sudden death in 6 chicks(2 weeks old)

[hudley]

Hi
I've had 2 cases where a batch of -3 week old chicks died..almost spontaneously after being in my home for approximately 1 week. I called the fire dept to check on any gas issues(we have natural gas) and their hand held meter read zero. We also have CO2 detectors in our house.
I obtained the chicks at about 2 weeks old-they were eating organic food -no signs of illness, no signs of being too hot or cold--in essence, no signs of any illness at all and then within an hour all six chicks had died-the only alert I had was that one would make a noise and then kind of flutter around and then start panting and then stop breathing...and then the next one would do the same, etc.
This has happened twice within a few weeks! Any ideas?

 

[Yay Chicks!]

Welcome to BYC. I'm sorry you are joining us under such sad circumstances.

Can you tell us a little more?
Were both sets of chicks eating from the same batch of food? (wondering if there was an issue with the food, mold or whatever...) Chick feed, right?
What is their brooder like? Temp inside brooder? Fresh water all the time?
Type of bedding?
Did both batches of chicks come from the same place?

 

[hudley]

Hi-just figured out how to find responses...
Each set of chicks came from 2 different people -they both reported no problems with any other chicks from the same batch.
Food-the first set of chicks had one kind of food(no mold)-water always good-there didn't seem to be any GI issues-they drank water and pooped without difficulty-
the second set of chicks ate the same food that they had been eating at their old home(organic) and they also were doing great
the brooder was a new(cleaned) rubbermaid container with bedding from Agway-
the temperature was good-no chicks panting and avoiding the heat or huddled together under the lamp.
Both sets of chicks had no obvious symptoms of distress until about 1 hour before death --they started to flap around after a high-pitched squack and then they very quickly died(approx. 30" minutes later)
I had been cooking on a gas stove/electric oven both times that the chicks died-but the fire dept couldn't detect any gas issues .
I did have a liner in the stove to help with spills but I don't know what the liner was made of so it is possible that it emitted some kind of toxin when I was cooking
Thanks for any ideas.

 

[Paulajon]

Hi-just figured out how to find responses...
Each set of chicks came from 2 different people -they both reported no problems with any other chicks from the same batch.
Food-the first set of chicks had one kind of food(no mold)-water always good-there didn't seem to be any GI issues-they drank water and pooped without difficulty-
the second set of chicks ate the same food that they had been eating at their old home(organic) and they also were doing great
the brooder was a new(cleaned) rubbermaid container with bedding from Agway-
the temperature was good-no chicks panting and avoiding the heat or huddled together under the lamp.
Both sets of chicks had no obvious symptoms of distress until about 1 hour before death --they started to flap around after a high-pitched squack and then they very quickly died(approx. 30" minutes later)
I had been cooking on a gas stove/electric oven both times that the chicks died-but the fire dept couldn't detect any gas issues .
I did have a liner in the stove to help with spills but I don't know what the liner was made of so it is possible that it emitted some kind of toxin when I was cooking
Thanks for any ideas.

Sorry for your loss,
were you using any teflon cook ware I know that that can kill pet birds, or any chemical cleaners , sprays?

 

[hudley]

Thanks for your feedback-I wasn't using any teflon pans or chemical sprays but I am wondering if the liner in the oven was some kind of teflon

 

[Kay56]

What kind of heat lamp are you using...several folks here lost their birds to their red heat lamp bulbs being shatterproof. That kind lets off toxic fumes. Several posts on here about that so you can easily look up to see if that could be your problem...so sorry about your chicks.

 

[Paulajon]

Thanks for your feedback-I wasn't using any teflon pans or chemical sprays but I am wondering if the liner in the oven was some kind of teflon

I was wondering what type of bedding did you have, I have pet birds and also chickens and I know that cedar shavings is toxic to pet birds. Was thinking maybe the bedding had something in it.