Two deaths in the last 24 hours

[tomw]

Hello! We are first time chicken owners. We bought 8 chicks that were born on 10/5 and we have had them for about 3.5 weeks. They have all been fine, one has always acted a bit odd... much less active than the others. Except for that, they have all been fine... we have been starting to let them outside for playtime 10-15 minutes at a time.

Last night we came home and our light bulb had gone out. The chicks were all piled up in a corner and one had suffocated. This first one to die had been the one that we felt was always a "little off". Today everything seemed back to normal but we came home to another dead bird. Both dead birds were australorps.

Tonight another one of our birds is laying down a lot, wont walk around the box or when we let it out on the floor.

Could we be doing something wrong? Our birds are still inside in a box, it is about 20in x 20 inch. We have a 60 watt bulb on them that we backed down from 75 about a week ago. It has been in the 80s during the day and 50s at night, is it time for them to transition outside?

 

[delisha]

What is the temp inside the box where the chicks are? Do they have fresh water available? Do you free feed? What are you feeding?

 

[Chicks on DL]

I don't have a clue. I am bumping so someone with experience can help you.

 

[littlecritters]

Sorry...I cant recall which disease manifests itself in chicks after a few weeks of life....try doing a google search on poutry disease. Cornell Univeristy may have a site that will be helpful.

 

[welasharon]

first thing to suspect is cocci and that is mainly because it kills quickly. Do a search on here and see if you think you need to treat it. I would if I evenly remotely suspected it.

 

[tomw]

Chicks have fresh water changed a couple times each day. They are being fed a medicated chick feed, have been since we got them. Their droppings all seem normal, not runny at all.

Temp in the box is 84.

 

[fried green eggs]

Chicks are pretty fragile the first few weeks. I would cook a egg for them to give them some added protine and some plain regular yogurt. Good luck

 

[delisha]

That all sounds good. How do the crops feel? How do the butts look? Add 1 tablespoon of ACV with M to a gallon of water and water them with that. Do you use electrolytes? What are you using for bedding? If it is just the same breed passing away, they might be from older hens. Older hens have a higher mortality rate after hatch, younger hens have a higher non hatch rate. You might be doing every thing right and they are simply not meant to survive.

 

[cowcreekgeek]

Havin' tech.nical difficulties w/ posting now, but this time? I didn't lose my post (click image for larger view ~'-)

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There are other possibility that I ain't gonna run down a list of, as you're most probably already stressed out worse than they ... sorry for the losses.

There's a list of links in the footer of my post (the signature), that all open in a new window. Click each, and bookmark 'em for later reference ... hope the rest continue to do well ~'-)

 

[delisha]

Good advise and great information