# 17/25 baby chicks died overnight!!



## ErinP (Aug 23, 2007)

I've never ordered direct from the hatchery before. I've always gotten my chicks from TSC/Orscheln's/Feedstore, etc. But this year, I got a mix of brown egg layers from McMurray and they came yesterday AM.

I brought them home, put them in my usual "brooder box," put the heat lamp on, gave them food and water (with sugar in it) AND put them in the bathroom with the milkhouse heater cranked so everything would be nice and snuggly warm. 

This morning, _seventeen_ of them were dead!! 

What on earth am I missing? 

I pulled the dead ones, dipped the live ones' beaks in their water again to encourage drinking and am hoping for my remaining ones... 
To credit McMurray, they're sending out a replacement order that should get here next week. 
But what did I do wrong?!?!


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## GrannyCarol (Mar 23, 2005)

It could just be shipping stress. If you buy from the feed store, they take the risk that any given batch of chicks will not handle whatever happens when they ship and you see the survivors. You could try an electrolyte mix in their water from the feed store. I've always had good luck with shipped ducklings, never bought chicks. Not sure what else happens to little ones, I'm sure others will have more ideas. So sorry you lost them.


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## laughaha (Mar 4, 2008)

too hot?? unless your bathroom is HUGE, could be they overheated. 

I always beak dip (in water) when I put them in the brooder.

Edited to add: I can usually tell which ones are stressed out/not gonna make it when I open the box (at the post office) and have the postmistress verify that x-many are likely to die, and how many are dead. 

Did they appear healthy when you opened the box? How were they when you went to bed last night? Where you seeing them drink?


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## ErinP (Aug 23, 2007)

I don't think I had been seeing them drink, actually. At least, not the whole lot of them. 
When we picked them up, they _did_ show signs of stress, but I figured that was probably logical... :stars:


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## laughaha (Mar 4, 2008)

Do you have a thermometer you could put in the bathroom? I would check just in the room and under the heat light


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## lambs.are.cute (Aug 15, 2010)

Mcmurrary is pretty good with chicks surviving. I open the box at the post office like laughaha. Then I count the birds as I move them from the box to the brooder and before I let them go I dip their beak in the water. The feed store people have already dipped the beak in the water so when you buy them from the store the chicks already know what a waterer looks like.


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## WstTxLady (Mar 14, 2009)

Could have been anything...they got too hot then cold or too cold then hot, not drinking, stress, etc. If you don't have a thermometer for the brooder get one. I got chicks from the feed store twice in 1 week (I know I'm addicted) and thought the temp was perfect but they were acting over heated so I ended up keeping it a lil cooler & they are all fine.


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## Oxankle (Jun 20, 2003)

Overheating kills them quickly and without noise. Chicks that are cold peep incessantly until they are too weak, near death.

Unfortunately, most of us who keep chicks have lost chicks to both heat and cold. I once had a box of chicks I thought were getting too cold; I put them in a warm auto with the sun shining in the window. I went back in an hour and found them all dead.

Good luck with your replacements; they will most likely do well.
Ox


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## trbizwiz (Mar 26, 2010)

cooler chicks feather out faster also.


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## Sanza (Sep 8, 2008)

So sorry about your loss and hopefully they compensate you for them.
I also had a few chicks die because they got too hot.


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