They are dieing! What's wrong?

[beckyloveschicks]

I received 6 Ameraucana chicks from Ideal on 8/8. On Friday morning, I found 1 dead in the brooder. On Saturday, 2 more were dead. I thought that maybe they were getting too cold. The overnight temp recently dropped from the 70s to the mid to low 60s, but they have a heat lamp. So I moved them inside still using the heat lamp. The temp under the lamp is about 85-90. This morning, 2 more were dead. The only thing I noticed was that one (that died today) had bloody poop yesterday. I know that is bad, but he was the only one and he was one of the last to die.

There are 4 other chicks the same age in the brooder, all fine, and 4 that are a week older, all thriving. Could there have been something wrong with that batch of birds?

BTW, I cleaned the brooder this morning and changed out all the pine shavings.

So my precious tinted egg layers that I coveted so badly are down to just one.

 

[barney]

Gee Becky, I'd put them in a big Toitlet paper box and wire on the top with the heat lamp on that. I'd really make sure your brooder is extra sanitized before putting them back in. Good luck.
you'll most likely get better answers from someone else...but that's what I would do first off.

 

[silkiechicken]

Bloody poop... by any chance did they touch the soil, come across anything that touched adult birds? Bloody stools tells me that they have cocci. Drafts and chilling can make them more susceptible to parasites such as cocci. If they do have cocci, treat with sulmet asap.

 

[beckyloveschicks]

Nope, they haven't been in contact with any adult birds.

 

[priszilla]

are they on medicated feed?
unless with momma birds I keep my babies off dirt (on shelf liner for the first 2 weeks usually- then shavings) for about a month or so if they are under a week-I'd call the hatchery

 

[ChickenToes]

The bloody poo makes it sound like cocci.