UPDATE: Possibly bad feed. HELP! Chicks are 18 days old, slowly dying

[artathart]

Totally agree about keeping clean water at all times and washing your hands and removing your shoes. I wear gloves when handling anything inside my chicks brooder since I have 3 set up. I never place a water bottle from one brooder in a different one. I always, Always disinfect the brooders every week and change bedding. I keep Hand sanitizer in my booding room. No one is allowed in or out without sanitizing their hands. I have my water feeders sitting up on stacked tiles because when they are on the ground in the shavings, they kick up all kinds of stuff in their water including poop. I agree if you have birds outside you should ALWAYS wash your hands before doing anything with the chicks.

 

[Hollywood Chickens]

In my opinion it is mold, if the basement gets moldy I bet their food is getting moldy and the ones that are eating the mold are dying off.
I would move them somewhere less damp or put 'Damp-Rid' near (not in or close enough for them to get to it) the brooder.

If it was a hatching illness wouldn't it strike them all at once?

Also what fruit are you feeding and what is its condition?

sorry you are going through this, it is tough watching them die.

 

[wegotchickens]

Quote:
How long have the other 2 roosters been gone?

 

[artathart]

Also I was thinking that maybe someone in the raising chicks section/tread could help you?

 

[Missouri Chicken Chick]

I think I may have figured out at least a possibility. I was at the feed store today buying a couple new waterers and overheard a gentleman talking about his chicks having the same type problem I was having. He also knew of someone else who was also having the same issues. He was asking the feed store if anybody else had complained. The woman at the counter said that a few people had mentioned the same sort of problem. It turns out that all of us have been using the same feed, so I am thinking that it's maybe a problem with the feed being possibly contaminated or just old. It is mixed there at the feed store and I am beginning to wonder if they possibly have a mouse problem. Obviously the bags didn't have any holes in them where mice had chewed through, but I am wondering if it's mice getting into it before they actually bag it. The store clerk said she "doubted" that was the problem. I went outside to talk to the man and he said he knows someone who works there who said it is not uncommon for them to mix large groups of feed, leave it overnight, and not bag it until the morning. Luckily, three days ago I bought some Kent chick starter, a much higher quality feed. It comes delivered to their store in a plastic type feed bag that is much harder for mice to get into and it is not exposed to anything that might be going on at the feed store. I made sure I got a bag that was recently delivered, not one of the older bags.

As of today, everybody seems to be doing well. I have stopped doing anything other than feeding them the better feed and making sure that their water is clean and fresh every few hours. This morning they actually seemed a bit perkier than they have been in the past, so I am hoping the worst is over. I will definitely not be buying that type of feed anymore.

Just wondering if anyone else has had this same type of situation? It has been devastating, but hopefully that is the problem and not some of the other awful things I had thought it might be.

 

[artathart]

Quote:
That is just horrible! I would insist that the feed store replace all the baby chicks I had lost due to contaminated feed. Esp since there were so many others complaining as well.

 

[SparkyCrows]

I lost a bunch of chicks due to bad feed several years ago. It was a store brand....never buying the stuff again!

 

[ScissorChick]

Last year we had a bunch of chicks hatch out, and EVERY time we would feed them,

they would have these.....Seizure type things. Looked into the feed and it had Clumps

of what I'm thinking was mold.

It looks like they wold recall it or somthing after

the first complaint. It's horrible you lost all those chicks to that. They need to quit

selling the feed, or take better care of it when they mix it, and bag it as soon as they're

done.

 

[Chickenman420]

Thank goodness you may have found your answer!!! I have raised several different litters, all in a basement, thirty feet from the closest window which I never opened, NO natural light, under a red heat lamp that stayed on twenty four hours a day. I chose to raise them this way, because I didn't want any drafts.I raised them indoors for several weeks, and as long as you don't have a closed lid on your brooder, I don't see that carbon monoxide should ever be a problem (I use wire). I never fed anything other than Purina medicated chick starter along with fresh water. Yes, they sell special "chick grit" that is smaller, but I've never fed it with chick crumbles, and I don't think anyone has ever lost any chicks from not giving grit if all they were feeding was medicated chick crumbles. Stick with the crumbles until they feather on out and get grown enough for "treats"- they've got the rest of their life for that. I have raised three different litters like this just this year, all are very healthy and happy, and I haven't lost a chick as of yet, knock on wood ;-) Happy farming, and good luck!!!