Why would 15 healthy chicks just die?

[BigBlueHen53]

Our temps were in the high 80's, low 90's the week we got our chicks, too. There was no way we could follow that chart bringing temps down to the 70's by a certain week of age. It cooled off at night though so we had a heat lamp in the room they were in, but no thermometer. We regulated them by their behavior, pulling their high-sided plastic brooder further away as needed. By the end of Week 3, they were outside, with a heat lamp at night, when it was getting down to the 50's. But after a few nights we turned it off, trusting that they would keep each other warm by huddling. We had no losses. For a single chick, a Mother Hen heater probably is the best option, though.

 

[McChooky]

Raise the lamp!!! If she can’t handle the heat for more than an hour it’s too hot.
Hmm…maybe it WAS heat that killed them. Malfunctioning lamp?

I suspect the tall container may be trapping too much heat but a malfunctioning light is a possibility.I've had brooders too small for certain bulbs and couldn't tweek it just right.I just did away with the brooder but it could have been the light.I used the same light and it was okay as long as I gave the chicks more room.The heat wasn't trapped in a larger area.

 

[McChooky]

Our temps were in the high 80's, low 90's the week we got our chicks, too. There was no way we could follow that chart bringing temps down to the 70's by a certain week of age. It cooled off at night though so we had a heat lamp in the room they were in, but no thermometer. We regulated them by their behavior, pulling their high-sided plastic brooder further away as needed. By the end of Week 3, they were outside, with a heat lamp at night, when it was getting down to the 50's. But after a few nights we turned it off, trusting that they would keep each other warm by huddling. We had no losses. For a single chick, a Mother Hen heater probably is the best option, though.

Chicks can handle the cold better than the heat.They have to have a way to escape the heat yes.They can huddle to get warm but they certainly have no way of cooling off if its too hot.Not if they're trapped in a container with no way to spread out and cool off.Maybe that bulb just gets too hot for that tote..

 

[McChooky]

Raise the lamp!!! If she can’t handle the heat for more than an hour it’s too hot.
Hmm…maybe it WAS heat that killed them. Malfunctioning lamp?

My light was too hot for my brooder too no matter how I set it up. I raised my chicks in the coop -without a brooder container. I used the same light in the coop. .They huddled and stayed warm underneath a tote I flipped upside down (front cut out) It got down in the 20's when I raised mine and they all survived without being sick the 1st time.

 

[McChooky]

Our temps were in the high 80's, low 90's the week we got our chicks, too. There was no way we could follow that chart bringing temps down to the 70's by a certain week of age. It cooled off at night though so we had a heat lamp in the room they were in, but no thermometer. We regulated them by their behavior, pulling their high-sided plastic brooder further away as needed. By the end of Week 3, they were outside, with a heat lamp at night, when it was getting down to the 50's. But after a few nights we turned it off, trusting that they would keep each other warm by huddling. We had no losses. For a single chick, a Mother Hen heater probably is the best option, though.

Edited: I haven't ever raised chicks in the heat of summer.I've always raised them when it was cold.I've always raised mine in a large open area underneath lights where they could get away from the heat.The one and only time I tried to use a "brooder" to contain the chicks in a small area the chicks got too hot. I 'll never contain them in a small area again.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Edited: I haven't ever raised chicks in the heat of summer.I've always raised them when it was cold.I've always raised mine in a large open area underneath lights where they could get away from the heat.The one and only time I tried to use a "brooder" to contain the chicks in a small area the chicks got too hot. I 'll never contain them in a small area again.

This was our first time to raise summer chicks, too. It was also the first time we had no losses and no pasty butt, not ONE case!. I don't believe I'll ever order "spring" chicks again - in the past we've always gotten them around the first of March, then had to contend with severely cold weather. But like OP said, you have to find what works for you. Oh, as for confining to a small area, we split our 18 chicks into two totes. They were not too crowded when we moved them outside. One tote would absolutely have been too small for 18 chicks!

 

[McChooky]

This was our first time to raise summer chicks, too. It was also the first time we had no losses and no pasty butt, not ONE case!. I don't believe I'll ever order "spring" chicks again - in the past we've always gotten them around the first of March, then had to contend with severely cold weather. But like OP said, you have to find what works for you. Oh, as for confining to a small area, we split our 18 chicks into two totes. They were not too crowded when we moved them outside. One tote would absolutely have been too small for 18 chicks!

My cats slept on top of it the wood box I had my chicks in for 10 days .Before I go thru that ordeal again I'll build a chicken tractor for the chicks and raise them in the summer! They'll do fine in there I'm sure.It has to be better than raising chicks in 20 degree weather and snow.

 

[bruceha2000]

So unless that page is wrong, there were several years in which the name existed but the breed was not recognized by the APA. (I have no way to check when McMurray started calling their birds Ameraucana, so it may or may not have happened during that time. But it is not impossible.)

"We have been breeding Ameraucanas since the 1980s — even before they were admitted into the Standard of Perfection by the American Poultry Association in 1984. "

But the article you linked from the Ameraucana Breeders Club says the description and name were codified in 1979. Given McMurry was breeding what we all knew as Easter Eggers meeting an expected set of characteristics (until the recent additions of crosses with birds like Crested Legbars which also have the blue egg gene), they have been lying all along since their generic "Ameraucana" do not meet breed standards

 

[NatJ]

"We have been breeding Ameraucanas since the 1980s — even before they were admitted into the Standard of Perfection by the American Poultry Association in 1984. "

But the article you linked from the Ameraucana Breeders Club says the description and name were codified in 1979. Given McMurry was breeding what we all knew as Easter Eggers meeting an expected set of characteristics (until the recent additions of crosses with birds like Crested Legbars which also have the blue egg gene), they have been lying all along since their generic "Ameraucana" do not meet breed standards

So McMurray has been breeding "Ameraucanas" ever since there was a description to work toward-- and except for not being standard colors, they seem to be at least as close to their breed standard as many other breeds are when bought from hatcheries They probably were "Ameraucanas" at the time the breed was in development, but then did not continue to develop all the way to a finished product.


I don't mind calling McMurray's birds "Easter Eggers," but I do think it's odd that we tend to make a big fuss about Easter Egger vs. Ameraucana, but not about most other hatchery chickens that can show up with wrong leg color, wrong comb type, missing muff/beard, color pattern distinctly off from standard, etc.

 

[McChooky]

Our temps were in the high 80's, low 90's the week we got our chicks, too. There was no way we could follow that chart bringing temps down to the 70's by a certain week of age. It cooled off at night though so we had a heat lamp in the room they were in, but no thermometer. We regulated them by their behavior, pulling their high-sided plastic brooder further away as needed. By the end of Week 3, they were outside, with a heat lamp at night, when it was getting down to the 50's. But after a few nights we turned it off, trusting that they would keep each other warm by huddling. We had no losses. For a single chick, a Mother Hen heater probably is the best option, though.

The requirement for any breed is clearly recognizable features and those outside the definition shouldn't be sold as such.I bought Dominique chicks with rose combs from a hatchery and received a refund for the single comb barred rocks they sent.

So McMurray has been breeding "Ameraucanas" ever since there was a description to work toward-- and except for not being standard colors, they seem to be at least as close to their breed standard as many other breeds are when bought from hatcheries They probably were "Ameraucanas" at the time the breed was in development, but then did not continue to develop all the way to a finished product.


I don't mind calling McMurray's birds "Easter Eggers," but I do think it's odd that we tend to make a big fuss about Easter Egger vs. Ameraucana, but not about most other hatchery chickens that can show up with wrong leg color, wrong comb type, missing muff/beard, color pattern distinctly off from standard, etc.