urgent! I am raising chicks off season NEED EGGSPERT FAST

[maf2008]

Ugent! I am raising different breed chicks off season NEED "EGGSPERT" FAST- I want to sell hens in the spring and I have some real expensive chicks coming soon- Some of my chicks are STILL dying every day, They all look healthy then, a few will look limp, cold and then "squashed flat" next morning about 1- 5 are dead every morning!

I have done everything right...... I am raising new chicks from Ideal (I love the service!) in a large wire dog pen in the garage.....2 heat lamps, medicated feed, antibotics (corrid or sulmet) in the water as a preventive....( I am not losing the chicks INSIDE the garage)

When chicks are 1 month old and almost all are feathered, I place them in a large rabbit hutch, (off of the ground 3 feet and has hardware cloth, too cold for snakes) lots of fresh clean hay, more medicated feed, antibotics, heavy plastic and 2 large 250 watt heat lamps......( this is the pen that 1-5 are dying every day and I do not know why...?)

I was thinking to keep ALL ages of chicks in my garage and make a "circle" of round hardware cloth about 10 feet around and keep the chickens in the garage for another month?

What else am I doing wrong? Please help. am getting Speckeled Sussex today and I just got in the last shipment of coo coo marins, welsummers and nacked necks HELP I do not want to lose my new chicks! hugs to anyone that can figure this out.

 

[card5640]

No idea, but mold in the food? I would put fresh water in and no medicine until you see an issue that warrants that treatment.

 

[Chickenaddict]

I am not sure what could be the cause. I will say that I would NOT be bringing in new chicks when you still have a problem with the other ones dying. Until you figure out what is going on I would hold off on bringing any new chicks in. ALso I don't think it's a good idea to have them on medicated feed on top of sulmet or corrid in their water, sounds to me like they are overmedicated which could be the cause of the deaths

 

[teach1rusl]

Two things popped into my head: 1) That you need to thoroughly scrub the rabbit hutch (w/bleach or whatever) in case some kind of virus is attached to it... I'm not an expert, just thinking of logical possibilities... 2) Even with heat lamps, doesn't a wire bottom put the chicks in a direct draft???? Cold air coming up through the floor and out wherever??? I don't know what state you're in, so maybe it's a hot weather area and this wouldn't apply. But HERE it gets down in the 30s and 40s at night now. My chicks/pullets are 8 wks, so I couldn't imagine their floor being open to the air, even if they had a lamp shining down...it would be a total vaccuum draft in my coop. Could either of these apply to your situation????

 

[Katy]

First off it isn't a good idea to be medicating them as a preventative. The feed already has amprol (corid) in it. The sulmet is not needed.

Unless your temps are terrifically cold or it's a very large hutch I think two 250 watt bulbs is probably much more heat than you need. If you have it totally enclosed in plastic they could very well be overheating and dying from that.

 

[Tuffoldhen]

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I'm with Katy on this one. You do not need meds of any kind other than atheir medicated chick starter/grower. Sounds like too much heat!

 

[neferset]

Are they huddled in a corner when you find them like that? Are they EEs by any chance?

I had a weird situation with month old EEs from Ideal. I had a heat lamp I was sharing between two brooders. Brooder A had babies so the light was more focused on them. Brooder B had my month olds from Ideal. I noticed that Brooder B was getting crowded so I made plans to split them up. When this started to happen, I thought I didn't do it fast enough or they weren't getting warm enough.

Each morning I had a dead month old baby chick. I tried moving the light to make sure they had enough heat without freezing the babies. I split them into two brooders. I took 5 chicks outside to our outdoor brooder. In the end, I moved them all to my side room into an unheated pen. I have not lost a chick since and illogically, they have stopped huddling. I put it down to the amount of traffic in the area and the fact that they would pile on top of each other right where the light was from the heat lamp. The one on the bottom would smother. I'm not sure if this is right and my solution was far from perfect, but I took a chance.

 

[noitulover]

i agree with everyone else's info...

but squashed flat to me sounds like they are getting trampled in an effort to get closest to the heat lamps.


i would bring them back inside and get them all "healthy". then i would scrub that rabbit hutch super clean. when they are FULLY feathered, i would put them back in it, and see how things go from there.

in the mean time, i would take OUT the antibiotics from the water. those are for when a chick is sick, and will not be a good "preventative" measure. if you want to put somehing in the water, go buy organic apple cider vinegar, and put just about a 1/2 to 1 tbsp per gallon. this will help them to establish good gut flora.

also, check the food to make sure it is still fresh. (no mold; not damp) make sure you're storing it in an almost air tight, dry place.

check for other behaviors like sneezing, gagging, etc.

good lucK! let us know hoow things go!

 

[maf2008]

Nope, Not cold air... from hardcloth floor. I place lots of dry fluffy hay for warmth, 2 heat lamps and heavy plastic, the inthrnal tempm is between 80 ish in most places away from light.

I love your idea about the bleach for cleaning... I'll do that next time. The weather here at night is in the mid 50's with a lam they should not be too cold. I did decide to keep all chicks in my garage until age 6 weeks in a "hoop" of wire cloth (hardware) that is movable and the area can be vleaned.

I wish I knew what is the problem! Thanks for the input.

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[maf2008]

Hi I think this is it! The chicks are all huddled and "squash" each other the dead chicks are FLAT and trampled. The chicks all want to huddle in a corner and be closest to the light. Should I move the heat lights? This is a standard rabbit hutch and I cant move them into my garage unless I make another pen The dog crate is full of chicks.

Good news the next batch of chicks outside are fine.

We put 4 flood lights on them in a covered area at night by the roost with lots of hay. Not too many losses there at all. I REALLTY think they are just squashing each other.

Any more ideas on what to do now please anyone?

mostly leghorn rir crosses and a few ee mix

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