Silent mass chick murder in the closed brooder

[Anonymous__]

I woke up to all my chicks [except one week old chick who I found alive squished in a crevasse] dead in their outdoor elevated brooder a bin with it's lid tightly on which is solid plastic with 1/4" hardware cloth. Everything was in place and it doesn't look like anything was there or messed with the set-up. I picked up the dead chicks scattered across the brooder and their feathers just fall right off. There where 6 chicks, one 3 days old, one 1 week old, three 3 weeks old, and one 5 weeks old, only one survived. What potentially happened to them?

 

[Holdthechicken]

Do you have any pics? That might help.. but if it doesn’t look like a predator maybe the chicks went into a frenzy and killed each other in panic? My mom had a situation a few years ago with some chicks freaking out and essentially stampeding each other. Did something shake the bin?

 

[LaFleche]

dead in their outdoor elevated brooder a bin with it's lid tightly on which is solid plastic with 1/4" hardware cloth.

I picked up the dead chicks scattered across the brooder and their feathers just fall right off.

What kind of heat source did you use and how was it positioned?

Could it be that they got overheated/like cooked in this tightly closed plastic bin? I can't think of anything else leading to their feathers falling off llike you described.

Sorry you lost them.

 

[Anonymous__]

I don't have photos but there's no trace that anything's touched it. I think there's a possibility it's a predator because they looked like they were trying to hide or get away from something since some were on top on the heat plate and in their hide-out house. Their brooder is see through so they may have saw something but they have places to hide if they were scared which one of them were dead in and we have livestock guard animals to protect them so it couldn't have been something very big. Them dying in a panic is a possibility but they were scattered around the brooder. Wouldn't they have died more close together the opposite side of where they saw something? They have a heat plate but it's unlikely to related to heat since even the youngest chick died but one a couple days older lived.

 

[McChooky]

My 15 chicks roost on the top perch in a coop with a window on one end but last night only 6 of them roosted up there. The other 9 were on a lower roosting bar. None of them were on the same side of the coop as the window so something frightened them in the window.My guess is maybe a predator frightened your chicks and they died of a heart attack? Sorry for your loss!

 

[bobbi-j]

Without pictures of your setup, it’s really hard to guess what could have happened. A solid plastic bin with a solid top sounds more like it could have been a heat issue to me, especially with their feathers falling off when you picked them up. Chicks need plenty of fresh air and a place to get away from the heat. (A place big enough so they can get warm when they need to, and cool off when they need to.) If it’s warm or hot outside, the temperature in the bin could have gotten very high.

When the brooder is too hot, the chicks will scatter to the edges, trying to escape the heat. When the brooder is too cool, they huddle under or near the heat source to stay warm. They’re often chirping loudly in either of these situations. When it’s comfortable for them, they will be scattered around the brooder, contentedly chirping.

 

[NagemTX]

I have a hardware cloth covered and elevated brooder out side. A coon decided to climb around the sides and freaked everyone out. No o e died but this could have happened to you and as a previous poster said they trampled each other.

 

[ColtHandorf]

Sounds like an overheating issue to me.

 

[Anonymous__]

Thank you for the responses everyone! Them getting spooked seems the most likely possibility out of the mentioned since they were completely content before this happened and had lots of airflow from the hardware cloth and they looked like they were trying to hide. I'm not sure what animal would come so close to the house though and why the one in the hidey house didn't make it (they have to make a turn to get into it).

 

[rosemarythyme]

We'd really need photos to make better guesses. Honestly I'm thinking overheating too because it's a plastic bin and we have nothing else to go by.

I'm not sure what animal would come so close to the house though

Wild animals aren't afraid of houses. I've had a bobcat immediately outside my dining room, an owl sitting on top of the patio cover that holds my chicken feed and boots. My dogs treed a bear about 30' from my living room.