Sudden chick death...what could be the cause?

[mkr]

I think one of my chicks just choked to death or had a seizure. As I was watching, it went up to the feeder, got pushed out of the way by another one, fell over backward and started flailing around, and couldn't get up. By the time I got the brooder door open, it was dead. Is there a specific disease I don't know about that could cause these symptoms? Can/do baby chicks choke on their food? Should I be worried or on the look out for anything in particular with the other 16. The only issue I've had so far is pasting up. It was too hot in the brooder, so I adjusted the heat lamp and mixed molasses in with their water. That was on Friday. They seem fine now and I'm planning to stop the molasses when I change their water tomorrow.

Any thoughts would be appreciated. I'm pretty bummed about this and I want to keep the rest of them healthy.

 

[mkr]

Any ideas...?

 

[cary 1973]

How scary and sad sorry for your loss I'm new at this so no help hear but would really like to hear what the experts have to say

 

[Hamstery]

i wish i could help, but i really have no idea being that i am a newbie to baby chicks myself. i hope someone has some info for you. i'm sorry, i'm sure it's discouraging to not know why the little chick died.

 

[Sweetlilbaby]

Chicks can choke on their food if the pieces are to big. If it was a healthy chick to begin with I'd guess it choked on a piece of food.

 

[mkr]

So I just found this...


"Sudden death syndrome is a condition associated mainly with commercial broiler systems, where apparently healthy birds suddenly die for no apparent cause. It tends to occur from 72 hours post-hatching up to 12 weeks of age, with the greatest losses occurring between 2 and 3 weeks.
The condition is also referred to as flip-over, acute death syndrome (ADS), dead in good condition, heart attack or lung oedema. It is associated with fast-growing broiler birds and is therefore unlikely to be a problem in organic table birds.
There are no clinical signs or unusual behaviour until less than a minute before death. Then there may be a sudden squawking, loss of balance, convulsions and frantic wing flapping. Birds tend to die on their backs (hence the term "flip-over"), with one or both legs raised.
At post-mortem birds show an enlarged, pale liver and kidneys may be pale and lungs congested and edamatous, although the latter may be a postmortem artifact.
As part of Defra-funded project AW0221 “Extensive table bird production - health and parasite status monitoring”, ADAS (2002) showed that in medium to fast growing breed-types, high specification rations tended to increase the incidences of ‘flip overs’ and leg culls."

...on organicvet.co.uk. I linked into it from this site. This is exactly what happened to my chick, except that I'm pretty sure it was an austrolorp. I thought they were more medium sized egg layer types.

I've also been reading about something called 'Early Poult Flip-over' over on the Diseases and Emergencies forum...which is probably where I should have posted this question, I guess.

I don't know what to think. I just hope the rest of them stay healthy.