Unusually high mortality rates in chicks for 2013

[casportpony]

I will be vaccinating too, for coccidiosis. I've now had 2 that died and have never touched ground. And 3 that died that did touch ground and had no symptoms. I read that some cocci have no symptoms until hours before they die, or none that are noticeable. Especially with my Marek's vaccinated birds. Although they are Marek's resistant, they have not much resistance against common ailments.

Is the vaccine effective against all strains for all poultry? If it is, I think I'll want to vaccinate my 2013 peachicks.

-Kathy

 

[starlingdaly]

I think I figured it out!!! I think my chicks have rickets!!!! I started a new thread about poultry rickets and here it is for all interested:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...e-beaks-and-inability-to-walk-stand-in-chicks


Thanks everyone for helping me figure this out and teaching me all sorts of new things in the meantime!

 

[RoseMarie1]

My first chick was Polish. Out of 12 eggs I got 1 hatched. The one started peeping all the time, so hubby started giving her yogurt on his finger. That seemed to work. We stopped doing this because she would peep if she didn't get any. For the first 3 days, I thought I saw her eat, but pick and drop alot of feed as well. Day 5 she died.

Then I hatched 8 Polish chicks. I noticed I was throwing alot of scattered food away, Just about all of it. They, too were dropping a lot of feed. I was wondering something. I took their feed and ground it down with a hammer or rolling pin to smaller crumbles. They ate and stopped dropping 90% of what they did. My theory was that they were starving because the crumbles were to big. Crumbles are fine for normal size chicks, but I really wonder if some chicks don't survive because the crumbles are too big for them. They appear to be eating, but they are not actually swallowing. Around day 5 or so, they get weak and die. I always grind my crumbles for a week or so now and have never had another problem.

to start off with I ran mine through my food processor because they just could not eat it to start with. You could tell by the way they would pick up one then drop it for another. I was like this food is too big for them to eat! So I did that for at least a week on both batches of my chicks. Some say wet the food but in this heat I'm just afraid it will sour.

 

[ten chicks]

to start off with I ran mine through my food processor because they just could not eat it to start with. You could tell by the way they would pick up one then drop it for another. I was like this food is too big for them to eat! So I did that for at least a week on both batches of my chicks. Some say wet the food but in this heat I'm just afraid it will sour.

You can also add a bit of warm water,till consistency is like oatmeal. My chicks love this and gobble it up.

 

[trsturself]

We got 6 chicks in the mail today from Meyers. 1 was on the brink of death with no hope of saving. 4 were running around looking fine. The last we are worried about, she's so much smaller than everyone else. I mixed crushed food with yogurt, GSE, vitamins, and water. The smallest took a long time to get her eating but she is now so fingers crossed she makes it.

 

[starlingdaly]

We got 6 chicks in the mail today from Meyers. 1 was on the brink of death with no hope of saving. 4 were running around looking fine. The last we are worried about, she's so much smaller than everyone else. I mixed crushed food with yogurt, GSE, vitamins, and water. The smallest took a long time to get her eating but she is now so fingers crossed she makes it. 

Best of luck, hope she makes it!

 

[trsturself]

She didn't make it. She was fine at 11 last night when I went to bed. Checked on them at 8 this morning, she was dead as well as the most active chick we had. I was very surprised to see her dead. She was eating and drinking like crazy and running everywhere.

 

[starlingdaly]

She didn't make it. She was fine at 11 last night when I went to bed. Checked on them at 8 this morning, she was dead as well as the most active chick we had. I was very surprised to see her dead. She was eating and drinking like crazy and running everywhere.

Oh no, I'm so sorry.
It's so sad when they are starting to look better and then suddenly don't make it! It's one thing if you're already expecting something to die.

I came home from work today to find one of my new (5 day old) chicks sleeping and mostly unresponsive. I lightning fast mixed some warm honey water with electrolytes and dripped a tiny bit on her beak. She did drink, so I was able to give her several drops that way. She was also pretty cool, not warm like a chick should be, so I have her sleeping in the incubator to warm up. I call it the ICU.
I may try feeding her again in a bit. I don't have a lot of hope for her though. So sad, no idea what happened. She was fine when I left this morning.
Especially sad because she is a double laced Barnevelder and cost $12. Why couldn't it be the $4 Speckled Sussex if it had to be someone!
Oh well, I am doing my best. If she makes it through the night I will be VERY surprised.

 

[trsturself]

Fingers crossed for you! Yes, it is hard when it is unexpected. I got the weak one eating and drinking every hour (vitamins, yogurt, etc) and thought just maybe she would make it. I hope the next replacement batch does better.
Honestly I expected most of them to be dead when I received them since it had dipped down to 50 degrees that night!

 

[starlingdaly]

Mine didn't make it either.
It's also so sad when they are so tiny like this. I can only assume it had something to do with their journey here.
The rest are all zipping around the brooder and stealing things from each other and challenging the older chicks with chest bumps. Adorable behaviour for their age.