What am I doing wrong?-Polish Chicks

[DesireeB]

Yes, this is a mystery. Getting the chicks from a private breeder eliminates the cause of death as being shipping stress, assuming you picked them up without the breeder needing to ship them to you.

Failure to thrive is a very common cause of death, but going by the odds, it doesn't usually happen to that many chicks. That it did, it may mean the Polish breeding line from this breeder is flawed and producing weak chicks.

I really wish more people understood the reason for providing heat to baby chicks and how it needs to be adjusted downward as ambient temperatures increase. When the room or coop temp is above 80F, even new chicks may not require any additional heat as they will not lose much body heat when the days are that warm. At night when the chicks aren't consuming calories, they will need supplemental heat as the warmth from the day wanes and calorie consumption isn't generating body heat.

By heating chicks in a plastic brooding tote when the ambient temp is already high, the chicks cannot shed the excess heat building up in their bodies, and they die of heat exhaustion. The first sign of this heat stress is open beak panting, but you say this wasn't one of the symptoms, but you may have missed this early warning sign. But the other symptoms you identified are definitely signs of heat stress.

For starters, plastic totes make very poor brooders as they do not allow excess heat to dissipate. A heat lamp for brooding over a plastic tote is very, very difficult to regulate the right amount of heat chicks need.

A heat plate or heating pad system does provide a better and safer heat source because the chicks are able to self select when and how much heat they need, by moving under it and then out of it as they lose body heat or reach a proper body temperature. You might look into replacing the heat lamp when you brood your next baby chicks. Switching now may not work since the chicks have gotten used to the heat lamp and might not use the direct contact heat source.

Also, next time think about a brooder pen in your coop instead of a plastic tote. Many of us brood this way and the chicks have so much more space to grow and move about. Confining brooders have an effect on chick development that many new chicken people are not aware of. Read through my article on brooding in your run to understand how space can give chicks a much more complete opportunity to fully develop. https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...and-start-raising-your-chicks-outdoors.71995/

Thank you for all your advice! I will read your article so I should just create a separated are on the coop floor for chicks?

 

[azygous]

Yes, a temporary brooding pen will work fine, and you can even do it right away with some poultry netting marking off a corner of the coop. You will be amazed at how much happier and livelier your chicks will be in a more spacious brooding enclosure.

Later, it will be easy to make small openings in the enclosure so the chicks can explore the rest of the coop. I forget if you told us if these are your first chickens or if you have an established adult flock sharing the coop with the chicks. If there are no adult chickens, you really don't need a brooding pen until these chicks grow up and you get the next batch of babies.

 

[DesireeB]

Yes, a temporary brooding pen will work fine, and you can even do it right away with some poultry netting marking off a corner of the coop. You will be amazed at how much happier and livelier your chicks will be in a more spacious brooding enclosure.

Later, it will be easy to make small openings in the enclosure so the chicks can explore the rest of the coop. I forget if you told us if these are your first chickens or if you have an established adult flock sharing the coop with the chicks. If there are no adult chickens, you really don't need a brooding pen until these chicks grow up and you get the next batch of babies.

I do have a flock of free ranging chickens. the floor of my coop is cement.what would i attach the poultry netting to besides the walls? Chicks cannot go under the netting? Do you have any photos of this? Please send the link for your article again.

 

[Poodlemum]

I had never heard of the D'Uccle breed prior to your response. I googled them and loved how they are described as super friendly "hopping up in your lap." Of course, I think they are beautiful and desperately want one now. chicken math again! Please tell me of your experience with these chickens. I would love to see pics of yours. Thank you again for your reply!!!

Ooops, that darn chicken math! They have got to be the tiniest, cutest, most inquisitive little buggers lol. Thumbelina (who is a boy ) always has to supervise the preparing of the feed… They’re such good fliers and he’s more like my budgies growing up than chickens. Very excited to see the younger group get out more and playing