daughter brought home 6 baby chicks. 4 from a well known hatchery and 2 from a pet shop. The two died within two days of having them. I think they are between 4-7 days old total.
Both slowed down and didn't move as the others did, chirping , eating etc. the first just seemed to be a calm chick. I called the hatchery thinking it was one of theirs and the lady told me hers were inoculated and sometimes it's the luck of the draw, iow there are some babies that are weak. Now that the other does I am worried that the group will slowly get sick and die. In all my years of raising birds I haven't had very much trouble that I could not determine why the chick died.
My question is, do I put the others on antibiotics and feed them with anything special?
My daughter came today and said the ones that died were pet shop chicks, she felt that they probably were sick in the first place.
I hate it that they died in my care.
Thank anyone that answers, K.

 

[MyGully]

Argh, sorry but does anyone online have any comments. I am worried the others could have caught something.

 

[Cluckysnap123]

I don't breed, but when a local farmer was giving out fertilized eggs (to cook I think) I took a dozen and only half survived.

 

[chickydee64]

Argh, sorry but does anyone online have any comments. I am worried the others could have caught something.

I am sorry this happened and I do not really have advise................just did not want you to go unanswered any longer.
It is so hard to say if antibiotics are called for no knowing the cause of deaths.
Have you noticed any blood in the stool?
I would repost in the illness and disease thread.................I think you will receive the help you are looking for there..........

 

[Tourist9394]

I am getting Swedish Flowers and Mottled Java in early March, what is the mortality rate for chicks?

 

[Barnyard70]

Hi there, so sorry to hear about your chicks. I am not sure what kind of chicks you have or if this even relates to you..however, I had a horrible experience with our last batch of broiler chicks (all were vaccinated in the shell)..came from a reputable hatchery and started sneezing maybe two days later..then they started dropping off after that. The hatchery recommended Neotetramed, which I put in the waterers immediately. Seemed to help..death rate slowed right down which was a relief considering I was finding at least two (gone) every day. In the end, the death toll was 1/3 of the 60 I had..and left rethinking how to do this better next time..I have had great success with our previous batches which is why it stumped me so badly..even when temps, cleanliness and everything is followed to a tee on my end of things..still there can be something as small as catching a chill during transport from the hatchery that could wipe them out..since I live in a cooler climate this can be a big problem..I am leaning towards a local person who I heard was selling his broiler chicks at 4 wks of age..when they are ready to be off the brooder lamps..hope this helps a little..

 

[MyGully]

Just an update,
the four from the hatchery are alive and doing well. It must have been the trauma and exposure to disease and possibly not being inoculated that killed the other two. There should be a law that anyone dealing with animals have to abide by some regulations. This has been very upsetting for me. I also have parrots and I can just imagine that they could have spread something to them as well. thank you for your reply
.Fingers crossed the four will keep going well. K.

 

[PoultryPedia]

Very glad the other four are looking alright.

My guess is that a fair number of poultry diseases don't cross over to psittacines. I also hope your parrots don't have any problems.

 

[Arizonachick]

I'm having a situation and not a clue as to what is causing it. Last year my broody hens hatched and raised super healthy chicks without any problems or mortality what so ever. This year I've had 2 hens go broody so far. One hatched 3 of six shipped eggs and those chicks did ok for a couple of days and then started dropping off one by one. Just became lethargic and weak, had labored breathing and then died all before their first week of age. The second broody hatched one of her own eggs and several shipped eggs and we lost all four with the same symptoms. I also have 11 feedstore chicks that I brooded myself inside and they are over 3 weeks old now and super healthy and happy. I have tried everything I can think of with my broodys. I have cleaned and disinfected the brooder pen. Dusted with Permithrin and DE. I had ground up wood chips in the pen (the power company grinds up trees that interfere with the power lines and drop off truckloads of chips for us) for litter but I was worried that perhaps it might be the bedding so I raked it out and left a mostly dirt floor. I have paper litter in the nest box. I switched to medicated starter. I dont know what else to do and lost my last surviving chick this morning. I have another broody sitting on a clutch of expensive shipped eggs due to hatch in a few days and am so stressed out wondering how to prevent this happening yet again. I don't know if it matters, but my flock has had dry pox in the past. I don't know if that can affect newly hatched chicks? Should I vaccinate at 1 day and then at 6 weeks?Should I give them antibiotics? Does this sound bacterial? What else could this be? All the adults are healthy. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.