Weird dead chicks.

[happybooker1]

Chicks are almost 6 weeks old. Several different breeds. Yesterday about sunset I moved them from my first house to a coop at my new house. Coop was inspected by me & adult son (inherited with the property). There are no gaps or holes that we could see.

This AM I checked on chicks. All there & accounted for. Eating fine, scrambling for mealworms, had 2 waterers.

Between 9-ish & 3-ish when I checked on them again I found a dead chick. Between 6 & 10pm when I JUST checked them -- another dead chick.

The chicks are completely whole, seem uninjured, & no blood. Just lying on the straw on the coop floor. They look "wet" around the head/neck area though. The waterers are 1 standard chicken waterer & 1 nipple waterer. No way for them to get into water & coop is completely dry. They were both lying near the middle of the floor, not in a nest box or under a perch.

All chicks seem alert, drinking & eating well, & hopping up into the nest boxes. No sickly-looking ones. 2 different breeds were dead. No change in food or methods of feeding.

Any ideas? I'm baffled.

 

[Kiki]

Heat?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

How secure is your coop? Any chance a predator got in?

Having wet heads/necks makes me think of "slobber" from a predator, but...not to gross anyone out, sometimes fluid/water from the crop can also "leak" once dead.

 

[bobbi-j]

Check for little bite marks under the wings or on the neck. Kind of like little "vampire" marks. That would likely be a weasel. Sometimes that's all they do - bite the neck or under the wing and lap up the blood. I lost a dozen 6-week olds in one night that way. (I discovered them when asked to show my chickens to a guest who had never been on a farm before! )

 

[wildknives]

I dont understand why my peeps look like they have been stomped on. They are just Flat. I have them in a horse trough. with the lamp at one end the food in the middle and the water at the opposite end from the heat. There are only 6 or 7 peeps in this big area. I'm stumped.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I dont understand why my peeps look like they have been stomped on. They are just Flat. I have them in a horse trough. with the lamp at one end the food in the middle and the water at the opposite end from the heat. There are only 6 or 7 peeps in this big area. I'm stumped.

I'm sorry for your loss.
How many did you start with and how many are left?

That is odd...any photos of your set-up?
If you have photos of the stomped on chicks you can add those too - just put "warning graphic".
Just asking questions here...anyone have access to the brooder where possibly they got in and chicks were stepped on?

 

[luckychick105]

Chicks are almost 6 weeks old. Several different breeds. Yesterday about sunset I moved them from my first house to a coop at my new house. Coop was inspected by me & adult son (inherited with the property). There are no gaps or holes that we could see.

This AM I checked on chicks. All there & accounted for. Eating fine, scrambling for mealworms, had 2 waterers.

Between 9-ish & 3-ish when I checked on them again I found a dead chick. Between 6 & 10pm when I JUST checked them -- another dead chick.

The chicks are completely whole, seem uninjured, & no blood. Just lying on the straw on the coop floor. They look "wet" around the head/neck area though. The waterers are 1 standard chicken waterer & 1 nipple waterer. No way for them to get into water & coop is completely dry. They were both lying near the middle of the floor, not in a nest box or under a perch.

All chicks seem alert, drinking & eating well, & hopping up into the nest boxes. No sickly-looking ones. 2 different breeds were dead. No change in food or methods of feeding.

Have you got them free ranging?

 

[happybooker1]

Not yet. I wanted them to spend at least 2 nights in the coop so they'd recognize it as home. I'm letting them out today but it's an enclosed area as well as roofed with tarp & netting. I'll let you know if anymore are dead today.

 

[happybooker1]

Here are the chicks this morning. No losses last night.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Glad to hear you have no more losses.

Cute chicks! I would have to agree with @bobbi-j something like a weasel could be the culprit. I love the old wood of your run ( I assume that is in your photo), is this where they are kept at night too? Or do they have a secured coop (with hardware cloth) for nighttime?