Why would 15 healthy chicks just die?

[LizzzyJo]

Unfortunately for us pine shavings are the cheapest and only thing the farm stores around me sell.

Pine is 100% healthy. Cedar is not.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

While my 18 chicks were in the brooder in the house, we just used puppy pee pads. No mess, easy to change. We just moved the chicks to a separate box, changed the pads, put in fresh feed and water, and returned the chicks to their brooder - which was a plastic bin or tote. Easy peasy. At three weeks we moved them to their outside brooder, which has pine chips. No heat, problems, no losses. They came from Cackle hatchery. EEs and Dominiques. I don't know what caused your casualties, but I don't believe it can have been the brooder or the chips. This is a real head-scratcher!

 

[chickenpal147]

Last night I made a TikTok account for chicken nugget. If you guys want to watch her adventures. @Theycallme_Chickennugget

 

[-Kiwi-]

Yay so happy!! Eek! Have you heard that the name Nugget is cursed?? Every chicken with that name dies early (I’ve heard from like 10+ people)!

I had a pigeon named Nugget that grew up to be an absolute jerk at around two months old, he killed his younger siblings, and when I put him in a separate cage, a raccoon got him that very night! Cursed!

 

[bruceha2000]

I figured hatching them out my self and trying to raise them would be a little easer on my heart strings then trying to raise chicks from this hatchery and possibly having them all die again.

May I gently (re)suggest you give the MHP a try? It is far more natural and WAY easier than trying to hold a temp with a heat lamp. If they won't come out, the pad should be turned up, if they won't go in, turn it down. If they come and go - perfect!! You want the frame low enough to start that they new chicks can get their backs up against it. As they grow you reform the frame. Some use bolts that go through the frame with washers and nuts on both sides to change the height.

You need a pad that doesn't have an auto-off or the auto-off can be turned off.

 

[chickenpal147]

So now she has 2 other problems. The top toe pads on her left foot are collecting fluid, and her pinky toe on that same foot is dying. Her foot I think is getting an infection because of the dying toe. Any suggestions on what I should do tho help her. I don’t know what she did to her toe but I think it was something during shipping. I noticed her toe turning black a few days ago but it was really just the very tip and I brushed it off until yesterday when I noticed it had spread. She is favoring that foot a little but she is still getting up to eat and drink. Should I get my nail clippers that I use to take off my mallard ducklings back toe off and clip off chicken nuggets dying toe.

Also I would just like to put it out there her toe was like this before she was named chicken nugget.

 

[McChooky]

So Week One, in the house, 95 degrees; Week Two, in the house, 90 degrees, right? Then Week Three, outside in the outdoor brooder, what were your temps that week, and did you provide any heat at all that week? (I guess I could go back and read the whole thread and find out, but .... easier to just ask, lol).

You lower the temperature gradually each week and provide heat until they're feathered out . I provide heat whether they're in a brooder indoors or outdoors in a coop brooder .

 

[McChooky]

I have found a farm that is selling hatching eggs of the breed I want and for cheaper than what the hatchery wants for a small order of the chicks. While I know shipping hatching eggs is risky I’ve had decent hatches in the past with shipped eggs. I figured hatching them out my self and trying to raise them would be a little easer on my heart strings then trying to raise chicks from this hatchery and possibly having them all die again.

May I ask what breed the chicks these were because some breeds have a higher mortality rate. Some breeds aren't as easy to raise as others. I've never tried to raise chicks with a high mortality rate. I was considering raising death layers until I discovered how difficult the silver ones are to raise

 

[chickenpal147]

May I ask what breed the chicks these were because some breeds have a higher mortality rate. Some breeds aren't as easy to raise as others. I've never tried to raise chicks with a high mortality rate. I was considering raising death layers until I discovered how difficult the silver ones are to raise

2 silver laced Wyandot, 3 whiting true blue females, 1 whiting true blue male, 2 jersey giants, 2 golden laced wyandots, 3 whiting true green females, 1 whiting true green male, 1 Ameracauna, and 1 free surprise chick. I think my only surviving chick is the ameracauna. All were females except the 2 males. None of them normally have a high mortality rate from my experience.

 

[McChooky]

2 silver laced Wyandot, 3 whiting true blue females, 1 whiting true blue male, 2 jersey giants, 2 golden laced wyandots, 3 whiting true green females, 1 whiting true green male, 1 Ameracauna, and 1 free surprise chick. I think my only surviving chick is the ameracauna. All were females except the 2 males. None of them normally have a high mortality rate from my experience.

Thank you!I agree none of these stand out as having any issues I know of.I did a google search of top causes of chicks with high mortality rates .Is this little chicks feet cold with the black toe?