Why would 15 healthy chicks just die?

[McChooky]

So usually I raise my chicks in the early summer and don’t really use a heat lamp unless the night temps are to cold or I let my broodies do it. But now I hav a Brinsea ecoglow heating plate coming in the mail, so I will be switching to that.

The heat plate is fail proof (if the power doesn't go out!)

 

[Farmlife16]

I raise winter and spring chicks only due to the heat of summer making it so easy to overheat them.I posted a link to an article that clearly states the chicks that don't die suffer permanent damage and will be smaller and need to eat more food the rest of their lives to regulate their body temperature and get enough food to eat.I'm just bearing a message trying to help.Not trying to claim to be an expert by any means.

No, of course not. Everybody has their own system that works for them. In my own experience, raising chicks with little to no heat has not made any difference in regard to size or development. What differences in size have you observed with chicks raised in less heat? I am interested in your view on this.

 

[Farmlife16]

Usually my broodies do it. But if I do raise chicks in a brooder it’s more at the beginning of summer.

It's really a mystery with your chicks. I would send one off for a necropsy.

 

[McChooky]

I

Yes I know that but they never showed signs of being hot no panting or piling up in corners on the other side of the brooder. They would only really be under it when they slept other than that they were always running around doing normal happy chick things and making happy noises.

I will always remember this happening to you and how hurt you are from it happening twice. The truth of the matter is most people would have thought the same . Fortunately we all learn by other peoples mistakes or our own. I overheated mine in late spring because their brooder was too small too and the light was too strong.It doesn't take much to kill baby chick the 1st 10 days

 

[McChooky]

No, of course not. Everybody has their own system that works for them. In my own experience, raising chicks with little to no heat has not made any difference in regard to size or development. What differences in size have you observed with chicks raised in less heat? I am interested in your view on this.

I follow the industry standard and provide the heat they suggest.I've been doing it this way all of my life and will even do it with any summer chicks I have to raise outside.I'll still give them heat and a tote to crawl under so they can huddle together even if its 90 or 100 outside.I've never lost a chick yet.

 

[NatJ]

The heat plate is fail proof (if the power doesn't go out!)

Not really, considering the stories I've seen on this forum of dead chicks when the plate gets too hot.

I don't think it's very common, but it does happen sometimes.

Of course, the more space the chicks have, the less danger there is, because they can move away from the too-hot plate. But some people have a plastic bin where the heat plate covers half the space, and the feed & water fill most of the rest, and chicks in a setup like that would not have room to get away if the plate overheats. (Not saying OP did this, just saying I've seen other people's photos of such brooders.)

 

[chickenpal147]

80 degrees ambient temperature isn't warm enough for day old chicks sorry.After several days of 80 degrees they'll fail to thrive as well as chicks raised in higher temperatures as you can see from the article I posted from research. If you don't follow the specifications the hatcheries recommend and the temperatures they need they won't replace them.I'm sorry.

But like I’ve said using those recommendations I have cooked several different batches of my chicks before. So usually I keep it lower and watch the chicks behavior to tell me if I need to adjust the temps of the lamp. The chicks know what temp is to hot or to cold better than what something on the internet and research says, no chick is the same so I try to do things based on what they are telling me. I’ve said this many times before in my climate it’s usually around 80 to mid 80 where my chicks were comfortable and happy. At 95 with the room temperature at high 70s the brooder temp went into the 100s roasting my chicks, low to mid 80s and watching behavior of the chicks has worked well for us for almost 6 years now. I have never lost chicks brooding indoors until these last two orders, my chicks that I hatched out myself about a month ago and all the other chicks I hatched were brooded this way with no problems whatsoever.

 

[McChooky]

No, of course not. Everybody has their own system that works for them. In my own experience, raising chicks with little to no heat has not made any difference in regard to size or development. What differences in size have you observed with chicks raised in less heat? I am interested in your view on this.

I have zero experience raising hatchery chicks in brooders in late summer or fall (when they're more prone to overheating) I added this link which clearly states the effects of overheating or under heating chicks.Its a lengthy article but a good read.

https://extension.uga.edu/publications/detail.html?number=B1287

 

[McChooky]

But like I’ve said using those recommendations I have cooked several different batches of my chicks before. So usually I keep it lower and watch the chicks behavior to tell me if I need to adjust the temps of the lamp. The chicks know what temp is to hot or to cold better than what something on the internet and research says, no chick is the same so I try to do things based on what they are telling me. I’ve said this many times before in my climate it’s usually around 80 to mid 80 where my chicks were comfortable and happy. At 95 with the room temperature at high 70s the brooder temp went into the 100s roasting my chicks, low to mid 80s and watching behavior of the chicks has worked well for us for almost 6 years now. I have never lost chicks brooding indoors until these last two orders, my chicks that I hatched out myself about a month ago and all the other chicks I hatched were brooded this way with no problems whatsoever.

It can cook them ONLY if the totes too small.

 

[Farmlife16]

I have zero experience raising hatchery chicks in brooders in late summer or fall (when they're more prone to overheating) I added this link which clearly states the effects of overheating or under heating chicks.Its a lengthy article but a good read.

https://extension.uga.edu/publications/detail.html?number=B1287

Thank you!