Why are my chicks dying?

[MrsMcSticky]

I'm completely gutted.

We had a broody hen who was sitting on eggs that wouldn't hatch, so we decided to try the trick adoption approach. 10 days ago we bought five chicks (all different breeds) from a local seller (whom we actually bought our first chicks from 7 years ago), after confirming with them on the phone that they had 1-2 day old chicks available (in retrospect, I don't think that was true, and I get the sense they were more like 3-5 days old). We tried putting the chicks under broody momma at night, but after a couple of hours she started pecking them aggressively, so we removed the chicks and set them up in a brooder.

Everything seemed to be going fine until about 5 days ago. We woke up in the morning to find one of the chicks had pasty butt and was acting lethargic. We separated her and tried to nurse her, but she died a few hours later. We checked the other chicks - they were all acting fine, though another one had some pasty butt. We cleaned her up and kept an eye on her, but the next morning I found her dead too.

By this point we're devastated and checking on the remaining chicks constantly. That evening a third one started acting funny. We stayed by her side half the night, trying anything - getting her to drink by water dropper, trying to get her to eat some egg - as I watched her get weaker, until she passed at about 3am. The remaining two seemed fine (reoccurring theme here) and were alive the next two day, until last night when one started acting a little weak and was dead by this morning.

These are not our first chicks. We've hatched and raised about 4-5 small batches successfully and never had a chick die on us. We are using the same setup as always: plastic tote lined with paper towels (later on we'll replace with pine chips) changed every day or two, brooder plate for heat, feeding unmedicated mana pro chick feed (the chicks were vaccinated by the breeder), water changed daily. I have no idea why this is happening. I'm sick to my stomach. In all cases they went from seeming perfectly fine to dead in less than 8 hours. Is this something that came from the breeder? Or has it been too many days since we got them for that to be the case? Could they have picked up some disease from those few hours with broody mama? Are we doing something that is making them all sick so quickly?

 

[Theorrin]

stress is a big factor. aside from that everything setup wise seems right imo. could have been too much stress, could be an issue on the breeders end. edit: add a little hydro hen to the water to help out

 

[Penpal]

Put apple cider vinegar in their water.

 

[Folly's place]

Are they actually eating and drinking? What are temperatures in the brooder? Is the brooder plate too hot, or too cool? Any more pasty butt?
I'd be really upset too!
Forget the vinegar, add another waterer with electrolyte solution (there are online recipies here, or buy some) so they can drink either plain water or electrolytes. You could try dripping some electrolyte solution into them individually, but carefully, so they don't inhale it!
Have you talked to the seller? That flock might have been fine before, is it still a healthy flock?
And do these chicks now have mites or lice? Look carefully, either will kill chicks, and you can fix that. Also, coccidiosis; have a fecal checked. Any bloody feces? Also can be treated.
So sorry!
Mary

 

[Wyorp Rock]

feeding unmedicated mana pro chick feed (the chicks were vaccinated by the breeder),

The breeder vaccinated them for Coccidiosis? I'd re-check that and if so, ask how it was administered - in a spray booth or spray on feed.

Photos of chicks, brooder and poop.

I'd be inclined to treat for Coccidiosis.
Corid can be found at TSC.

For the sickest chicks, direct oral dose them with liquid Corid at a rate of 0.10ml per pound of weight twice a day for 3 days. This is in addition to them drinking the medicated water as described below.

Liquid Corid dose is 2tsp or Powdered Corid Dose is 1 1/2tsp per gallon of water given for 5-7 days as the only source of drinking water.
Do not add any extra vitamins/electrolytes that contain B1(Thiamine) to food or water during the course of treatment.

 

[Folly's place]

Vaccination status is unclear; was it for Marek's disease or coccidiosis? Or something else?
I agree about treating them for coccidiosis, won't hurt and might help.
Mary

 

[MrsMcSticky]

Are they actually eating and drinking? What are temperatures in the brooder? Is the brooder plate too hot, or too cool? Any more pasty butt?
I'd be really upset too!
Forget the vinegar, add another waterer with electrolyte solution (there are online recipies here, or buy some) so they can drink either plain water or electrolytes. You could try dripping some electrolyte solution into them individually, but carefully, so they don't inhale it!
Have you talked to the seller? That flock might have been fine before, is it still a healthy flock?
And do these chicks now have mites or lice? Look carefully, either will kill chicks, and you can fix that. Also, coccidiosis; have a fecal checked. Any bloody feces? Also can be treated.
So sorry!
Mary

Thank you for your reply.

They had definitely been eating and drinking. After the first death I put a thermometer under the brooder plate and it has been saying about 90 degrees. We did have pasty butt in another of the chicks who passed.

After the third chick started looking sick, I ordered this stuff called Nutri Drench (saw it mentioned somewhere while googling what to do) that I could get next day from Amazon (too late for that chick though). I put it in their water but I don't know that that they've actually drank from it, and I've since put in a second thing of plain water. I'm going to make some electolyte solution and try that.

Doesn't look like there are mitess or lice (would they be obvious?). No bloody fecHow do I have the fecal mater checked?

 

[Jannbo]

So sorry to hear this is happening! I haven’t raised chickens, but I have raised quite a few quail and had something similar happen unfortunately. A lot of times there can just be issues with the chicks genetically if the breeder isn’t very good or something wasn’t right in their incubation. I raised 4 coturnix chicks from 5 days old and they’re all happy and healthy a few months later. About a month ago I hatched out 8 chicks from 22 eggs (usps had them sitting in a Texas warehouse for a week before delivering them in the middle of summer so their chances weren’t great to start with), and out of those 8, 4 passed away without any warning. The first to hatch was happy and healthy, eating and drinking when I went to bed, then the next morning he was dead. When the others started hatching, they did fine for 3 days, then one dropped dead the same way as the first. Next day, another one. Day after that, another one. This was the exact same setup I raised my happy and healthy first batch with calibrated thermometers measuring temps, all with high protein feed and clean water. Now I have 4 a month after the last died and they’re all doing fantastic despite no change in their setup. It’s really sad but it’s just something that happens when you get chicks or eggs from someone other than your own flock.

What I do for my birds is mix up some water with pedialyte (unflavored) and a few drops of poly-vi-sol (No iron) and give that to them while they’re still growing. Just makes sure they always have a bit of extra energy if something goes wrong as well as having those vitamins to try and prevent wry neck. It’s the same solution I used for a chick that developed wry neck who is now doing fantastic, and a bird that got scalped by a roo. It hasn’t failed me since I started using that mix