- Mar 10, 2008
- 21
- 0
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Hi! We got a batch of chicks on Friday, and by this morning, 17 of the 18 were dead. We're trying to figure out why. Our newly built coop is small, snug and insulated, and we have an infrared suspended over the chicks' 1-foot high box.
They were on paper towels over pine shavings, then just on pine shavings. The 8-12 who survived the first day were eating and drinking well, were active and bright-eyed.
We are wondering if--despite the fact that we brought the heat directly under the infrared to 95, if they were too cold or died of the drafts from when we opened the door. We are in upstate New York on a very frigid and windy mountain, and temperatures outside have been down to 10 or so, with high winds.
We're getting a new batch in a couple of weeks, which we're planning to move to the somewhat heated basement so the temperature around them isn't so cold or variable. (How warm would the overall temp in the basement need to be, I wonder?)
I would deeply appreciate hearing from the experienced chick-raisers among you if you think temperature is the most likely culprit. None of books or instructions we read told us that they needed to be in a heated room if they are raised in the winter.
And... I hope the exposed position of our coop, which took us months to build, won't kill off adult chickens too! This is a hardy breed (Chanteclers), so I hope not.
Thank you so much in advance!
Laura
They were on paper towels over pine shavings, then just on pine shavings. The 8-12 who survived the first day were eating and drinking well, were active and bright-eyed.
We are wondering if--despite the fact that we brought the heat directly under the infrared to 95, if they were too cold or died of the drafts from when we opened the door. We are in upstate New York on a very frigid and windy mountain, and temperatures outside have been down to 10 or so, with high winds.
We're getting a new batch in a couple of weeks, which we're planning to move to the somewhat heated basement so the temperature around them isn't so cold or variable. (How warm would the overall temp in the basement need to be, I wonder?)
I would deeply appreciate hearing from the experienced chick-raisers among you if you think temperature is the most likely culprit. None of books or instructions we read told us that they needed to be in a heated room if they are raised in the winter.
And... I hope the exposed position of our coop, which took us months to build, won't kill off adult chickens too! This is a hardy breed (Chanteclers), so I hope not.
Thank you so much in advance!
Laura