Stressful start with first time flock

[Perris]

this may be useful,
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/brooding-chicks-the-first-6-weeks.74640/

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I once fried chicks in a tote with a heat lamp. I put a thermometer in it and it exploded.

 

[rebrascora]

Plastic totes are not ideal as they contain the heat, so that it is difficult to have a cool area for food and water. Even worse if you have them in the house where the ambient temperature of the room causes it to be even warmer. You definitely do not want the lid on even with a hardware cloth window in it. Replace the lid with a full sheet of hardware cloth at the very least and I would cut the sides out and cover those with hardware cloth too to allow air flow maybe 5 inches above the ground level on two sides.
Having said that it sounds like you are going to need a larger brooder pronto with that many chicks which will be growing fast, so better to build something bigger. Large cardboard boxes stuck together with holes cut through to create rooms works well, then you can have the heat source in one box and the food and water in an adjacent box which is unheated and you can add extra boxes as they grow. Having the food and water in a cool part of the brooder is really important because bacteria will rapidly grow in warm water and also the chicks need cold water to cool down if they are too hot..... imagine if they were outside with a broody hen, they would be running about in the cold and just snuggle under the hen when they need to warm up, so don't fall into the mistaken belief that the whole brooder needs to be warm.

 

[aart]

this may be useful,
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/brooding-chicks-the-first-6-weeks.74640/

I hate that this shows totes with heat lamps...SMH....some good info there tho.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

A tote is doable with a 75 watt ceramic heat emitter but NOT with a 250Watt infrared lamp.

 

[tpatricco]

Thanks everyone. I truly appreciate all the replies and knowledge and advice. We moved them all into a dog crate with the Brinsea instead of the infrared light. I feel so much better already. Hopefully we've turned the corner and things will be better.

My Salmon Faverolle still has the watery eyes, but doesn't seem to be sneezing anymore. I gavd her some VetRx on her beak and under the wings and washed her eyes with saline. She is eating and drinking (and pooping of course) so I'm really hoping it was respiratory irritation and not disease. None of the others have any symptoms. Fingers crossed.

We need some better, healthier happy days after all this.
Trish

 

[aart]

A tote is doable with a 75 watt ceramic heat emitter but NOT with a 250Watt infrared lamp.

Or even a 75W red reptile bulb.
Article kind of explains that but the impression from the pics is a big heat bulb....many don't read the words.

 

[Norcal527]

Make sure you do not have cedar shavings as they can cause respiratory distress in chicks. I'm sorry for your losses... that's the hardest part of raising baby chicks...even if you do everything right you will still lose some. They are delicate and sometimes they just have internal issues. One other thing I've learned is to keep them on paper towels or puppy pads for the first week and sprinkle a little food around near their feeder. This keeps them from eating wood shavings and getting their fill and not eating enough food. Good luck with your chicks!

 

[tpatricco]

Make sure you do not have cedar shavings as they can cause respiratory distress in chicks. I'm sorry for your losses... that's the hardest part of raising baby chicks...even if you do everything right you will still lose some. They are delicate and sometimes they just have internal issues. One other thing I've learned is to keep them on paper towels or puppy pads for the first week and sprinkle a little food around near their feeder. This keeps them from eating wood shavings and getting their fill and not eating enough food. Good luck with your chicks!

Thank you! I have them on newspaper with paper towels on top. No shavings at this point. My Salmon seems better this morning. Only one eye needed a saline wash. No sneezing at all. She seems to be acting normal otherwise too. Hope she'll be all good soon.

 

[tpatricco]

I once fried chicks in a tote with a heat lamp. I put a thermometer in it and it exploded.

I can't believe how many plastic tote brooders are recommended - they literally seem to be everywhere on Pinterest, bloggers recommend them etc. And for us it was a nightmare. It definitely was not clear to me that the chicks would be fine with indoor room temperatures and just needed the Brinsea as a place to go for warmth when needed. This whole 95 degrees and 5 degrees less per week thing was definitely a stumbling point for me. Thing was, I had a thermometer in the brooder and it was registering in the 80-85 degree range but was still too hot for the chicks overall. I definitely think it was the lack of ventilation - because in the brooding room at Jersey Chickens it was tropical hot - and those birds all seemed to be doing ok.

So much more learning curve than I expected - and I truly felt I had taken the time to learn and understand before getting chicks. Thanks for your post - I appreciate knowing I'm not the only one who learned this lesson the hard way.