Suffocated Chicks?

[renovationmom]

I had 13 baby chicks, ranging from 1 to 3 weeks old, in a plastic swimming pool, located inside my laundry room. The room stays about 70, and I have a brooder lamp with a 100 watt bulb pointed down on one side of pool. It got down to about 40 here last night, which is not normal here in Texas, and this morning, I found three of the smallest baby chicks under the light, on their sides, and it looked as if they may have been crushed? They appeared to be flat.

Can anyone please tell me if this is what happened, and how to prevent it from happening again, do I need a higher watt bulb, another lamp, or, is there something else wrong here?

Thank You in advance for the help!

 

[BlackBrookPoultry]

They probably got too cold and all tried to pile under the warmest part of the light. Some of them got trampled. Is your laundry room getting cold at night? I have my chicks in the house and use a 250 watt red bulb about 20 inches off the floor of their cage.

 

[Nicole01]

That is not enough heat for the babies. The temp needs to be 95 degrees and in an undrafty area. If they dont make it, it's because they are too cold. I have my girls in a guinea pig cage with all sides covered with a 250 heat lamp. I still had a baby get cold and needed to cover the top. They need more heat.

 

[wildcat chix]

I suggest keeping them more warm as the others have, but just on the side... I had found one of my baby chics dead under the light about a week ago. This chic also appeared to be crushed and my first thought was that the other chics might have crushed the little one. However I believe now that the chic was trambled on BUT AFTER it had already passed..... I wish I could help more but I'm learning myself!!!!! Goodluck with the rest!

 

[Nicole01]

I'm also very sorry for your loss.

. It's never easy to lose a pet no matter how long they were with us.

 

[renovationmom]

Thank you all for the great advice. I went to town and found a 250 watt heat lamp bulb to put in my brooder/pool. It is covering a good part of the pool, yet there are areas they can go if it gets too hot. Our lows get around 55 at night, but it gets up to 85-90 in the day.

I live in a 1912 home I am renovating, and with the 10 foot ceilings, 5000 square feet of house, wood fireplace heating(only used twice this winter)all the heat goes up and stays there. So all the rooms in the house vary with day/night/weather. There certainly will be drafts and tempature changes.

The laundry room, being the smallest room at 300 square feet, seemed the best place to control temperature, and it is the only room in the house that does not have 6 floor to ceiling windows and 5 doors(not kidding about the doors) just one door and one window.

My hen hatched and raised 3 chicks in January, and they did just fine out in the coop, without heat and the coop is open in front, just some turkey wire, closed with metal roofing on top and three sides, all the hens, chicks and roosters are in one big coop. I only have silkies, and they will not roost(and I have all sizes and height perches for them), they all pile on top of one another at night, in the nest boxes, with the mother hens and chicks, roosters sitting in front of nest box just outside. Been this way for 5 years, no problems. I just now started ordering hatching eggs, day olds and incubating eggs, before then, I just let nature do its thing.

Everything I read said you just need a plastic bin and a brooder lamp with a 100 watt bulb in it, to raise baby chicks. I am thankful for the good advice and help, and I certainly will put it to use, I just wish I had known then what I know now, I would still have my babies.

 

[Nicole01]

Good luck with the renovations. You have your work cut out with such a large home. I bet it's beautiful! Are you going with another breed or are you adding new silkies? My hubby really shows an intrest in the silkies. Perhaps in a few years we will get a hen. We don't have any roosters due to the neighbors.

 

[felidaet]

You need to do a couple of things.

1) Check the temperature in the brooder at the level of the chicks. It needs to be 95 degrees at the level of the chicks for the 1st week and then reduce he temperature (by raising the light) by 5 degrees each week.

2) Watch the behavior of the chicks. Are they cuddled up under the heat? Are they running around the brooder? Are they staying as far away from the heat as possible? This will help tell you how the temperature is.

3) Make sure you protect them from drafts.

 

[renovationmom]

@ Nicole01- Thank you for your help and advice. Yes, my house has been and continues to be a great deal of work. I am working on most of it myself, as time and budget allows, and I do not have much of either. But even now, I find it a very comfortable home, and as I look around, I see it the way It will look finished. The most important thing my home has is love.

I did start out with a few different types of chickens, then I bought a silkie, and found my perfect pet, so now they are the only breed I have. They are so sweet, and calm. I carry one little rooster around like some people carry their little dogs around. They are so unique.

@ felidaet- Thank you for your advice and help. Since my chicks range in age from 1 to 3 weeks old, ,I find they are doing different things at different times. The youngest ones fall asleep in the food dish, which half of it is under the light. Some are running around, others are spawled out on their sides(always scary when I see this) some are using one another as a pillow,some are under the light, others are not. But at night, just like my adult silkies do, they pile up on top of each other to sleep. My adult silkies will not roost, they sleep in a big pile at night, even on the warmest summer night. I have placed some low perches for them, but they will not use them.